Book ahead at the King's and Festival theatres

TRADITIONALLY January may be a month when theatres across the Capital go dark, but that doesn't mean we book ahead for some of the exciting productions set to visit the city later in the year.

Elaine C Smith guests at The King's Pic: Contributed

With the launch of their new brochure the King’s and Festival Theatre certainly appear to have programmed something for everyone whether it’s comedy or ballet, drama or a musical you crave.

High on the list of must sees is the return of The National Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Sally Cookson’s new production of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre at the Festival Theatre.

The Citizens Theatre also return to The King’s with Cuttin’ A Rug, while other plays to watch for include a new adaptation of Meera Syal’s much loved novel Anita and Me and Death of a Salesman starring Tim Pigott-Smith.

For lovers of musicals, there’s a new production celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Rent, the return of the rock ‘n’ roll jukebox musical Buddy, the World Premiere of an all-new The Addams Family musical and a brand new musical based on the hit film, The Wedding Singer.

Comedy picks include Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show featuring Elaine C Smith and Jessica Swale’s blissfully funny Nell Qwynn, while on the dance front Northern Ballet’s Casanova and Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes are not to be missed.

For families and young audiences, entertainment includes a stage adaptation of Michael Rosen’s award-winning book We’re Going On A Bear Hunt later this month.

That’s followed by shows such as Cirque Beserk, Dinosaur World, CBeebies’ stars Mr Bloom and Mister Maker, Fun Box, Running Wild, the Awfey Huge Variety Show and Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox.

Tickets for all shows are on sale now and available from www.edtheatres.com where you will also find full details of performance times and seat prices.

King’s Theatre, Leven Street / Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, 0131-529 6000