As the days become shorter and the orange leaves fall to the ground, you might be starting to feel the effects of the oncoming winter. It’s harder to leave the warmth of your bed in the morning and facing often wet nights might seem impossible. But I’d like to invite you to what might be in store if you venture into one of the many warm theatres in Edinburgh this November.
- Scottish Opera presents Ainadamar at the Festival Theatre
Osvaldo Golijov won two Grammy’s for Ainadamar back in 2007 and Scottish Opera are reviving it throughout the UK, making a stop at the Festival Theatre this November. Love, loss, and death come alive through this reimagining of the life of Spanish poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, whose activism, and open homosexuality resulted in his assassination 1936. Deborah Colker, an Olivier-award winning choreographer, will be making her much anticipated debut and promises to be a night of magic.
There are £10 student prices if you buy in person at The Festival Theatre or on the phone, otherwise tickets are sold here. Running from the 8th to the 12th of November at 7.15pm.
- Sister Radio at the Traverse Theatre
This intimate, nostalgic play, written by Sara Shaarawi, tells the story of two sisters who have lived together in their Edinburgh flat for 43 years: swapping stories of their childhoods in Tehran and cooking. When they are locked in their flat due to the pandemic, they have no choice but to reckon with a betrayal that changed the very course of their relationship.
Co-commissioned by the Pitlochery Festival and Stellar Quines, its opened to mainly 4-star reviews and proves to be a timely piece of theatre about exile, sisterhood, and memory.
Running at the Traverse Theatre from the 10th to the 12th of November at 8pm. This show is part of the Traverse’s £1 Ticket Project, more details for that here.
- A Play, A Pie, A Pint series at the Traverse Theatre –
This list would be incomplete without mentioning Scottish theatre’s best deal: A Play, A Pie, A Pint series, where audiences get a bite-sized lunchtime show with a pie and a pint (or what tickles your fancy) to boot. Alföld is Joe McCann’s latest play takes the audience to The Great Hungarian Plain as an interracial couple attempt to save their collapsing marriage when they meet a stranger, Bela, who seems to think they have all the answers. It’s a dark comedy that deals with misogyny, racism and how one could possibly survive in an illiberal society.
Tickets are £16 (pie and pint included) and can be bought here. On at the Traverse Theatre from the 1st to the 5th of November.
Image ‘Edinburgh Castle‘ by Richard James is licensed under CC BY 2.0