With the ink on this year’s Festival and Fringe programmes barely dry on the page, Edinburgh’s Lyceum is keeping us all on our toes with this June announcement of an ambitious and highly varied programme for its coming season.
Enthusiastically introduced by the theatre’s latest Artistic Director James Brining, the season’s mix of major classics, Scottish premieres, family shows and collaborations, along with visiting productions, all hold the promise of telling human storiesof love, joy, courage and redemption.
The season’s shows kick off in October with an adaptation by Scottish playwright David Harrower of Muriel Spark’s famous Edinburgh set novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that is a National Theatre of Scotland production in partnership with the Lyceum and in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
Following on, and in a co-production with Dundee Rep Theatre, is a timeous adaptation of George Orwell’s foreboding classic, 1984, from another well-respected Scottish writer, Chris Hannan.
After that it will be thon time! Yes, the Christmas show. This year the Lyceum returns to a version of Dicken’s seasonal salutary tale again to be set in Edinburgh although this time adapted by Deborah McAndrew.
The new year sees another co-production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this time with English Touring Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse and Brining’s old stomping ground, Leeds Playhouse.
As Spring comes round again, we have a treat in store with what is marketed as A Musical Fable of Broadway – Guys and Dolls. Directed by Brining, this co-production of no less than 5 Scottish companies – Lyceum, Aberdeen Performing Arts, Eden Court Inverness, Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre and Dundee Rep take us to the edgy world of 1950s New York and Havana.
Rounding off the season is an adaptation, and swansong to the Lyceum, by Zinnie Harris who has recently stepped down as Associate Director, of Bertolt Brecht’s classic anti-war play, Mother Courage and her Children.
Continuing to work closely with artists and companies across Scotland and the UK allows greater ambition and a wider range of work being brought to the Lyceum’s stage – such as The Tailor of Inverness, Private Peaceful, The Haunting of Hill House, Tristan and Yseult and shows for younger audiences like Zog, Zog and The Flying Doctors and The Gruffalo.
Add to this some one-night comedy shows and there is the promise of wide-ranging shows that is bound to appeal to a grand sweep of tastes.
Looking ahead, the company is also launching a new Trainee Artistic Director role which is a step in a longer-term commitment to support and develop the next generation of Scottish theatre-makers. More on that story later in the year but meantime we are reminded of the belief that the future of theatre depends on creating space for developing talent and the stories they have yet to tell.
With 60 years’ experience, the Lyceum are experts in their craft, and are marking this milestone with Lyceum at Home, a radical step that takes performance into the community in a new way.
Look forward to being welcomed to the beautiful 140-year-old building to experience this bold and intriguing season as well as what’s on stage in between. You may never look back!
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 