"Change is inevitable, but in every AMA proposal, much of Summerhall’s unique heart will be ripped out." Plans to redevelop Edinburgh's cultural hub into student housing signal a familiar retreat. The scheme threatens to displace more than one hundred working artists and independent businesses. 🧵👇

"It’s about not oversimplifying, letting contradicting voices exist in the same space," the creative team notes on staging the Kenmure Street blockade for the Citizens Theatre, Company of Wolves, and Bijli. 🧵👇

"She’s never frightened of putting something completely ridiculous next to something deeply moving," actor John Leader notes on the enduring tragicomedy of the Emma Rice Company's Tristan & Yseult, co-produced by York Theatre Royal. 🧵👇

"The characters in this play haven’t just been hiding their skill as magicians from the audience; they have been hiding their trauma," Kenny Emson notes of his new drama for Queen's Theatre Hornchurch and HighTide. 🧵👇

"Grief felt very strange, repetitive and sometimes completely absurd," playwright Laura Grillo notes of her new Omnibus Theatre production opening 6 October, disguising an investigation into sudden loss beneath a veneer of 90s Britpop farce. 🧵👇

Before @ayo_adenekan brings ‘Homeland Insecurity’ to @sohotheatre.bsky.social from 25 to 28 November, see why our critic considers the Saturday Night Live UK writer a standout Scottish export and a star on the rise ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🧵👇

"Nikolai Foster’s current UK touring production, however, jettisons much of that nuance in favour of bright and shiny comedy," our critic writes of Legally Blonde at Edinburgh Playhouse. ⭐⭐⭐ 🧵👇

"Directorial eccentricity derails the drama entirely: the prophet is portrayed by a melon," writes Alena Shmakova of Changing Perspectives' thirty-minute solo staging of Salome. ⭐⭐⭐ 🧵👇

"The funny thing about good slapstick is that it looks completely out of control, when in reality it requires an enormous amount of control," co-creator Jack Pallister explains of staging a chaotic musical whodunnit amid the tables of Brick Lane Music Hall. 🧵👇

"Very few players possess the technique to play at such speed while still allowing a tiny chink of light between each note," writes Lindsay McMurdo of Angela Hewitt's fortepiano programme with Dunedin Consort at the Queen's Hall. ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🧵👇

"Redmond is perfectly cast and un-knockdownable in every sense of the word," our critic writes of the new @pitlochryft.bsky.social staging of Beckett's Happy Days. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🧵👇

"Well, I never thought I would say that one of my theatre heroes – Simon Russell Beale – was awful, but he really is in this production about Liberace," our critic writes of the new @pitlochryft.bsky.social staging. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🧵👇

"Whoever had the idea of lumping together a TV everyman, a world-famous soprano and a member of a boyband is either a certified genius or just plain certifiable," our critic writes of Hadestown in 2026. Shaun Dooley, Danielle de Niese, and Nathan Sykes cohere surprisingly well. 🧵👇

"Vardimon transforms the clinical monotony of a busy hospital into a surreal arena, ripe with weaponisable medical props," our critic writes of Jasmin Vardimon’s reimagined Lullaby. The production navigates the journey from triage to treatment with athletic endurance and unexpected humour. 🧵👇

To mark 70 years of the Royal Court, BBC Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra are unlocking their vaults for an 8-day audio drama season curated by Mark Ravenhill. From Ben Whishaw’s Jimmy Porter to Helen McCrory in Top Girls: (Thread 👇)

"Even if it would benefit from a little more restraint where it comes to effects, Private Peaceful is a powerful piece of theatre." Alone with a wooden bunk, a debut actor counts down to dawn. (Thread 👇)

"Lloyd-Jones and Palsson are every (middle-aged) woman," writes critic Cath Coutts. Backstage, two veteran dancers face stiff joints, stolen high heels, and the brutal reality of ageing out of the industry. (Thread 👇)

"Our role is not to judge where an audience has been built, but to assess the quality of the live experience." Aberdeen Comedy Festival - @apawhatson.bsky.social - is ditching online algorithms to test acts in real rooms—and Victorian pub toilets. (Thread 👇)

Corporate whistleblowers, Civil War exile, and Basque folk horror. @espanfilmf.bsky.social is ditching lone hero tropes to bet 16 films on mutual aid and collective survival across six UK cities. (Thread 👇)

40 dancers on stage for a single, unscripted performance. Scottish Dance Theatre marks 40 years as Scotland’s resident contemporary dance company with a one-night-only anniversary gala at @dundeerep.bsky.social on 31 Oct. (Thread 👇)

The Quinntessential Review | Theatre, Arts & Culture Reviews

Theatre, Arts & Culture Reviews

theqr.co.uk

Eighty-year-olds share a stage with seven-year-olds—and nobody had to audition. Barrowland Ballet threw open the doors, letting a 73-year age gap collide without judging a single body. (Thread 👇)

In 1954, a cult cut the zips off their clothes to wait for a flying saucer. When no ship showed up, they told reporters they'd saved the world. Tonight, Groupwork opens a 6-venue Scottish tour based on the fallout. (Thread 👇)

From 2:22 A Ghost Story to UncannyCon at Birmingham ICC, Danny Robins has turned Britain's quiet paranormal obsession into an arena-scale phenomenon. He speaks to The QR about belief, scepticism, and scaling campfire intimacy. (Thread 👇)

"Overall, there’s a sense of a cast and crew going all out, but not being made the most of." Nikolai Foster’s touring production of #AnnieTheMusical arrives at the Edinburgh Playhouse, starring Alex Bourne and Claire Sweeney. (Thread 👇)

Faroese brass, live-processed South Indian vocals & 1923’s Hunchback scored live on a 147-year-old pipe organ. Glasgow Cathedral Festival marks 10 years by turning the city’s oldest building into a live acoustic playground (17–20 Sept). (Thread 👇)

Peter Serafinowicz has announced a 13-date UK tour for 2027—and he's using proprietary software to alter his face live on stage. Audiences will see real-time digital transformations into Michael Caine, Paul McCartney & Brian Butterfield. (Thread 👇)

Nordic cow-calling, book smuggling & Nicola Sturgeon debating the 'stateless nation'. The 37th Scottish Storytelling Festival isn't sticking to cozy fireside myths. Under new director Daniel Abercrombie, #SISF2026 takes over 100+ spaces from Shetland to Dumfries. (Thread 👇)

Nearly 40 years after debuting the role at @traversetheatre.bsky.social , Tilda Swinton returns to Manfred Karge’s #ManToMan. Earning ★★★★ from The QR, Sass MacDonald reviews at @royalcourt.bsky.social —ahead of its Edinburgh transfer (29 Oct–7 Nov). (Thread 👇)

Michelle Dockery returns to the London stage in Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy @stratfordeast.com. Quentin Tarantino meets Homer in a paranoid Essex living room. Earning ★★★ from The QR, Franco Milazzo reviews. (Thread 👇)

Earning ★★★★ from The QR, NYC clowning sensations Xhloe Rice & Natasha Roland bring controlled chaos to @sohotheatre with Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It. Running in London until 26 Sept. (Thread 👇)