The best EIF theatre shows - Scotsman critic Joyce McMillan previews the 2025 programme
Scotsman critic Joyce McMillan picks her theatre highlights from this year’s EIF programme
Make It Happen There’s no doubt about the big theatre ticket of the Edinburgh International Festival 2025. Based on an idea proposed by the actor Brian Cox - who will appear in the show as 18th century economist Adam Smith - James Graham’s new play Make It Happen is a study of the 2008 collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which almost brought the entire global financial system to its knees. Co-produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep, the play features a cast of 16, led by award-winning actor Sandy Grierson as Fred Goodwin, the overreaching CEO who became a byword for an age of devastating financial arrogance and recklessness; and its subject could hardly chime better with Nicola Benedetti’s 2025 Festival theme of “the truth we seek”. Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 1-9 August; previews 30-31 July.
Faustus in Africa! First created in 1995, Faustus In Africa! - by the legendary Handspring Puppet Company of Cape Town - poses urgent questions about the reckless deals we make with the devil for profit and pleasure, despite the catastrophic costs of colonialism, and of the climate emergency. Founded more than 40 years ago, Handspring has become a world leader in theatre puppetry, taking the art-form to previously unimagined heights; this is the company that gave us the mighty horses for the UK National Theatre’s War Horse, and that inspired Baxter Theatre’s beautiful 2023 Fringe hit The Life And Times Of Walter K. Here, director William Kentridge and a seven-strong company join forces with musicians Warrick Sony and the late James Phillips to offer a searing take on the Faust legend, and one which could hardly be more timely, in 2025 Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 20-23 August.
Cutting the Tightrope In the politics of our time, the term “freedom of speech” is routinely used and abused as never before; but to judge by the reviews it attracted when it premiered at the Arcola in London last year, this collection of speedily-written new short plays on the theme will give little comfort to those who believe, with US Vice-President JD Vance, that the main threat to freedom comes from the political left. Made yet more topical by the colossal controversy surrounding Bob Vylan’s appearance at Glastonbury, this collection tackles the issues involved head-on; and seeks to nail the growing nervousness of arts organisation about tackling subjects on which debate has become too hot to handle. Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, 14-17 August.
As You Like It: A Radical Retelling Cliff Cardinal is a Native American performer of the Lakota tribe; and his retelling of the story of Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a version like no other, full of rage and questioning around the colonial attitudes to land, and to indigenous peoples, embodied in western literature. Angry, upsetting and brilliant, Cardinal’s version has thrilled and infuriated audiences across the United States and beyond; and now makes its Scottish and Edinburgh debut. Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, 20-23 August.
For more information, and to book tickets, visit www.eif.co.uk