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Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Photograph: Edinburgh Festival Theatre

The 6 best theatres in Edinburgh

As the home of the world’s biggest arts festival, it makes sense that this city would have a thriving theatre calendar year round. Here are the best theatres in Edinburgh

Arusa Qureshi
Edited by
Arusa Qureshi
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Edinburgh is known for being a hotbed of creativity, with the annual Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe bringing the hottest talents in theatre and comedy to the city for a full month. But throughout the year, calendars are packed with great things to do, especially when it comes to the arts. The Scottish capital’s many theatres offer regular seasons and one-off gems ranging from classic works to new writing. Here we’ve picked out the six best theatres in Edinburgh right now.

RECOMMENDED: Your ultimate guide to the Edinburgh Fringe 2022

Best theatres in Edinburgh

  • Theatre

One of the oldest theatre buildings in the city, the Royal Lyceum has since 1965 been home to the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, which produces a seasonal series of original and revived theatre productions for 48 weeks of every year, making it one of Scotland’s largest and most important producing companies. The range of work the company gets through is impressive, from restaged popular classics to work by new playwrights like Scotland’s DC Jackson and leftfield choices such as ‘Dark Places’, the debut theatrical script from Edinburgh crime author Ian Rankin.

  • Theatre

The King’s Theatre has a special place in Edinburgh’s cultural history, with the foundation stone laid back in 1906 by Andrew Carnegie. Today, it remains the place to go for a good old-fashioned Christmas panto. But aside from the festive season, you’ll find productions from the city’s amateur companies, touring works, children’s shows and plenty more all year round.

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  • Theatre

As a doyen of Edinburgh’s cultural scene, the Traverse Theatre (known locally as the Trav) recently celebrated 50 years of bringing cutting-edge theatre and award-winning playwrights and performers to its stages. It’s continually at capacity during the Fringe, and throughout the rest of the year it flexes its creative muscles with similar force, presenting an array of specialist mini festivals and seasons.

  • Theatre

Among Edinburgh’s best and biggest theatrical spaces, the Festival Theatre is unique in that it offers the best of multiple eras to its public. With the largest stage in Scotland, the Festival is an extremely versatile space, hosting touring musical productions, Edinburgh International Festival shows and low-key rock concerts. It’s also the Edinburgh home of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet.

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  • Theatre

Owned by the Ambassador Theatre group, the Playhouse is the largest and one of the most iconic theatre spaces in Edinburgh, not to mention one of the largest non-sport theatres in the UK, with a capacity of just over 3,000. Although initially it built a reputation as a home for big-name rock concerts, in recent years it has been used more as a venue for large-scale touring musical theatre shows, which appear on the bill on an almost weekly basis.

  • Art
  • Arts centres

As Edinburgh’s newest – and hippest – multi-arts venue, Summerhall has quickly evolved from its former life as the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies into a cutting-edge performance space. Year round it puts on a programme of largely avant-garde, occasionally political exhibitions, talks, music, theatre, dance and film events – as well as functioning as a space for workshops and residencies.

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