Festival Theatre

The Edinburgh International Festival is running a somewhat reduced programme this year thanks to a recent period of funding uncertainty that we don’t really have time to get into here but has hopefully been resolved in time for next year’s festival. The international side of things has been particularly slimmed down, but by way of compensation there’s a very impressive homegrown centrepiece. Make It Happen is a world premiere from James Graham, probably Britain’s most successful living playwright and a brilliant chronicler of recent history. For EIF 2025 he’s trained his eye on the ‘rise, fall and fail’ of the Royal Bank of Scotland and its role in the global financial crash of 2008. Which doesn’t necessarily sound that fun on paper, but Graham’s ability to spin this stuff into gold is long established.  Graham is, of course, English, but Scots need not worry about lack of representation: the Dundee Rep co-production will be directed by the theatre’s boss Andrew Panton and moreover stars Brian Cox in his first show at home for years. He’ll play the ghost of legendary Scots economist Adam Smith, who haunts his acolyte Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin (Sandy Grierson), who presided over RBS during its collapse.