“Welcome to The Lyceum’s 2026/27 season. We’re bringing you epic tales that take us from the darkest corners of human experience to stories of intense joy, love and redemption. Stories which reflect our world and how we want to share it with the people around us,” beams Edinburgh Royal Lyceum’s Artistic Director, James Brining, as he reveals the Grindlay Street Theatre’s new season.
It’s a season of classic Royal Lyceum entertainment, popular favourites, thought-provoking drama, most simultaneously casting a weathered eye on the world we find ourselves inhabiting in today.
Brining adds, “Our season is full of stories that will stay with you, whether they’re large in scale or quietly personal – the ones that spark a conversation on the way home or shift something in you when you least expect it. Theatre demands an audience. Whether it’s your first visit or your hundredth, we’re glad you’re with us – and we can’t wait to welcome you in.
So, without further ado, let’s take a walk through what is arguably, the strongest Royal Lyceum season in many a year.
THE ROYAL LYCEUM 2026/27 SEASON
2 – 18 Oct 2026
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | A National Theatre of Scotland Production in partnership with The Royal Lyceum and in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Adapted by David Harrower from the novel by Muriel Spark. Directed by Vicky Featherstone and featuring Gayle Rankin as Jean Brodie.
Like many of the productions in the 2026/27 Season, there is a nostalgic familiarity to them, the last production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in the Grindlay Street playhouse was the National Theatre of Scotland’s 2003 production, starring Siobhan Redmond. While the lead may have changed, the story remains faithful to Sparks’ work.
At the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, junior-school teacher Miss Jean Brodie is, famously, in her prime. Each year, Brodie selects her ‘set’. The crème de la crème of girls whom she will shape through art and politics, stories of sexual liberation and titillating glimpses of the women they could become. In return, she demands utter loyalty from them all. Witty, seductive and swirling in contradictions, Brodie’s mythical ability to invent her own truths and manipulate her girls ultimately leads her to risk everything. Age guidance 14+
27 Oct – 7 Nov 2026
1984 | A Royal Lyceum, Citizens Theatre and Dundee Rep co-production. By George Orwell, in a new adaptation by Chris Hannan.
George Orwell’s pivotal dystopian novel about the nightmare of a totalitarian society built on terror and lies is brought to vivid life in this powerful new adaptation, which dramatises Winston and Julia’s epic battle to be human against all odds, and the one title I have not seen on the Lyceum stage before.
Children spy on their parents and the Party has abolished the truth. In this totally controlled world, Winston and Julia begin a love affair which catapults them into rebellion against the Party. In 2026, George Orwell’s terrifying post-truth world of ‘alternative facts’ is more relevant than ever before. Recommended for ages 12+
28 Nov 2026 – 3 Jan 2027
A Christmas Carol | A Royal Lyceum production, directed by James Brining and adapted by Deborah McAndrew.
This Christmas sees the return of another Lyceum favourite as Charles Dickens quintessentially festive story returns for a winter season. On Christmas Eve, three mysterious spirits whisk Ebenezer Scrooge on a whirlwind journey through his past, present, and future. Will he discover the true meaning of Christmas before it’s too late? Age Guidance 7+
30 Jan – 27 Feb 2027
Romeo & Juliet, by William Shakespeare | A Royal Lyceum, ETT, Leeds Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse co-production. Directed by Chelsea Walker.
A pair of teenagers fall madly in love while their families violently tear each other apart. An explosive, urgent tale of forbidden love, secrets, loyalty and grief, where one wrong decision can change everything. What do you do when your fate is already sealed, but you’re falling in love for the very first time? A love that refuses to stay in the past, enduring, unending and unbroken.
It’s hard to believe that it was way back in 2010 that the Royal Lyceum last staged an in-house production of Romeo & Juliet, that was directed by Tony Cownie, with Will Featherstone and Kirsty Mackay as the star-crossed lovers. Casting for the new production of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, which opens the 2027 half of the season, has yet to be announced. Age: 12+
26 Mar – 1 May 2027
Guys & Dolls | A Royal Lyceum, Aberdeen Performing Arts, Eden Court Inverness, Citizens Theatre, and Dundee Rep co-production. Based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Directed by James Brining. By arrangement with Music Theatre International.
From the streets of 1950s New York to the heart of Havana, step into a world of big bets and bold characters. Follow a cast of gamblers, showgirls and dreamers as they chase luck, dodge commitment, and discover that love doesn’t always play by the rules. At its heart, two love stories unfold in unexpected ways, reminding us that sometimes the biggest gamble is falling for someone.
One of my all time favourite Royal Lyceum experiences was watching the Company’s 2001 production of Guys & Dolls, which saw Elaine C Smith and the late, great Andy Gray, reduce audiences to tears of laughter as Miss Adelaide and Nicely Nicely Johnson. Brilliant stuff, let’s hope for more of the same.
That too was a Spring musical, something that again appears to be becoming a staple of the Royal Lyceum’s annual programme.
28 May – 19 June 2027
Mother Courage and her Children | A Royal Lyceum production. By Bertolt Brecht, adapted and directed by Zinnie Harris.
Another Lyceum production etched graphically in my mind is their 1998 production of Mother Courage and her Children, starring Maggie Steed in the title role. Dark, relentless and gruelling, Brecht’s anti-war epic is certainly of our time and a poignant choice to close the Lyceum’s 2026/27 season.
Considered to be one of the greatest anti-war plays ever written, it’s the story of Mother Courage, trading her way across battlefields – fierce, pragmatic, and determined to keep her children alive. But in the business of war, every choice comes at a cost. Blending music, dark humour and striking theatricality, this urgent political new production is clear-eyed and compelling and a pivotal story of endurance, sacrifice, and what it means to go on.
VISITING SHOWS
The Royal Lyceum also welcomes a number of visiting productions to its stage in the coming months, these are Zog (7-12 July 2026), Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s classic, feel-good story is brought to roaring, soaring life in this delightful musical for children. The Tailor of Inverness (7-8 September 2026), a rare chance to see Matthew Zajac’s show about his Polish-Ukrainian father. The Gruffalo (10-13 September 2026). Tall Stories’ much-loved magical, musical adaptation of the classic picture book, again by Donaldson and Scheffler returns by popular demand, as part of the show’s 25th anniversary celebrations.
Private Peaceful (17-19 September 2026), based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse, comes the unforgettable story of Private Tommo Peaceful in which a single actor conjures an entire world of characters, landscapes, and emotions, in this acclaimed one-person tour de force. Tristan & Yseult (20-24 October 2026). Experience the original, critically acclaimed and one of the most influential theatre productions of the 21st century, returning to the UK for the first time in 10 years.
The Haunting of Hill House (10-14 November 2026) is a must for all supernatural thriller lovers. Experience the chilling theatrical event of what Stephen King called Shirley Jackson’s ‘near perfect’ ghost story as it takes to the stage in a bold new stage adaptation that is tense, unsettling and darkly playful. As grief, desire and the dangerous comfort of belonging seep through every wall, one question lingers: is Hill House haunted…or are we?
Finally, Donaldson and Scheffler complete their hat-trick when Zog and The Flying Doctors (6 – 11 Jul 2027) finds Zog, super keen student turned air-ambulance, landing with a crash-bang-thump and his Flying Doctor crew, Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout to tend a sunburnt mermaid, a unicorn with one too many horns and a lion with the flu. Age suitability: Most suitable for ages 3+ but all ages welcome.
Full details and ticket information HERE
Why why why don’t I live in Scotland?
I do have tickets for The History of Paper in Pitlochry while I visit in August, so at least there’s that…
You might have to think about moving… 😉