I have been frequenting the Brunton Theatre a lot lately, for two reasons. One being to perform…read morewith my youth theatre group and the other being to audition for stuff here. Going in there's a cafe up ahead and a nice little seating area with statues and an old art-deco style ceiling. There are three "theatres" here, the main theatre, Venue 1 (a large concert hall) and Venue 2 (a large function hall). Venue 2 tends to be where they hold auditions for productions (e.g. the annual Christmas pantomime which is ALWAYS sold out) There is also a small rehearsal room which is located in the side building within the council offices. I generally do like the Brunton. It is versatile and well-served by the buses from the city centre. The cafe is also great, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to perform here.

As a venue the Brunton Theatre has always held it's own in East Lothian and since the…read moretransformation of the upper dancehall (which I used to attend regularly as a child accompanying my parents as they had fun at dinner dances) into another auditorium, the Brunton can now accommodate more than one good show at a time. The layout is good and the views are uninterrupted (unless a giant sits in front of you which occasionally happens to me!) which proves to complete the experience. The Bon Jovi Experience turned out to be exactly what it said on the tin! The lead singer resembled Jon Bon Jovi not only by voice but by looks too. Even the lead guitarist 'Ritchie' (who seemed to have his own small fanclub in) resembled the 'original'. They played for an hour, had a 20minute interval then played for another hour and it still ended to soon! All in all, a good evening had by myself and friends and we all agreed it was worth the £17.50/ticket. Would definitely see these guys again

Although it's a bit out of the city centre, this is a great venue for seeing a show. It belongs to…read morethe council, so it's run along much the same lines as the other council-owned Assembly Rooms - functional yet still retaining some of that old-school glamour associated with the theatre. I went to see West Side Story here not long ago, and I much prefer this place to other venues like the Festival Theatre. It's a bit smaller, and so you won't get as many big names playing here, but I've never been disappointed. It has 5 resident stage companies at any given time, but it's also a Fringe venue so if you're up here for the festival you'll no doubt find yourself in here at some point. My one tip... although the council recently spent loads on a refurb, they didn't make the bar area any bigger. If you're wanting a drink during the interval then don't hang about when the lights come back on!

The Churchill Theatre is an attractive and really traditional venue for the performing arts in the…read moreMorningside area. It's fairly grand, and quite a prominent landmark in the area, but still retains its feel of being a local theatre in terms of character and ambience. The first time I came along to see a show here was for my sister's group dancing performance, put on by the dance school she was attending at the time. Watching a show here is comfortable and enjoyable viewing, and the auditorium is cosy, yet at the same time a decent size, so you don't feel too squished in. There are a lot of dance performances here, plus the theatre is used regularly by several amateur theatre companies, so it's a good chance to see something different and up and coming. The Churchill is also a Fringe venue, so is worth coming out to for shows, and if you're not from the city, you'll get to see the bustling and popular Morningside.

This theatre makes me feel cultured as $%&#. They should put that sentence on a t-shirt and sell it…read moreas merch... I would buy that. But all high brow/low brow t-shirt genius aside, Traverse is a decent theatre in the heart of the city that placates my PASD - Post Art School Disorder. You see, i'm a Fine Arts kid. One of the cheerfully idiotic few who wave their BFA proudly and wax poetic about Russian literature and experimental film at any opportunity. After four years immersed in the world of post secondary fine art education, I require frequent injections of artsy fartsy stuff to keep me balanced and my life long dream of becoming a world famous poet quietly ticking away in the background. Sure, Usher Hall steps in to hoist this burden every so often, but when it comes to pretentious theatre that I unapologetically adore: Traverse wins. The staff are lovely, the drinks are fairly priced, the steps in the theatre space have this "I could go down at any moment" grunge aspect to them and they always have an interesting mix of indie shows throughout the year. From children's magic shows to dance to a one woman show retelling a complete novel in one act (nod to A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing) - you might not always love it, but it will always be something worth talking about. Definitely keep an eye on this space in August for some the the Fringe festival's most unusual work.

The Traverse has quite captured my heart. I've not been there during the year, I'm afraid (not…read morebeing a permanent resident of Edinburgh, sob) but during festival season the Traverse can be trusted to put on the most impressive array of shows, most of which are amazing. Granted, I'm a 'theatre person' so my opinion is probably a bit biased, but I'm usually very impressed by the offerings at the Traverse. Even if I don't like a show, it's never all bad - there's something good to each show, whether it's the writing, the acting, or the technical aspects. The Traverse focuses on new Scottish playwrights, although during the festival many international companies come through as well. It probably hosts the largest concentration of Fringe First winners of all the venues, and each show is on a highly professional level. As for the venue itself, there are two theatres - a bigger, traditional space and a smaller black box theatre, and there's not a bad seat in either house. There's a coffee shop upstairs and a bar downstairs, and one can usually hobnob with the actors in the bar after a given show, which makes theatre that much more accessible. As far as quality goes, the Traverse is hands-down my favorite venue in Edinburgh.

Morningside's generally out of my way, so I don't venture there often. It's not really far, per se,…read moreit's just it's not on my way TO anything so I generally miss out on stuff that goes on there. But I went to Church Hill Theatre to see a friend of a friend in a production of Hair. You know Hair, the infamous hippie musical from the 70s. It's hilarious and worth a watch. The production itself was really fun. But as far as the theatre goes, it stands also on its own. It's really gorgeous on the outside, and equally gorgeous on the inside. The lighting and all was done really well, which I tend to think is creditable to the Theatre itself, as well as the people who work on the lighting. The sound was good, too, so kudos to both the sound engineers and the space itself. If you ever find anything going on there, definitely go. It'll be worth it.

A magnificent building on the outside and enthralling plays on the inside, this is a great theatre…read moreto come to for a night out. It's a fairly small theatre so its atmosphere is more involving and brings you closer to the heart of the play on offer. As a theatre it offers more than many of your corporate theatres including amateur theatre groups. These are my favourite of all theatre productions and what I believe real theatre is all about. It's not quite grass roots and these productions are very good, but still raw and exciting. It is worth a visit and will offer a good night out, but also offers a variety of classes over time. Finding out when these are on can be a bit of a struggle, but checking the boards outside every now and then should keep you updated with what is going on.

Until very recently, I had never actually been to the King's. I'd been to the Playhouse, Festival,…read moreLyceum and Traverse theatres, but not the King's. Time to change that. On Wednesday, I came here to see the new touring production of Dracula, and it was fantastic. The cast, costumes, set and lighting design, down to the special effects all felt like the spectacle of a West End production. It did not feel like a touring production at all, and I can assure that if you catch it on tour, you won't be disappointed. The King's itself is a gorgeous theatre, if not slightly dated. The actual auditorium is beautiful, with a glorious domed ceiling and beautiful ornate box seating areas, but I thought the bar and foyer areas seemed a bit pokey. The theatre is due to close for a major refurbishment in 2021, so hopefully they'll do something about the foyer. The prices for programmes, ice creams, drinks etc are the usual for theatres - slightly overpriced. The in-house programmes are £3.50 which I think is quite a good deal, as the programme for Dracula had a gorgeous design and contained lots of information about the show. I'd imagine that the contents will vary between productions. Ice cream is £3 which is a bit of a rip off to be honest, but it's S Luca so you know you're paying for quality. There is a Scotmid across the street if you want to be cheap. Most theatres tend to have a supermarket chain around the corner, I guess to make trade off anyone who doesn't want to pay extortionate bar prices. Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the King's and I can't wait to come back to see some more top notch plays!

I saw a few shows there and I always like to go back for more, not only because I really like this…read moreold theater inside and out. The interior and exterior are both mystic and spooky in its own way. Being one of the last to leave after a show really lets you explore this place. Walk up and down the stairs and take in the presence of old time past. Apparently the theater was founded around 1850 and pretty much still display ,or seem to, all its original features: boisterous chandeliers, large stair cases, red carpets and curtains, amazing architecture and lustrous statues. It is is also true that the seats are not the most comfortable or that it is not always easy to see the screen with people sitting infront of you or that the downstairs hallways are quite tight and could cause claustrophobic feelings. But this should not be a reason to miss out on a spectacular show only because you are not into old places.

During term time, Bedlam is home to the University's theatre society and so I've seen a handful of…read moreplays here during my time as a student. The nice way of putting it, is that it's much more casual and informal than most other theatre venues. Alternatively, I could just call a spade a spade and point out that it's a bit rough round the edges and shabby, from the toilets to the makeshift café/bar area which reminds me of a church hall where people run playgroups for toddlers. Because of this, on the plus side it means that tickets for shows here are often very good value and on top of that the fact that it's quite small means that it often attracts a lot of new, not-yet-known acts during the Festival.

The greatest charm about Bedlam Theatre is that you never really know what it is that you are going…read moreto get when you go there to see a performance (even knowing what performance is on doesn't quite tell you what you are in for). All the plays are put on by students (mostly those doing performing arts degrees, but I'm sure there are some exceptions) and many of them involve at least some degree of improvisation. Some of the visitors from abroad may not quite get all the jokes on offer, but for all it is well worth a visit and does make for a good night out. Not only is it reasonably priced, but this is the grass roots of theatre - real theatre. It has all the charms of a street theatre interwoven will all the atmosphere of a theatre of fixed abode - a winner all round. I still remember my first visit here, to see the Improverts, and it was genuinely funny. Beyond saying it will be a good laugh and night out I cannot recommend it more highly.

We went to see the new musical Wild Rose on its second night in The Lyceum Theatre. What a lovely…read moresurprise. The front is modern, it is lovely organised, but the real surprise is inside. This is a lovely little theatre and makes for an intimate performance but at the same time it looks marvellous. A very nice place to enjoy a great performance.

The lion king at Londons lyceum theatre is the best show in London right now I cried most of the…read moreway through it the actors dancers sets staging music just every aspect of the show is fantastic every body concerned with that show deserves an award the highest that can be given in the feild of theatre i hope it runs forever i will never see it again but the memory of that wonderful night will live in my heart forever thank you thank you thankyou to all concerned the best night of my life

If you wade your way through the local characters and student types that hang out outside the…read moreBedlam theatre you wont be disappointed by the shows inside, which are mainly student created amature dramatic excersises - RSC they are not but creative all the same Ess

The bedlam, despite the huddle of students that hang around outside, is not a bad theater. It comes…read morealive at the festival when the improverts perform every night of the week. This SHOULD NOT BE MISSED! The improverts are the only act I've seen at the Bedlam but they're fantastic. Very funny. They have a bar that is stocked with bottles, no draught. Worth a visit during the festival but can't vouch for it any other time.