Edinburgh Playhouse is a theatre in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore o ...

, Scotland. With 3,059 seats it is the second largest theatre in the United Kingdom after the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

. The theatre is owned by

Ambassador Theatre Group The Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is a major international theatre organisation headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in Woking (head office), London, New York, Sydney, Mannheim and Cologne. ATG's key operations comprise three int ...

Building history

The theatre opened on 12 August 1929 as a super-cinema, and was modelled on the Roxy Cinema in New York. It was designed by the specialist cinema architect John Fairweather, most famous for his

Green's Playhouse Green's Playhouse was an entertainment complex comprising a cinema, ballroom, tea rooms and other facilities. The Playhouse was at 126 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland, commissioned by ''George Green Ltd'', designed by the architect John Fai ...

cinema in Glasgow. The original colour scheme was described on opening as follows: The building was originally listed Category B in 1974, and this was upgraded by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

to Category A in 2008.

Performances

In recent years, The Playhouse has played host to a wide variety of artists and shows. It also caters to the youth of the surrounding area who are involved in stage experience projects and youth musicals projects in which children as young as 10, and young adults as old as 21, can take part in shows on the world-famous stage. It is used as a venue for both the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

and

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

each August.

Technical details

The front of house sound position is somewhat unusually located at the rear of the Dress Circle. Towards the rear of the stalls, there is 41 mm unistrut Product 221-724 fixed to the ceiling to facilitate the hanging delay speakers. In the Gallery there is also a winch bar across the full width of the auditorium to again facilitate the hanging of delay speakers. The theatre now benefits from a lift to bring up 45' trailers and tractor units up to stage level, which is three floors below street level at the rear of the theatre.

Ghost

The building is said to be haunted by a ghost called Albert, a man in a grey coat who appears on level six accompanied by a chill in the air. He is variously said to have been either a stagehand who was killed in an accident or a night-watchman who committed suicide.

Notes

External links

ATG website - Edinburgh Playhouse
{{Coord, 55, 57, 24.89, N, 3, 11, 7.29, W, display=title Playhouse Playhouse Playhouse Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed theatres in Scotland Reportedly haunted locations in Edinburgh