Edinburgh: A Cultural and Literary History

The Edinburgh Playhouse

Edinburgh is a great city for culture of all kinds, from classical to popular. It's packed with galleries, cinemas and performance venues where all sorts of entertainment is available. One of the most well known of these venues is the Edinburgh Playhouse.

The Playhouse is situated in Greenside Place, a little to the North East of the famous Princes Street. It was designed by Glasgow Architect John Fairweather as a variety theatre, however when it opened in 1929 it began life as a cinema. It continued to be used mainly for films for the next forty years.

In the early 1970s movie going in the UK was suffering badly from the effects of videos and computer games. The Playhouse was closed and initially scheduled for demolition.

Fortunately a Save The Playhouse group managed to raise 15,000 signatures on a petition against demolition. In 1974 the building was granted listed status.

Following its reopening, the Playhouse went through several owners. It really came back to life after a major refurbishment in the early 1990s. In recent years productions have included such diverse attractions as The King and I and Les Miserables.

Today the Playhouse building has Grade B listed building status and is part of the Live Nation group. Package deals have been arranged with local hotels allowing tourists to buy tickets to a show together with accomodation. Some of the hotels currenly providing these packages include The Bonham Hotel, The Caledonian Hilton and the Royal Terrace Hotel.

Playhouse bookings are available through telephone number 0870 6063424.

This site is not associated with or endorsed by The Edinburgh Playhouse or Live nation.