Ten must-see theatre shows coming to Scotland in 2025

John Douglas Thompson as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice | Henry Grossman

The Merchant of Venice Last year, Theatre For A New Audience in New York played host to the Lyceum’s Macbeth: An Undoing; and now, the company makes a return visit to Edinburgh with Arin Arbus’s 2022 production of The Merchant of Venice, starring British-American actor John Douglas Thompson as Shylock. True to Shakespeare’s text but full of 21st century awareness, Arbus’s acclaimed production exposes the themes of antisemitism and “othering” that haunt one of Shakespeare’s most disturbing comedies. Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 22 January until 15 February

The Testament of Gideon Mack First published in 2006, James Robertson's Testament Of Gideon Mack is one of the most intriguing of 21st century Scottish novels, featuring an encounter between a minister who has lost his faith and the devil himself. Now, actor, writer and director Matthew Zajac has adapted this bold novel for his own Dogstar Theatre Company, in a small-scale touring version that will travel across Scotland this spring. On tour from 13 February until 14 March, including dates in Inverness, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Dundee.

A View From the Bridge The Tron Theatre’s incoming artistic director Jemima Levick opens her first season with Arthur Miller’s mighty 1955 classic A View From The Bridge. The production will explore the extraordinary significance for our time of the play’s story about the tensions created by a wave of immigration that the authorities define as “illegal”; and how those pressures drive the hero, Eddie Carbone, towards a fatal crisis of unspoken passion and divided loyalties. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 21 February until 15 March

Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey After its world premiere in Yokohama in November, Scotland’s brilliant international theatre company Vanishing Point brings its latest show back to Scotland. Co-produced with the Kanagawa Arts Theatre of Japan, and based on the surreal short stories of Haruki Murakami, the show features puppet monkeys, lurking shadows, stunning sound, and a Scottish-Japanese cast that includes Elicia Daly, Sam Stopford and Sandy Grierson, who co-writes the show with director Matthew Lenton. Tramway, Glasgow, 22 February until 1 March

Death of a Salesman Last year, Trafalgar Theatres – new owners of the Glasgow Pavilion – came together with former Tron director Andy Arnold to create a magnificent main stage version of David Ireland’s Cyprus Avenue, starring David Hayman. Now, they are working together again, on a new staging of Arthur Miller’s tremendous postwar tragedy Death Of A Salesman. Hayman stars as Miller’s increasingly desperate hero Willy Loman, in a show that will tour across the UK. Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, 5-9 March; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 19 until 22 March

Wild Rose One sure way for theatres to thrive in tough times is to create stage shows based on much-loved films; and This spring the Lyceum will stage the world premiere of the musical Wild Rose, based on the acclaimed 2018 film starring Jessie Buckley. The show is written by original screenwriter Nicole Taylor, and directed by John Tiffany, former associate director of the National Theatre of Scotland; and Dawn Sievewright stars, as a young single mother in Glasgow who longs for a career as a country singer, but finds the going painfully tough. Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 6 March until 5 April

Through the Shortbread Tin In the early 1760s, the young Scottish poet James Macpherson published a series of epic poems which, he claimed, were the collected works of a 3rd century Gaelic bard called Ossian. Controversy has raged ever since about the authenticity of the material; and now, 21st century Glasgow writer Martin O’Connor revisits the story in a new solo show for the National Theatre of Scotland, exploring the impact of Macpherson’s hugely popular work on Scottish culture, myth-making and identity. On tour from 1 April until 2 May, including dates in Melrose, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oban, Lerwick, and Inverness

The Great Gatsby First published in 1925, F Scott Fitzgerald’s haunting novel The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest studies of wealth, class and privilege ever to emerge from the United States; and the centrepiece of the 2025 Pitlochry summer season will be former artistic director Elizabeth Newman’s centenary stage adaptation of the novel, set among wealthy Long Islanders in the jazz age. The show is co-produced with Derby Theatre, and will be directed by Derby’s artistic director, Sarah Brigham. In repertoire at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, 27 June until 25 September

Black Hole Sign Uma Nada-Rajah is one of Scotland’s most challenging young playwrights; and her new play Black Hole Sign – co-produced by the Tron Theatre and the Traverse, with the National Theatre of Scotland – is based on her own experience as an NHS nurse, both during and since the pandemic. Set in a crumbling Glasgow A&E department, the play is directed by the Traverse’s Gareth Nicholls; and is both unsparing and passionate about the absurdities, tragedies and hilarity of working life in Britain’s most beloved and besieged institution. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 23 September until 4 October; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 8-18 October

Small Acts of Love In a great moment for theatre in Scotland, Glasgow’s beloved Citizens’ Theatre reopens after six years of rebuilding, with this new musical drama by playwright Frances Poet and Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue. Based on intensive research with those impacted by the horrific Lockerbie attack of 1988, the play explores the experience of two communities in Scotland and North America who find themselves drawn together by tragedy, and by the quest for new ways forward. Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, September 2025, dates tbc