Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Reveal 2025 Season

Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre have announced their 2025 season – a programme that celebrates creativity, connection, and community.  Audiences can look forward to a  year of premieres, new creations, and returning favourites for all ages. With narratives that spark the imagination, the season highlights Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre's unwavering commitment to producing original, thought-provoking and engaging work.

 

In a landmark collaboration, a brand-new play featuring Brian Cox will come to Dundee Rep this summer. Co-produced by The National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival, and Dundee Rep Theatre, in association with Playful Productions and Neal Street Productions, Make It Happen explores the rise, fall, and failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Led by Fred “The Shred” Goodwin, the bank, once a symbol of prudence, soars before plummeting, placing Scotland at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis.

 

Set in Edinburgh, Make It Happen sees legendary actor Brian Cox return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as Adam Smith, the ghost of fiscal past. Written by James Graham (Sherwood, Dear England), hailed as one of the most influential and finger-on-the-pulse writers of our time, and directed by the Rep's award-winning Artistic Director Andrew Panton, this bitingly funny new satire delves into the unchecked growth, spiralling greed and nail-biting hubris that brought the world's economy to its knees. Make It Happen will preview at Dundee Rep Theatre in late July before its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in August.

 

The year features three major new stage productions from Dundee Rep Theatre, beginning with a new staging of John Patrick Shanley's multi-award-winning drama Doubt: A Parable, which will premiere at Dundee Rep in April.

 

One of the most acclaimed stage dramas of the last twenty years, the play follows a cycle of accusation and mistrust among the teaching staff of a Catholic boys' school in 1960s New York. Widely regarded as one of the most compelling stage works of the past two decades and a sensation when it opened Off-Broadway in 2004, it has since been celebrated worldwide, with multiple Broadway and West End revivals, and was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film. Directed by the award-winning Joanna Bowman (Escaped Alone), this powerful new Dundee Rep production will be the first professional staging of the play in Scotland in nearly 15 years.

 

In the autumn, Artistic Director Andrew Panton will direct a brand-new production of The Glass Menagerie. The beloved Tennessee Williams classic returns nearly 30 years after the 1996 Dundee Rep production, which starred a young David Tennant.

 

For those already thinking ahead to Christmas, families can look forward to a brand-new musical adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk, written by writing duo Jonathan O'Neill and Isaac Savage. The pair were part of the pioneering international residency for musical theatre artists led by Dundee Rep at Cove Park in March last year. This enchanting production directed by Stephen Whitson offers a fresh, anarchic and hilarious spin on the classic fairy tale, sure to captivate audiences of all ages. Featuring a lively 10-strong ensemble of actor-musicians, the heartwarming show is filled with catchy songs, surprising twists and bursting with Rep Christmas magic that audiences know and love.

 

This year also sees Scottish Dance Theatre return to tour some of their most successful recent work to audiences across Scotland. Artistic Director Joan Clevillé's fun-filled family show Pirates! was a smash-hit when it opened in Dundee in 2023 and went on to embark on a critically acclaimed London run at The Place last December. Now the crew are set to embark on a new tour across Scotland this spring, with performances in their home port of Dundee Rep before setting sail for Inverness and Stirling from 4 to 26 April, as well as a special pair of Aberdeen performances as part of the Tall Ship Races Cultural Programme on 19–20 July.

 

Returning to the Scottish Dance Theatre studio this September will be Meytal Blanaru's mesmerising immersive dance experience Ray. And in December, Little Ray, the beloved interactive version for young audiences supported by Starcatchers, Scotland's organisation for early years theatre and dance, comes back.

 

This summer, Engage at Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre present All Will Be Well, a fast-paced, comic, and surreal new play featuring the songs of Dundee legend Michael Marra. Staged with a hundred-strong cast of community performers, the production follows a group of mysteriously stranded festival-goers on their journey back to Dundee, blending a dozen of Marra's iconic songs with a fresh script by emerging Dundonian writer Jade Anderson in a tribute to the city's vibrant spirit and creative energy.

 

Back by popular demand and following the hugely successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024, jaw-dropping dance double-bill The Flock and Moving Cloud travels to Colombia in February and returns to the Dundee Rep stage in October. Inspired by the desire to fly and Scottish folk music, the company tour the two works with dates and venues to be announced soon.

 

After near sell-out seasons in Edinburgh, London, and its US premiere, fan-favourite gig-theatre show No Love Songs continues its tour with transfers to New York and Australia. In Australia, the show will begin at Sydney Lyric's Foundry Theatre before touring major cities, including Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Meanwhile, Anna Russell-Martin and John McLarnon will reprise their roles for the Off-Broadway production at SoHo Playhouse, running for 12 weeks from April to June.

 

Dundee Rep Theatre is dedicated to nurturing local performance talent, including early career and emerging artists. This season, we're proud to showcase Scottish stories that resonate with the unique experiences of our local audiences. Throughout the year, the Rep will also host an intoxicating programme of visiting theatre, dance and music. Kicking off 2025 with a celebration of Scottish work presented in collaboration with Dundee Fringe, which includes Lubna Kerr's honest and hilarious autobiographical show Chatterbox, smash-hit reimagining Jekyll & Hyde: A One-Woman Show, and the Dungeons and Dragons inspired improv comedy Dicebreaker.

 

Other productions hitting the Rep stage include Vanishing Point's major new international theatre collaboration, based on the short stories of Haruki Murakami, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, The National Theatre of Scotland visit with their fiery musical drama KELI, and the world-renowned Phoenix Dance Theatre with Inside Giovanni's Room, a full-length dance production inspired by one of the most important novels of the 20th century, James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room.

 

As we look ahead to 2025, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre are proud to continue nurturing the creative spirit that defines our community. Throughout the season, all three of their rehearsal studios will be buzzing with creativity and collaboration as they welcome 300 participants to their Engage classes. Alongside this, their two Dramatherapy Services for adults and families offer a unique and vital service, fostering a creative community, supporting personal growth, and strengthening connections. By providing these essential services, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre enrich lives beyond the stage, ensuring the artistic heart of the city remains vibrant and inclusive.

 

Michael Duke and Claire Lamont, Interim Associate Directors (Engage), said, "All Will Be Well is a perfect example of what makes Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre unique: creating something by and for the people of Dundee. This production brings Michael Marra's iconic songs back to the stage of Dundee Rep, while celebrating the diversity and creativity of our community. Collaborating with over 100 participants and the brilliant local artists who lead our classes will be an absolute joy."

 

Joan Clevillé, Artistic Director for Scottish Dance Theatre said, "From touring our work across Scotland to sharing it on international stages, we are proud to serve as creative ambassadors for Dundee and Scotland. Each performance reflects the partnerships and passion of artists, participants and communities coming together to create something special."

 

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