# Drama at the Edinburgh International Festival: history and repertoire, 1947–1956

Drama was an important part of the Edinburgh International Festival from its earliest days, with performances taking place at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, the Assembly Hall, the Gateway Theatre and occasionally in other venues.
The first company to appear was The Old Vic Theatre Company who returned many times later, together with a series of visiting companies from Britain and abroad.

## List

| Date | Company | Drama | Venue | Director | Principal actors |
| 1947 | The Old Vic Theatre Company | The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | John Burrell | |
| 1947 | The Old Vic Theatre Company | King Richard II (Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Ralph Richardson | |
| 1947 | Le compagnie Jouvet de Théâtre de l'Athénée | L'école des femmes (Molière) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | | |
| 1947 | Le compagnie Jouvet de Théâtre de l'Athénée | Ondine (Jean Giraudoux) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | | |
| 1948 | La Compagnie Madeleine Renaud Jean-Louis Barrault | Hamlet (Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | | |
| 1948 | La Compagnie Madeleine Renaud Jean-Louis Barrault | Les Fausses Confidences (Marivaux) and Baptiste (Jacques Prévert) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Jean-Louis Barrault | |
| 1948 | Tennent Productions | Medea (Euripides, adapted by Robinson Jeffers) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | John Gielgud | Eileen Herlie, Hector MacGregor, Ralph Michael, Elspeth March, Cathleen Nesbitt, |
| 1948 | The Scottish Theatre | Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites (Sir David Lindsay) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1949 | Sherek Players | The Cocktail Party (T. S. Eliot) World premiere | Royal Lyceum Theatre | E. Martin Browne | Alec Guinness |
| 1949 | Sherek Players | The Man in the Raincoat (Peter Ustinov) World premiere | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Peter Ustinov | |
| 1949 | Düsseldorf Theatre Company | Faust (Goethe) Part One | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Gustav Gründgens | Horst Caspar, Gustav Gründgens, Antje Weisgerber |
| 1949 | The Scottish Theatre | Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites (Sir David Lindsay) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1949 | The Scottish Theatre | The Gentle Shepherd (Allan Ramsay) | The Royal High School | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1950 | Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | The Queen's Comedy (James Bridie) World premiere | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Tyrone Guthrie, John Casson | |
| 1950 | Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | The Atom Doctor (Eric Linklater) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1950 | Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | Douglas (Rev John Home) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | John Casson | Sybil Thorndike, Lewis Casson |
| 1950 | The Old Vic Theatre Company | Bartholomew Fair (Ben Jonson) | The Assembly Hall | George Devine | |
| 1951 | Henry Sherek | Pygmalion (Bernard Shaw) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Peter Potter | Margaret Lockwood, Alan Webb, Charles Victor, R Stuart Lindsell |
| 1951 | Tennent Productions | The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Peter Brook | John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, Flora Robson, Lewis Casson |
| 1951 | Le Théâtre de l'Atelier, Paris | L'enterrement (Henry Monnier) and Le Bal des voleurs (Jean Anouilh) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | André Barsacq | |
| 1951 | Le Théâtre de l'Atelier, Paris | Le Rendez-vous de Senlis (Jean Anouilh) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | André Barsacq | |
| 1951 | Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites (Sir David Lindsay) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie, Moultrie Kelsall | |
| 1952 | Henry Sherek | The Player King (Christopher Hassall) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Norman Marshall | |
| 1952 | The Edinburgh Festival Society | Bleak House, an adaptation (Dickens) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | | Emlyn Williams |
| 1952 | The Old Vic Trust and Glasgow Citizen's Theatre | The Highland Fair (Joseph Mitchell) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1952 | The Old Vic Trust | Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | Hugh Hunt | Claire Bloom, Alan Badel, Athene Seyler, Peter Finch, Lewis Casson |
| 1953 | Henry Sherek | The Confidential Clerk (T.S. Eliot) World premiere | Royal Lyceum Theatre | E. Martin Browne | |
| 1953 | Le Théâtre National Populaire, Paris | L'Avare (Molière) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Jean Vilar | |
| 1953 | Le Théâtre National Populaire, Paris | Richard II (William Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Jean Vilar | |
| 1953 | Le compagnie de mime Marcel Marceau, Paris | A programme of Pantomimes and Mimodrames | Royal Lyceum Theatre | | |
| 1953 | The Old Vic Trust | Hamlet (Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | Michael Benthall | Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Fay Compton, John Chandos |
| 1953 | Glasgow Citizen's Theatre | The Highland Fair (Joseph Mitchell) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1954 | Tennent Productions | The Matchmaker (Thornton Wilder) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Tyrone Guthrie | |
| 1954 | Le Comédie Française | Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (Molière) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Jean Meyer | |
| 1954 | The Old Vic Trust | Macbeth (Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | Michael Benthall | Paul Rogers, Ann Todd, Eric Porter |
| 1954 | The Old Vic Trust | A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) | Empire Theatre | Michael Benthall | |
| 1954 | The Edinburgh Gateway Company | The Other Dear Charmer (Robert Kemp) | Gateway Theatre | Peter Potter | |
| 1955 | The Old Vic Trust | Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Michael Benthall | Gerald Cross, John Neville, Paul Rogers |
| 1955 | Edwige Feuillère and her company | La Dame aux Camélias (Dumas) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Edwige Feuillère | Edwige Feuillère |
| 1955 | Tennent Productions | A Life in the Sun (Thornton Wilder) | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | Michael Goodliffe, Irene Worth |
| 1956 | Tennent Productions with Henry Sherek | Under Milk Wood (Dylan Thomas) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Douglas Cleverdon, Edward Burnham | Donald Houston, Joan Newell, Peter Halliday, Gareth Jones |
| 1956 | Piccolo Teatro, Milan | Arlecchino, The Servant of Two Masters (Carlo Goldoni) and Questa sera si recita a soggetto (Luigi Pirandello) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Giorgio Strehler | Tino Carraro, Checco Rissone |
| 1956 | Henry Sherek | Fanny's First Play and Village Wooing (George Bernard Shaw) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | Douglas Seale, Roy Rich | Michael Denison, Brenda Bruce, Jacqueline Mackenzie |
| 1956 | The Stratford Ontario Festival Company | Henry V (William Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | Michael Langham | Wliiam Needles, Christopher Plummer, Douglas Campbell, Bruno Gerussi, Tony Van Bridge |
| 1956 | The Stratford Ontario Festival Company | Oedipus Rex (Sophocles) in the translation by W. B. Yeats | The Assembly Hall | Tyrone Guthrie | Douglas Campbell, Eleanor Stuart, Robert Goodier, Donald Davis |
| 1956 | The Edinburgh Gateway Company | The Anatomist (James Bridie) | Gateway Theatre | James Gibson | |