Sunshine on Leith at the Kings Theatre Edinburgh.
- alijenfra
- Jun 8, 2022
- 4 min read

Sunshine on Leith is playing at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh until the 18th of June. This is the last show that is scheduled for the King's Theatre for the foreseeable ahead of its renovations. I attended the press night to finally see my first professional production of the much-loved Scottish musical.
Sunshine on Leith follows Davy and Ally who have just arrived home in Edinburgh after their most recent tour in Afghanistan with the armed forces. We see the boys struggle to adapt to life back in Edinburgh.
Keith Jack’s performance as Ally was excellent. I always enjoy seeing Jack perform and he definitely did not disappoint in this role. Ally goes on quite the journey in this show and his life is turned upside down. I felt Jack did well to distinguish between the joyous moments and the sombre ones. As always, his singing was flawless and he brought great energy to the role.
Connor Going was fantastic in the role of Davy, Going and Jack made a great duo and together were a joy to watch. Going was incredibly energetic and his character was very accessible to the audience. He soared through the score despite there being a few technical difficulties with microphones not working. Even when this happened Going was a true professional and improvised and made sure he could be heard.
Blythe Jandoo portrayed Liz beautifully and her voice was simply stunning. I really enjoyed her performance. Liz is not scared to take risks and in many ways is a very relatable character as she wants to live her life to the fullest but also worries about what the future hold for her. Jandoo did well to lean into Liz’s fierce personality but did not shy away from the vulnerable moments.
Rhiane Drummond gave a great performance as Yvonne. Drummond and Jandoo were a fantastic best friend duo and had honest interactions with one another. Yvonne is a determined young woman who knows what she wants and has not been lucky in love. She and Davy’s relationship is lovely and I really enjoyed watching Drummond perform.

Alyson Orr’s Jean was spot on. Orr gave a very relatable performance as the matriarch of the family and the glue that holds everyone together. Much like Ally’s character Jean's life is turned upside down in the show and I enjoyed watching how Orr reacted to each of change in her life. Her relationship with Rab was brilliant and I loved her more tender scenes especially when Liz is packing for America.
Keith MacPherson was the perfect Rab. He was bold and brash but loved his family fiercely and would do anything for them. He warmed my heart when he was singing ‘Oh Jean’ and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. There were character traits that reminded me of my own Dad and I think this made MacPherson very likeable as Rab. His conversation with Liz really pulled on your heartstrings and the little glimmers of vulnerability worked really well.
The ensemble in this show is truly a marvel, they are not only on stage for the majority of the show but they also double as the band. I was extremely impressed by not only their energy and talent but also by the camaraderie between them all. They all just seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage and that, in turn, made the audience really invested in the performance. The ensemble for this performance was Richard Colvin, Anna Fordham, James Hudson, Kit Orton, Richie Spencer, Jessica Brydges, Rachel McAllister and Meg Chaplin.
Elizabeth Newman and Ben Occhipinti’s direction was wonderful. This musical is full of heart and life and I really was immersed in it from start to finish. We have characters whose lives are turned upside down in the course of two hours and I think Newman and Occhipinti have worked closely with the actors to create characters who are relatable and audience members can find pieces of themselves or someone they know in these characters. The way in which the space is used in this production is genius. Adrian Rees has built a miniature city of Edinburgh modeled on top of scaffolding above the band which is moveable depending on where the story is happing. We frequently see Davy and Yvonne on top of this having conversations. We see the stage transformed from a hospital to a pub to Scottish Parliament. I also want to mention how much I loved the end of Act One with ‘Hate my Love for You’ it was so powerful.
How can we talk about this musical and not mention The Proclaimers. Their music is iconic and epic and the score for this musical was no different. Every song was executed well and fitted seamlessly into the plot.
Overall, I really enjoyed this performance of Sunshine on Leith, it has all the things a good musical should have: bundles of energy, catchy songs and a whole lot of heart. The story was relatable and feel good and you left the theatre with a huge grin on your face and of course humming your favourite Proclaimers song.

Currently playing at Capital Theatre's King Theatre Edinburgh until Saturday 18th of June and will be at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 24th of June to 4th of October.
Get tickets for Sunshine on Leith at Capital Theatre's here:
Get tickets for Sunshine on Leith at Pitlochry Festival Theatre here:
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