Overview

• The final Edinburgh International Festival performances run through August 17 at Festival Theatre before the production embarks on a Scotland-wide tour.
• Choreographer Sophie Laplane and director James Bonas use Elizabeth I’s moribund perspective to craft a hallucinatory Tudor rivalry in two acts.
• Design by Soutra Gilmour blends Tudor motifs with punk minimalism while a live score by Mikael Karlsson and Michael P. Atkinson fuses folk textures and electronics.
• Critics note that Act I’s extensive scene-setting hinders momentum but praise the second act’s surreal tableaux and emotional clarity.
• Standout performances include Kayla-Maree Tarantolo’s nimble Jester, Charlotta Öfverholm’s frail, elder Elizabeth and Harvey Littlefield’s looming young monarch.