
The Scent of Roses
THE FIRST PERFROMANCE OF THIS PRODUCTION HAS MOVED TO 5 MARCH 2022
If you hold tickets before this date and have not received notice of cancellation, please contact Box Office to reschedule your tickets
World Premiere
A Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh production.
THE SCENT OF ROSES
by Zinnie Harris
Directed by Zinnie Harris
“You would be surprised how a simple thing like locking your husband up in the same room as you, makes you aware of something. Alive.”
A fiction that speaks the truth about the lies we tell, and what we choose to believe.
The Scent of Roses begins with a wife who decides to take her husband hostage to finally have an honest conversation.
This simple, transgressive act of demanding a straight answer sparks a chain of conversations, interrogations, obfuscations and revelations as a circle of connected lives try to work out what is real and find someone they can trust in a post-truth world.
The Scent of Roses is a dark, funny, new play about truths, lies and how we tell them from leading Scottish playwright and director Zinnie Harris, whose recent plays have been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Renowned for bringing new perspectives to classic stories, her acclaimed versions of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Ionescu’s Rhinoceros, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi and the Greek classic The Orestia (in her trilogy This Restless House) have all played on the Lyceum stage.
#TheScentOfRoses
The Scent of Roses is the recipient of a Berwin Lee New Play Commission and was made with the support of Brenda Rennie.
The Lyceum’s 21/22 Season productions were developed with support from the Stephen W Dunn Theatre Fund.
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Cast and Credits
CAST
(In alphabetical order)
Saskia Ashdown Sally
Maureen Beattie Helen
Leah Byrne Caitlin
Peter Forbes Christopher
Neve McIntosh Luci
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer & Director Zinnie Harris
Designer Tom Piper
Composer & Sound Designer Niroshini Thambar
Lighting Designer Ben Ormerod
Movement Director White & Givan
Associate Sound Designer Nik Paget-Tomlinson
Fight Director Kaitlin Howard
Intimacy Director Vanessa Coffey
Casting Director Simone Pereira Hind CDG and Anna Dawson
Dates, Times & Prices
5 - 19 March 2022
Pay What You Can Preview, 7.30pm
Monday 7 March
EVENINGS, 7.30pm
Monday - Saturday
£16 - £33
MATINEES, 2.30pm
Wednesdays, 9 & 16 March
Saturdays, 12 & 19 March
£14 - £29
SOCIALLY DISTANCED PERFORMANCES
Wednesday 9 March, 2.30pm and 7.30pm performances
Tuesday 15 March 7.30pm performance
Running time: to be confirmed during rehearsals
Accessibility
AUDIO DESCRIBED
Thursday 17 March, 7.30pm
Touch Tour at 6.15pm
CAPTIONED & AUDIO DESCRIBED
Saturday 19 March, 2.30pm
Touch Tour at 1.15pm
BSL INTERPRETED
Wednesday 16 March, 7.30pm
Take Part
WHY NOT TRY...
Free events tailored to the show
Post-Show Discussion
Tuesday 8 March
Join members of the cast and creative team for an informal discussion about the show after the evening performance.
Press Coverage
★★★★
'Sometimes funny, frequently disorientating, it is a bold drama that worries away at its theme to create a compelling study of evasion and responsibility.'
The Guardian
★★★★
'Zinnie Harris’ darkly mordant new play...oozes great performances.'
The Stage (paywall)
★★★★
'A contemporary tragedy with devastating consequences.'
The List
★★★★
'mesmerises with the brilliance of both the writing and the performances'
The Morning Star
★★★★
'Powerful and pointed ... very funny, even in the face of denial and disaster.'
The Scotsman
★★★★
'a dark comedy with a hard dramatic core that is very funny and very sad in equal measure'
Arts Reviews Edinburgh