Festival Theatre: Wed 13 – Sat 16 May 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Southern Light’s take on Guys and Dolls at the Festival Theatre is beautifully sung, acted with comic glee, and falls only just short of greatness.
The 1950 musical (music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows) is a perennial favourite; there’s certainly been no shortage of opportunities to see it on Edinburgh stages in recent years. Based on stories about New York gamblers and gangsters by Damon Runyon, it presents a heightened, largely imagined picture of fast-talking duckers-and-divers.
A scene from Southern Light’s production of Guys and Dolls. Pic: Helios Media.
High-roller Sky Masterson (Greg McCafferty-Thomson) has to take strait-laced missionary Sarah Brown (Olivia Hall) to Havana to win a bet with Nathan Detroit (John Bruce). Detroit, meanwhile, needs to find a place to stage his dice games, while assuring Miss Adelaide (Lara Kidd) that their fourteen-year engagement will lead to marriage some day.
Hall is vocally outstanding, clear-voiced and with an enviable command of the necessary high notes, with her rendition of I Were A Bell exceptionally impressive. She also nails the comic elements of the role. McCafferty-Thomson’s Sky, physically and vocally an intriguing and charismatic blend of Tony Curtis and Sylvester Stallone, is also extremely good.
genuine emotional pull
Like much of the material, their relationship can seem very dated and simply odd to a modern audience, but here it has a realism, with their duets having genuine emotional pull. McCafferty-Thomson’s rendition of Luck, Be A Lady also has real dramatic force.
Bruce is a rather cuddly and flippant Nathan rather than an actual nogoodnik, but it is done with real charm and marvellous comic timing. This timing is matched by Kidd’s splendid Adelaide, who radiates warmth. Adelaide’s Lament has real pathos and the pair’s duet on Sue Me is thoroughly disarming.
A scene from Southern Light’s production of Guys and Dolls. Pic: Helios Media.
The principals are backed up not only by a huge ensemble but by some remarkable performances in smaller roles. Fionn Cameron’s Nicely-Nicely Johnson not only provides a show-stopping Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat, but combines wonderfully with Peter Tomassi’s jaunty Benny Southstreet and Matt McDonagh’s Rusty Charlie on Fugue For Tinhorns, which sets a very high bar at the beginning of the show.
Brian Robertson is touching as Sarah’s grandfather Arvide, while Dorothy Johnstone’s General Cartwright is appropriately forbidding. Stephen Boyd and Darren Johnson bring the necessary larger-than-life quality to shady gamblers, while Padraic Hamrogue’s Lieutenant Brannigan is suitably put-upon and long-suffering.
perfectly-formed comic cameo
As garage owner Joey Biltmore, Graeme Sutherland-Lockhart turns in a perfectly-formed comic cameo, while Bryan Mulry’s club MC has a tremendous commitment.
The other performers in named roles – Daniel Coghlan, Lorna Frier, Jessi Dimmock and Alyssa Taylor – are also very fine. That enormous ensemble acquit themselves well throughout, doing justice to Janice Bruce’s complex choreography.
A scene from Southern Light’s production of Guys and Dolls. Pic: Helios Media.
The big showcase numbers, such as The Crapshooters’ Ballet, the opening Runyonland, or the Hot box nightclub sequences, are a riot of colour and movement, and director Andy Johnston builds up real momentum and comic energy throughout. Musical Director Fraser Hume leads a huge band that provides considerable swing and pizzazz.
Indeed, many of the musical numbers here are as well-staged as you could ever hope to see. It is something of a cliché that Southern Light are ‘better than professionals’ but it really is often true.
Soon Edinburgh’s amateur companies will be back at the King’s, but there is no doubt that this production fills the space at the Festival Theatre. There are just a couple of niggles that stop this from reaching five-star territory.
the dread hand of AI
The costumes and set (a combination of the physical and the projected) give the show outstanding quality visually, but sometimes the ‘more is more’ ethos falls down. Those projections are seriously overused, often unnecessarily fussy and occasionally surely betraying the dread hand of AI.
Transitions between scenes can be a touch clumsy, and overall this is just too long and lacking a little in the snap and pace that the fast-talking Noo Yoikers demand. With a production touching the three-hour mark, you do sometimes wish they could speed things along a bit.
There can, however, be no denying the overall quality of the production. You’ve probably seen Guys and Dolls before, but rest assured that this is a particularly good one.
Running time: Two hours and 55 minutes (including one interval)
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicholson Street, EH8 9FT
Wednesday 13 – Saturday 16 May 2026
Daily at 7.30 pm; Matinee Sat at 2.30pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
Southern Light Opera Website: www.southernlight.co
Facebook: @SouthernLightEd
Instagram: @southernlighted
A scene from Southern Light’s production of Guys and Dolls. Pic: Helios Media.
ENDS