Drama remained an important part of the Edinburgh International Festival during its second decade. Almost all performances took place at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, The Assembly Hall, and the former Gateway Theatre.
More than 15 companies appeared during the decade, of which the most prolific were the London-based Old Vic Company and English Stage Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company from Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Edinburgh Gateway Company.
| Date | Company | Drama | Venue | Director | Principal actors | class=unsortable | Notes and sources | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | The English Stage Company | Nekrassov (Jean-Paul Sartre) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Devine" | data-sort-value="Benson+Corbett+Helpmann" |
| [1] | ||
| 1957 | Henry Sherek | Man of Distinction (Walter Hasenclever) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Carey" | data-sort-value="Fonteyn" | [2] | |||
| 1957 | Compagnie Madeleine Renaud Jean-Louis Barrault | La Répétition ou l'Amour puni (Jean Anouilh) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Barrault" | data-sort-value="Barrault+Bertin+Cattand+Renaud" | [3] | |||
| 1957 | Jean-Louis Barrault | Connaissance de Claudel | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Barrault" | data-sort-value="Barrault" | [4] | |||
| 1957 | Stephen Mitchell | The Hidden King (Jonathan Griffin) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="West" |
| data-sort-value="Eddison+MacLiammoir+Shaw+Speaight+Thesiger" |
| [5] | |
| 1957 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | The Flouers o Edinburgh (Robert McLellan) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Gibson" |
| data-sort-value="Eddison+MacLiammoir+Shaw+Speaight+Thesiger" |
| [6] | |
| 1957 | John Gielgud | The Ages of Man (William Shakespeare, anthology by George Rylands) | Freemasons' Hall | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="Gielgud" | [7] | |||
| 1958 | Henry Sherek | The Elder Statesman (T. S. Eliot) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | E. Martin Browne | data-sort-value="Rogers" | [8] | ||
| 1958 | Ulster Theatre Group | The Bonefire (Gerard McLarnon) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | Tyrone Guthrie | data-sort-value="Blakely+Devlin+Ellis+Goldblatt+Hawthorne" | [9] | ||
| 1958 | New Watergate Theatre Club | Long Day's Journey into Night (Eugene O'Neill) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | José Quintero | data-sort-value="Bannen+Davies+Quayle" | [10] | ||
| 1958 | The Old Vic Company | Twelfth Night (William Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | Michael Benthall | data-sort-value="Ackland+Cellier+Culliford+Dench" | [11] | ||
| 1958 | The Old Vic Company | Mary Stuart (Friedrich Schiller) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="" | Peter Wood | data-sort-value="Chinnery+Culliford+Francis+Hardwicke" | [12] | ||
| 1958 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | Weir of Hermiston (R. J. B. Sellar), adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Carey" |
| data-sort-value="Bain+Fleming+Milne+Simpson+Wylie" |
| [13] | |
| 1959 | The Old Vic Company | The Double Dealer (William Congreve) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | Michael Benthall | data-sort-value="Chinnery+Culliford+Francis+Hardwicke" | [14] | ||
| 1959 | Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company | Gammer Gurton's Needle (1575) and Fratricide Punished | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | Bernard Hepton | data-sort-value="" | [15] | ||
| 1959 | The English Stage Company | Cock-a-Doodle Dandy (Seán O'Casey) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Devine" | data-sort-value="Benson+Corbett+Helpmann" |
| [16] | ||
| 1959 | Wharton Productions Ltd | Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites (Sir David Lindsay) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Guthrie" | data-sort-value="Benson+Corbett+Helpmann" | [17] | |||
| 1959 | The Perth Theatre Company | Breakspear in Gascony (Eric Linklater) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Herington" |
| data-sort-value="Burgess" |
| [18] | |
| 1959 | The Dundee Repertory Company | Candida (George Bernard Shaw) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Westwell" | data-sort-value="Cooper+Westwell" | [19] | |||
| 1959 | The Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | The Baikie Charivari (James Bridie) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Duguid" |
| data-sort-value="Cuthbertson" | [20] | ||
| 1960 | The Wallace (Sydney Goodsir Smith) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Potter" |
| data-sort-value="Cuthbertson" | [21] | |||
| 1960 | The Old Vic Company | The Seagull (Anton Chekhov) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Fernald" |
| data-sort-value="Courtenay" | [22] | ||
| 1960 | La Compagnie Roger Planchon | Les Trois Mousquetaires (Dumas) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Planchon" | data-sort-value="Planchon" | [23] | |||
| 1960 | Lynoq Productions | The Dream of Peter Mann (Bernard Kops) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Dunlop" | data-sort-value="Chinnery" | [24] | |||
| 1960 | The Glasgow Citizens' Theatre | Romulus the Great (Friedrich Dürrenmatt translated by Nell Moody) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Mill" |
| data-sort-value="Greig" |
| [25] | |
| 1960 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | Mary Stuart in Scotland (B Bjørnson translated by Elizabeth Sprigge) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Mathews" |
| data-sort-value="" | [26] | ||
| 1961 | The Old Vic Company | Doctor Faustus (Christopher Marlowe) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Benthall" | data-sort-value="Courtenay" | [27] | |||
| 1961 | The Old Vic Company | King John (William Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Potter" |
| data-sort-value="Daneman+Denham" | [28] | ||
| 1961 | The English Stage Company and Oscar Lewenstein | Luther (John Osborne) | Empire Theatre | data-sort-value="Richardson" | data-sort-value="Finney" | [29] | |||
| 1961 | The Old Vic Company | Sappho (Lawrence Durrell) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Hale" |
| data-sort-value="Rawlings" | [30] | ||
| 1961 | Jan de Blieck and L'Association Française d'Action Artistique | Le Misanthrope (Molière) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Dhéran" | data-sort-value="Dhéran" | [31] | |||
| 1961 | Jan de Blieck and L'Association Française d'Action Artistique | Jean de la Lune (Marcel Achard) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Dhéran" | data-sort-value="Dhéran" | [32] | |||
| 1961 | The English Stage Company | August for the People (Nigel Dennis) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Devine" | data-sort-value="Harrison" | [33] | |||
| 1961 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | Let Wives Tak' Tent (Robert Kemp after Molière) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Fleming" | data-sort-value="Macrae" | [34] | |||
| 1962 | Royal Shakespeare Company | Troilus and Cressida (William Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Hall" | data-sort-value="Adrian+Audley+Godfrey+Holm+Nettleton+Tutine" | [35] | |||
| 1962 | Royal Shakespeare Company | The Devils (John Whiting) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Wood" | data-sort-value="Adrian+Diamond+Johnson+Tutine" |
| [36] | ||
| 1962 | Royal Shakespeare Company | Curtmantle (Christopher Fry) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Burge" | data-sort-value="Adrian+Diamond+Johnson+Tutine" | [37] | |||
| 1962 | Garvase Fajeon and Richard O'Donoghue | The Doctor and the Devils (Dylan Thomas) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Mill" |
| data-sort-value="" | [38] | ||
| 1962 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | Young Auchinleck (Robert McLellan) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Parrott" |
| data-sort-value="Cairney" | [39] | ||
| 1963 | Frith Banbury | The Unshaven Cheek (Ray Lawler) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Banbury" |
| data-sort-value="" | [40] | ||
| 1963 | The 59 Theatre Company | When We Dead Awaken (Henrik Ibsen translated by Michael Meyer) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="" | [41] | |||
| 1963 | The English Stage Company | The Ceremony (Ionesco, translated by Donald Watson) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="Guinness" | [42] | |||
| 1963 | Marlan Productions | The Rabbit Race (Martin Walser, translated by Ronald Duncan) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="" | [43] | |||
| 1963 | Chichester Festival Theatre | Saint Joan (George Bernard Shaw) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="" | [44] | |||
| 1963 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | All in Good Faith (Roddy MacMillan) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="" | [45] | |||
| 1964 | Michael White | Hamp (John Wilson, based on a story by J L Hodson) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Gibson" |
| data-sort-value="Briers+Coleman+Hurt+Rossiter+Tierney" | [46] | ||
| 1964 | Theatre Workshop | Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 (adapted from William Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Littlewood" | data-sort-value="Antrobus+Glover+Sewell" | [47] | |||
| 1964 | Bristol Old Vic Company | Henry V (William Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Burge" | data-sort-value="Pasco" | [48] | |||
| 1964 | Bristol Old Vic Company | Love's Labour's Lost (William Shakespeare) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="May" | data-sort-value="Baldwin+Dodimead+Jayston+Pasco" |
| [49] | ||
| 1964 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | The Golden Legend of Shults (James Bridie) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Carin" | data-sort-value="McAvoy" | [50] | |||
| 1965 | Haizlip and Stoiber Productions | The Amen Corner (James Baldwin) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Richards" | data-sort-value="Fargas+Harris+McNeil" | [51] | |||
| 1965 | Il Teatro Stabile di Genova | I Due Gemelli Veneziani (Carlo Goldoni) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Squarzina" | data-sort-value="Lionello" | [52] | |||
| 1965 | Peter Bridge | Too True to Be Good (George Bernard Shaw) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Dunlop" | data-sort-value="Bryan+Cole+Haigh+Ritchie+Seyler+Sim" | [53] | |||
| 1965 | Traverse Festival Productions | Macbeth (William Shakespeare) | Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Geliot" |
| data-sort-value="" | [54] | ||
| 1965 | Edinburgh Gateway Company | The Man from Thermopylae (Ada F. Kay) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Matthews" |
| data-sort-value="" | [55] | ||
| 1966 | Royal Lyceum Theatre Company | The Burdies (Adaptation by Douglas Young of the play by Aristophanes) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Fleming" | data-sort-value="Mill+Walker" |
| [56] | ||
| 1966 | Piraikon Theatron | Electra (Sophocles) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Rondiris" | data-sort-value="" | [57] | |||
| 1966 | Piraikon Theatron | Medea (Euripides) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Rondiris" | data-sort-value="" | [58] | |||
| 1966 | Michael Codron | A Present from the Past (John Hailstone) | Royal Lyceum Theatre | data-sort-value="Chetwyn" |
| data-sort-value="Asherson+Ffrangcon-Davies" | [59] | ||
| 1966 | Pop Theatre | The Winter's Tale (William Shakespeare) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Dunlop" | data-sort-value="Harvey+Redmond+Sumner" |
| [60] | ||
| 1966 | Pop Theatre | The Trojan Women (English version by Ronald Duncan of the adaptation by Jean-Paul Sartre of the play by Euripides) | The Assembly Hall | data-sort-value="Dunlop" | data-sort-value="Asher+Laine+Redmond+Robson" | [61] | |||
| 1966 | The Moscow Puppets | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Obraztsov" | data-sort-value="n" | [62] | ||||
| 1966 | Traverse Theatre Club | Lorca (Bettina Jonič) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="Anderson" |
| data-sort-value="Beckley+Jonič" |
| [63] | |
| 1966 | Polish Mime Theatre, Wrocław | Jeselka, The Labyrinth, A woman's Gown, Marathon, The Dream, The Post Office | Church Hill Theatre | data-sort-value="Tomaszewski" | data-sort-value="Brzozowski+Niedzialkowski" | [64] | |||
| 1966 | John Ridley Productions Ltd | The Wrong Side of the Moon (Nicholas Stuart Gray) | Gateway Theatre | data-sort-value="" | data-sort-value="" | [65] |