18-22 Greenside PlaceEdinburgh Playhouse is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. With 3,059 seats it is the second-largest theatre in the United Kingdom after the Hammersmith Apollo. The theatre is owned by Ambassador Theatre Group.
The theatre opened on 12 August 1929 as a super-cinema and was modeled on the Roxy Cinema in New York. It was designed by the specialist cinema architect John Fairweather, most famous for his Green's Playhouse cinema in Glasgow. The original colour scheme was described on opening as follows:
"Tones of ivory and stone predominate on the walls, and the roof is decorated with bands of pale green leaves intersected with gold at intervals. The seats in the different parts of the house have been upholstered to harmonise with the general scheme of the decoration. The organ fronts are in Venetian style, and the clock settings, which are square, are neat and attractive."
In recent years, The Playhouse has played host to a wide variety of artists and shows.
It also caters to the youth of the surrounding area who are involved in stage experience projects and youth musical projects in which children as young as 10, and young adults as old as 21, can take part in shows on the world-famous stage.
It is used as a venue for both the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August.