 The Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and One Day: The Musical may well be the crown jewel of its anniversary programming. Under the artistic direction of James Brining, the theatre has marked the milestone with ambition, and this world premiere feels like a fitting centrepiece. A story that has already lived several lives across different media now finds a new one on stage and, fittingly, it begins here in Edinburgh. David Nicholls’ 2009 novel One Day became a publishing phenomenon, praised for its structure of revisiting two characters on the same date each year across two decades. It later reached the screen in the 2011 film , and again in 2024 with Netflix’s hugely successful television adaptation. Now the story returns to the city where it begins, with its world premiere musical at the Lyceum. Emma Morley (Sharon Rose) first crosses paths with Dexter Mayhew (Jamie Muscato) on the night of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh. It is a night that ends up shaping both of their lives. The story returns to them on the same date each year, 15 July, St Swithin’s Day. In English folklore, there is a superstition that the weather on that day predicts the forty days that follow. It is a simple idea that works well here. Each return to the date finds Emma and Dexter at different stages of their lives, as their relationship shifts through friendship, love, ambition, missed chances and the occasional moment of realisation that things might have turned out differently.  For this production, The Lyceum undergoes a striking transformation. The theatre has been converted into a theatre in the round for the first time since 2000. Rather than the traditional arrangement of audience facing a single stage, the action takes place in a central performance space surrounded by the audience. The result is a 360-degree viewing experience that places the story at the centre of the room and the audience directly around it. It is an ambitious choice and a clever one, realised through Rae Smith’s evocative set design and the confident direction of Tony and Olivier Award-nominated Max Webster. Edinburgh itself has always been a key character within One Day and normally to feel fully immersed in the city, you might have to step outside and walk the cobbled streets or climb Arthur’s Seat. Here, the production achieves something similar and beautiful indoors. The design and direction create a sense of movement and place that constantly surrounds the audience, and never once does it feel as if the actors are performing with their backs turned. Instead, the staging makes us feel like we too are in the Pear Tree, up Arthur’s Seat or in the room with these characters.  One of the most compelling themes of One Day is the uncertain decade that follows university. It captures that strange stretch of life when adulthood is expected to begin but rarely arrives neatly. Dexter embodies that uncertainty. Swept into the excesses of 1990s lad culture and television, he finds himself drifting through a life that looks successful on the surface but slowly collapses under the weight of drink, drugs and ego. At one point, he confides in his ailing mother that he feels stuck in a “difficult second act” in his career. It is a line that resonates far beyond Dexter’s own circumstances. The show understands that many people experience their twenties and early thirties as precisely that. The design of the production reinforces the passage of time in fascinating ways. Much of the second act of Emma and Dexter’s lives unfolds in bars, clubs and restaurants across nearly twenty years, capturing the energy and rhythm of 1990s nightlife. Conversations shouted across crowded dance floors while trance music blasted through the speakers, cigarette sellers weaving between tables with trays hanging from their shoulders, and long, messy nights where friendships deepened, arguments erupted, and hidden feelings often surfaced at the end of the night. Watching it staged in Edinburgh today adds another layer. Only a short distance from The Lyceum, venues known to many simply as Cav and Opium have announced their closures in 2026. Their disappearance feels quietly symbolic. These were the kinds of places that shaped the world Emma and Dexter moved through, acting as unofficial meeting points for students, graduates and twenty-somethings still trying to work out what adulthood looked like. Seeing them recreated on stage makes the characters feel all the more real and evokes a nightlife culture that once defined a generation but is now dying.  At the heart of it all is Sharon Rose’s remarkable performance as Emma. She feels like a star in the making. Her portrayal captures Emma’s intelligence, warmth and sharp humour, but also the vulnerability beneath it. It is not just Dexter who falls in love with her. The audience does too. She anchors the entire production. Jamie Muscato has a demanding task as Dexter. The character moves through multiple versions of himself across the years. He is obnoxious, vain and frequently unbearable, the very embodiment of a swaggering 1990s lad. At one point, he is even described as the “biggest wanker in Britain”. Yet Muscato also finds the tragedy beneath the arrogance. Dexter becomes foolish, self-destructive and quietly pitiable, and Muscato threads those qualities together with impressive precision. It is a difficult balancing act, but he keeps the audience on his side even at Dexter’s worst moments.  Musically, the production makes a refreshing choice. Rather than relying on a jukebox of familiar hits from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the show presents an entirely original score. The songs allow the characters to express emotions that the dialogue alone cannot quite reach. Moments of longing, regret and quiet reflection emerge naturally through the music. The collaboration between playwright David Greig and songwriting duo Abner and Amanda Ramirez, better known as JOHNNYSWIM, proves to be a strong one. The script and songs blend seamlessly, allowing Emma and Dexter’s inner lives to unfold through melody as much as through words. As an anniversary production, it feels perfectly at home at The Lyceum. One Day: The Musical honours the intimacy of the original story while opening it up in new and inventive ways Lee Hutchison  One Day: The Musical runs until Sunday April 19th – https://lyceum.org.uk/events/one-day
Photo credits: Mihaela Bodlovic & Marc Brenner. |
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