The reviews are in for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where the National Theatre of Scotland’s new production opened before a Scottish tour. Vicky Featherstone, the company’s first artistic director, directs David Harrower’s revised adaptation of Muriel Spark’s novel, with Gayle Rankin as the Edinburgh schoolmistress who shapes her chosen girls in her own image and admires Mussolini, and Maureen Beattie as her headmistress. Rankin is the critics’ common ground: almost everyone finds her magnetic, and the Guardian calls the performance a redefinition of the role. They part company over Harrower’s script and its three-hour length, and over whether the production’s bohemian, openly sexual Brodie keeps enough of her menace. One review, Theatre and Tonic’s, is plainly unconvinced.
The verdict: twelve reviews so far, ten of them rated: one five-star notice, six four-star, two at three and a half and one two-star, an average of 3.8 out of 5. Gayle Rankin’s Brodie is admired almost everywhere. The arguments are over length, with several critics finding three hours too long, and over whether this freer, more sexual Brodie keeps enough of her danger.
What are critics saying about THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE?
North West End
Reviewer: Tom Scott
Tom Scott calls it a magnificent theatrical gem, and reads David Harrower’s revised adaptation as a play for our times: a story of radicalisation and abuse set against the rise of fascism. He praises Gayle Rankin’s Brodie as commanding, outrageous and deeply insecure.
“It’s a sumptuous production, full of theatrical magic. Simply wonderful.”
He has praise for the whole company, from Maureen Beattie’s Miss Mackay to the five young actors of the Brodie set, and says the three hours fly by.
The Guardian
“Muriel Spark’s extraordinary heroine made more extraordinary still”
Reviewer: Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher describes a Brodie who is funny, sharp-tongued and sexually forthright, in a production by Vicky Featherstone that swaps 1930s starchiness for the bohemian avant garde.
“In a re-defining performance, Rankin makes Muriel Spark’s extraordinary heroine more extraordinary still.”
He sees her fall as almost Shakespearean, brought about by Bobby Rainsbury’s Sandy, and finds lessons in it for an age of charismatic leaders, though he calls the staging sometimes overstated.
WhatsOnStage
Reviewer: Simon Thompson
Simon Thompson argues that any version of the novel stands or falls on its Brodie, and finds Rankin riveting from her first entrance, in sleeves so long they trail along the floor.
“this production strikes gold in Gayle Rankin’s Miss Brodie”
His complaint is with the script: far too long, with a second act that loses focus, turns shouty and links the story to present-day concerns too heavily. He still calls the evening hugely engaging.
All Edinburgh Theatre
Reviewer: Hugh Simpson
Hugh Simpson finds Rankin poised and humorous, dangerously magnetic but brittle, and welcomes the extra weight this version gives to Sandy, which Bobby Rainsbury plays with real nuance.
“Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly a serious and grown-up piece of theatre, staged with precision, skill and considerable verve.”
He does not think it the definitive stage Brodie, and says plainly that at over three hours it is too long, with scenes that could easily be pruned.
Corr Blimey
Reviewer: Dominic Corr
Dominic Corr sees Chloe Lamford’s towering tiered set as an echo of the fascist arenas of the 1930s, and warns that the operatic scale of the staging sometimes threatens to swamp the drama at its centre.
“Rankin sidesteps crude villainy, weaving instead a toxic yet intoxicating tapestry of narcissism”
He admires the supporting cast, singling out Maureen Beattie’s acidic Miss Mackay, while noting that the running time asks for some endurance.
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Lorna Murray
Lorna Murray thinks the story has been brought into sharp focus for the 21st century, and enjoys Anna Orton’s costumes, with Brodie’s leather maxi skirt and acid-green blouse clashing deliberately with the Calvinist world around her.
“Gayle Rankin proves herself ably among the best of them”
She calls the Brodie set a formidable troupe, with Rainsbury’s Sandy the standout, and finds menace under the charm of Dyfan Dwyfor’s Teddy Lloyd.
A Young(ish) Perspective
“A Production in its Prime with a Script that Doesn’t Hit the Mark”
A Young(ish) Perspective calls the staging a spectacle from the moment the audience sits down, with its imposing staircase and huge hanging lampshade, and singles out Maureen Beattie as the standout performer.
“Gayle Rankin is utterly fantastic and has a commanding presence as the titular Miss Jean Brodie”
As the headline says, the problem is the script: a long first act that still feels rushed, and a second act and finale that fall flat because the other characters are never given room to develop.
The Reviews Hub
“Charm over threat”
Reviewer: Kieran McMath
Kieran McMath finds Rankin magnetic but thinks the production plays Brodie with too much warmth, so the narcissism underneath is never fully exposed and the stakes flatten.
“The production ultimately prioritises Brodie’s bohemian charm over her danger, resulting in a revival that lacks its intended bite.”
He praises Maureen Beattie and Brian Ferguson, and Anna Orton’s costumes, but reports that some projections were hidden from the upper tiers by the Grand Circle overhang.
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: David
The dissenting voice. David finds Rankin’s Brodie fiercer and more overtly sexual than usual but lacking nuance, and thinks Featherstone overplays her seductiveness to the point where her relationships with the two male teachers lose their meaning.
“Where the novel is a spark, this is a mere flicker.”
He praises the Brodie set, led by a magnetic Sandy, but finds the three-hour adaptation short on grip, and objects to the way Mary MacGregor has been reworked.
The National
“Jean Brodie’s dangerous allure shines in bold new stage adaptation”
Reviewer: Mark Brown
Mark Brown calls Featherstone’s production bold and ingenious, and thinks it grasps the paradox at the heart of Brodie: a libertine who admires Mussolini. He finds Rankin fabulous in an increasingly sinister performance.
“The extraordinary second act draws us stealthily into a moral and political morass of the protagonist’s making.”
He calls the cast universally excellent and the adaptation both faithful to the novel and pointedly relevant to the 2020s.
Production photographs by Mihaela Bodlovic.
Also reviewed by: The Times (Allan Radcliffe, “This is the crème de la crème”) and The Stage (Fergus Morgan, four stars, “Gayle Rankin captivates in David Harrower’s reworked adaptation of the Muriel Spark story”), whose reviews sit behind paywalls.
For more of this week’s openings, see our review roundups for King Lear at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Little Shop of Horrors at Hope Mill Theatre and The Haunting of Hill House, which plays the Royal Lyceum in November.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie runs at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, until 18 October 2026, then tours to the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow (21-24 October), His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen (29-31 October) and Pitlochry Festival Theatre (4-7 November).
