Scottish-based theatre company Magnetic North returns to the Edinburgh Festivals for the first time in almost a decade with We Will Hear the Angels by Nicholas Bone opening at Summerhall at 4.30pm from Thursday 6 – Sunday 30 August 2026 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before touring Scotland in Autumn 2026.
Celebrating the paradox and uplifting power of sad music, We Will Hear the Angels explores the strange state of melancholy. Performed by an ensemble of five actor-musicians – Apphia Campbell, Daniel Padden, Greg Sinclair, Mia Scott and Nicholas Bone – it includes an eclectic live score spanning Etta James, Hank Williams, J.S. Bach, Orange Juice and Moondog.
If you reviewed your own show, how would you describe it?
An intriguing and moving journey into why music is so important to help us express our feelings.
Tell me a little more about your show and what audiences can expect?
The show is about 4 lonely and heartbroken people who discover how to deal with their heartbreak through music. There’s a wonderful Otis Redding song called Pain in My Heart – he sings “pain in my heart just won’t let me sleep” and that’s what is happening to the characters in the show. It explores how sad music has such an extraordinary effect on people, when it might seem more logical to listen to something more cheerful.
Can you talk about some of the creative team involved (director, writers, collaborators etc.)?
The show is written and co-directed by me, and I’m the Artistic Director of Magnetic North; it’s co-directed by film director and choreographer Marisa Zanotti and designed by Emily James. I’ve worked with both of them before, so we know how each other ticks. The show was developed with the wonderful cast appearing in the Fringe run: music director Daniel Padden, actor Apphia Campbell, who Fringe audiences may know from Through the Mud and Black is the Color of My Voice, performer Greg Sinclair, whose lovely show for young audiences Tongue Twister is part of the Made in Scotland programme, and musician and actor Mia Scott.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your work, both in terms of creation and performance?
This show draws on a number of sources – the characters are inspired by the works of Anton Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield, and there are hints of both Wings of Desire and Rear Window in how the stories are told. The starting point was the final scene of Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya where the two central characters, both of whom have been heartbroken, settle back down to work while another character strums a guitar. I like working across artforms and music is always an important part of the work I make – I recently directed an opera created by artist David Shrigley and composer David Fennessy.
Looking at this production, how would you say it links to previous work personally and Thematically?
I think art should always ask its audience questions, and in my work there is always an underlying question about how we want to live. Four of the characters in We Will Hear the Angels are stuck in feeling sorry for themselves, and the fifth character helps them find ways to tell their stories and express themselves through music.
Why is this an important story to tell?
In the current climate of hate-speech and appallingly judgemental actions by some politicians and leaders it feels important to be putting forward work which shows what happens if we care for each other and seek understanding rather than making judgements based on assumptions.
Do you tend to take inspiration from events happening in the world around you in terms of your work? Do you think artists have a responsibility to respond to what’s happening?
Anyone making art is responding to what’s happening around them, whether it’s overt or not. A lot of recent work has been influenced by the enormous impact of the Covid pandemic, sometimes in more obvious ways than others, but it’s been inherent in most recent new work. Art’s job is to help us make sense of the world around us, to notice things and draw our attention to them.
What do you do to relax in August?
Go and see as much work as I can of course! What could be better than having all this amazing theatre, music, dance, visual art and dance come to my home city for three weeks every year.
How do you feel about the current arts landscape in your country and your part in it? Does it excite you and inspire you to keep pushing the boat out?
I think everyone working in the arts at the moment is trying to steady the ship after several years of uncertainty around funding. Arts funding was at a standstill from 2018; because of inflation, this meant that by last year we were all operating on what was in effect 75% less. Things are starting to improve, and the SNP government has made a commitment to doubling culture expenditure over five years. Despite this, we’ve lost the CCA in recent months and there is a lot of nervousness around. What is inspiring is that, despite this, artists are continuing to make exciting new work.
Have you got your eye on any other shows that are part of the programme?
I’m a big fan of Geoff Sobelle and am intrigued to see his new show, which is at the King’s Theatre – when he first performed in Edinburgh, he was at Summerhall, like us.
What’s next for you and how are you feeling about the future in general?
I’m working on a new show which builds on the experience of making We Will Hear the Angels – it’ll be on a bigger scale, but music will again be at the heart of it. It’s set in a city-centre cafe-bar; a blip in time gives everyone there an opportunity to go back and change one thing in their past..
How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?
We’ll be on tour around Scotland straight after the festival, and then working on our new show which we are very excited about. There’ll be some initial public previews next year and it will be fully produced in 2028.
We Will Hear the Angels, Summerhall, until Aug 30 (not 12, 17, 24), 4.30pm