Creative

Actor

Andrea McKenzie is a Scottish Actor, Writer and Director. She trained at Edinburgh College, Scotland and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York. A bold, energetic, versatile performer, she has worked in theatres and outdoor venues across the UK, America and Canada.

Select press:

“The most striking acting came from Andrea McKenzie” (EdFringeReview.com)

“this cheeky wee besom McKenzie manages to induce more laughter than one could reasonably expect” (Edinburgh Guide)

“It is well performed all round with McKenzie, particularly, showing both comic mastery and versatility” (AllEdinburghTheatre)

“she fizzles with dark forces and storm bringing nastiness” (AllEdinburghTheatre)

You can view full acting CV on Spotlight

Or watch showreel on YouTube

Writer

Andrea is one quarter of play writing collective 4Play. She has written six plays, her latest, HUNT, is a light hearted take on AI, survivalism and the end of the world. It will be at the Traverse Theatre 11, 12, 13 December 25, tickets via the Traverse box office here.

Also with 4Play at the Traverse Theatre, riotous comedy The Pervs and Plans of Onlyfans: during the cost of living crisis, a middle aged single mum dabbles in the erotic. The play was acted by Andrea McKenzie and Sean Langtree and sold out due to ‘exceptional demand,’ you can view an extract on YouTube here.

Butterflies and Benefits, a hard hitting take on motherhood and poverty, sold out the Traverse Theatre on 6 and 7 December 2024. It was written with the support of Playwrights’ Studio Scotland’s Mentorship Programme, and developed from an earlier play After Party which was shortlisted for the Scottish Short Play Award. You can watch an interview about the play’s themes and development here.

Being Normal – The Musical: how to make a song and dance out of everyday life. A collaboration with multi award winning musician and composer Malcolm MacFarlane, performed by Andrea McKenzie, Laverne Edmonds and Emily Copas to sold audiences. Andrea and Malcolm are prolific song writers and are looking for a producer to develop a full length version and a screenplay:

“Edinburgh company 4Play offer a tantalisingly impressive evening of four short plays… Andrea McKenzie’s Being Normal, a 30–minute musical (with excellent songs by Malcolm MacFarlane) in which a depressed new mother, her people-phobic neighbour, and a fairy godmother with a malfunctioning wand, somehow forge a 21st century St Andrew’s Night family… All four short pieces gleam with talent, and are brilliantly delivered… it’s thrilling to think what they might produce, given the support they clearly deserve”

– Joyce Macmillan, The Scotsman ****

director

Andrea has directed several plays and short films, including the recent Butterflies and Benefits with a five strong cast at the Traverse Theatre.

“Butterflies & Benefits, which McKenzie also directs, is a gritty portrayal of the lives of four working class Edinburgh teenagers over the last two years of the 20th Century, who are first seen energetically flinging themselves around the dance floor to the heavy beat of a typical 90s club… Butterflies & Benefits is a powerful, emotional illustration of many of the issues facing young people at the end of the 1990s – some might argue that these issues became even worse over subsequent years. It is well written, providing nuance to the lives of the characters and the direction makes skillful use of a basic set.”

– Allan Wilson, All Edinburgh Theatre ****

Previous work includes Smoking is Bad For You in the Edinburgh Fringe for Theatre Alba, which attracted a coveted comic strip review – see below.

Other plays include Citadel Arts Group youth theatre productions of Leith Witch Academy and Aye or No, both of which she wrote, the latter described as a ‘must see’ by the Evening News, and a rehearsed reading of Calum Kelly’s St. Kilda with Page2Stage Edinburgh.

She directed a bold interpretation of Blood Brothers in the Leith Festival, which was a hit with audiences and critics alike:

“The reason for their success can be put down to two things – great casting and surefooted, imaginative direction… That the actors were able to give such excellent performances is all the more remarkable given the limitations of set, budget and space available to them and all credit goes to director Andrea McKenzie for creating a free-flowing, innovative and imaginative production.”

– Edinburgh Evening News

Singer

As a graduate of Girls Rock School Edinburgh, Andrea has fronted several rock bands which have been raising the roof and smashing glass ceilings across Scotland. She brings the rock style into her new musical Being Normal which she writes the book and lyrics.

Ever versatile, she also loves traditional Scottish music and has performed the works of Hamish Henderson at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Theatre Objektiv’s On The Radical Road.

Band images © P&K Beards