Traverse Listings

Upcoming shows at Edinburgh’s New Writing Theatre

Traverse
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404
Website: www.traverse.co.uk.

Click on the name of the show to go to its ticketing site.

September

The Coolidge Effect
20 Sep 2017 – 22 Sep 2017
‘You watch porn. Right? You don’t have to tell us. That’s not what this is about.’ The Coolidge Effect uses an interactive blend of storytelling, poetry and science to examine how pornography affects our mental health, relationships and sexual experiences.

Traverse Masterclass: Writers
23 Sep 2017
Traverse Masterclasses offer the opportunity for artists and audiences to engage with critically acclaimed Traverse directors, playwrights and associated artists. Masterclasses introduce and develop skills, offering participants the opportunity to work with experienced theatre practitioners to explore questions, uncover possibilities and think outside the box.

Damned Rebel Bitches
30 Sep 2017
Featuring an international cast aged 30-75, Damned Rebel Bitches celebrates the independent, risk-taking women of the war years generation, as we follow octogenarian Scottish sisters Ella and Irene through fire and flood in the teeth of Hurricane Sandy in New York.

October

A Play, A Pie and A Pint
3 Oct 2017 – 4 Nov 2017
A popular feature of the Traverse programme, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Òran Mór returns with five new plays to light up your lunchtime. Ticket includes a pie and a drink.

PPP: Pleading
Tue 3 – Sat 7 Oct, 1pm; Fri 6 Oct, 7pm
Freya and Michael have been travelling around the world, celebrating their freedom before beginning University. Everything had been going reasonably well, until they find themselves arrested after a problem at customs. Three weeks later, still in prison awaiting their court date, a defence barrister arrives to advise them of the choices they face; pleading guilty or innocent.

Jury Play
3 Oct 2017 – 7 Oct 2017
Tune in to the thoughts, fears and anxieties of fifteen jurors, selected from the audience, as they struggle to stay focused in a high profile murder trial. Grid Iron bring their 21 year-old multi-award winning expertise in immersive and audience-centred work to bear on the dynamics of a courtroom.

Thrawn Craws: A Brief Archaeology of Love
4 Oct 2017
Thrawn Craws invite you to join them as they present important stories about the many facets of love in contemporary Scotland. Come and enjoy an exciting evening of vibrant new short plays, read script-in-hand by a crack cast of four.

One Mississippi
10 Oct 2017 – 12 Oct 2017
A new hard-hitting verbatim play that explores how the impact of childhood experiences shape men’s adult lives, and the journey it takes them on. Blending humour and storytelling with powerful elements of physical theatre, One Mississippi is an uncompromising insight into what takes us to breaking point.
Presented in association with Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.

PPP: Love and Death in Govan and Hyndland
Tue 10 – Sat 14 Oct, 1pm; Fri 13 Oct, 7pm
Ivan is a writer with a deadline but he’s blocked. Ten years ago to the day his mother passed and a phone call from his brother has him reliving the last chaotic months of her life. He reviews his own journey from deepest Govan to the privileged nirvana of Glasgow’s west end..

Man to Man
11 Oct 2017 – 14 Oct 2017
Celebrating 30 years since its UK premiere at the Traverse, Maggie Bain delivers a tour de force performance in this acclaimed new, five-star adaptation of Manfred Karge’s Man to Man, co-directed by Bruce Guthrie (RENT) and Scott Graham (Artistic Director, Frantic Assembly).

Man to Man: Physical Workshop
14 Oct 2017
This workshop offers a fantastic opportunity to see how a professional company creates physical material with Man to Man’s star and Frantic Assembly Learn & Train Practitioner Maggie Bain.

PPP: Hysteria!
Tue 17 – Sat 21 Oct, 1pm; Fri 20 Oct, 7pm
In April this year, theatre-maker Julia Taudevin and Dr Iris Elliott of the Mental
Health Foundation, began exploring the impact of sexism on mental health. This is a darkly comic political cabaret for our times, partly inspired by the 2016 US election and the 2017 global women’s marches, and written in dialogue with over 100 people.
Presented in association with Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.

Our Fathers
21 Oct 2017 – 28 Oct 2017
Two atheist sons of clergymen are on a quest to find out how we disagree with someone we love. Our Fathers is inspired by Father and Son, Edmund Gosse’s Victorian memoir about growing up in an evangelical Christian family.

PPP: From the Air
Tue 24 – Sat 28 Oct, 1pm; Fri 27 Oct, 7pm
Claire’s kids have fled the nest. The hole this leaves in her life brings on a crippling fear of flying. Her fear has bled into most things now. Her life is becoming smaller. Her husband Pete works on the rigs and is due to retire soon. He thinks Claire’s been dealing with her phobia. She’s promised him this time she has. She hasn’t.

Traverse Masterclass: Directors, Performers & Writers
28 Oct 2017
Traverse Masterclasses offer the opportunity for artists and audiences to engage with critically acclaimed Traverse directors, playwrights and associated artists. Masterclasses introduce and develop skills, offering participants the opportunity to work with experienced theatre practitioners to explore questions, uncover possibilities and think outside the box.

Dive: The Miss Annabel Sings Show Episode 2
29 Oct 2017
Limber up that witch’s finger, swipe left, wipe right and enter the weird and wonderful world of MISS ANNABEL SINGS!Expect horrifying comedy, ghoulish live music, devilish dancing, tongue-tingling cocktails, gruesome grub, terrifyingly top-notch performance and bone shaking audience games with you, the undead studio audience.

PPP: #71
Tue 31 Oct – Sat 4 Nov, 1pm; Fri 3 Nov, 7pm
In Partick there’s a quiet storm brewing. 71 year-old Chrissy invites her two oldest friends, Jean and Coco, to her house. The two OAPs rassle for Chrissy’s affection, slinging ancient mud at each other. Then comes the revelation which changes everything.

November

Without A Hitch
3 Nov 2017
Without a Hitch follows the downward spiral of a fourman b-boy crew as ambition, jealousy and frustration manifest in a group struggling to move in the same direction. Expect plenty of dark comedy, powerful breakdancing and slick production from Room 2 Manoeuvre’s new hip hop dance theatre show.

Starting Now: Youth Dance Platform 2017
4 Nov 2017
Celebrating the freshness, enthusiasm and talent of Scotland’s young dancers; a family friendly evening, showcasing just what these young people can do. Come and enjoy styles such as Indian classical dance, hip hop, contemporary dance and more in this spectacular evening’s entertainment, designed to light up the dark November night.

Tabula Rasa
8 Nov 2017 – 11 Nov 2017
Two of Scotland’s foremost performing groups – theatre company Vanishing Point and string orchestra Scottish Ensemble – present a co-production that sets Arvo Pärt’s masterpiece Tabula Rasa in a theatrical context.

Traverse Masterclass: Directors & Actors
10 Nov 2017 – 11 Nov 2017
Traverse Masterclasses offer the opportunity for artists and audiences to engage with critically acclaimed Traverse directors, playwrights and associated artists. Masterclasses introduce and develop skills, offering participants the opportunity to work with experienced theatre practitioners to explore questions, uncover possibilities and think outside the box.

Chrysalis Festival 2017
17 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
For its third year, the Chrysalis festival raises the curtain on the best young theatre-makers from around the UK with a three-day showcase of ambitious performances and radical works-in-progress.

Chrysalis: There is a Light: Brightlight
17 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
Brightlight was the first major study of its kind on specialist cancer care in England for young people. Its findings and young patients’ perspectives combine to inspire this original performance. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: How to Save the World…ish
17 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
Why save the world when someone else can sort it out? The magic of childhood mixes with grown-up responsibility in this fast-paced and physical cautionary tale.A strong ensemble performance that demonstrates real skill in storytelling in a production which packs a pretty punch. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: The World in Me – Writing for Youth Theatre workshop
17 Nov 2017
A workshop exploring the application of visual and physical theatre techniques as an approach to creating text based work. The session will focus on creating work which reflects young people’s relationship to the world and current social and political events. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: Dark Mechanics
18 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
If humans are the main drivers of change, who or what is driving us? Poignant and funny, sinister and dirty, this bold and visceral performance promises to entertain and arrest. A challenging and thought-provoking new work by one of Scotland’s most established young companies. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: Queer Fish
18 Nov 2017 – 19 Nov 2017
Sweets, Skinny and Baby live in their own dystopian versions of reality: addiction, violence, chemsex and self-destructive behaviour. The arrival of a parcel has fatal consequences for the misfit trio.A gritty and genuinely youth-led production production which uses the full gamut of theatrical possibilities. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: Emergence
18 Nov 2017
Experience three 20-minute experimental scratch performances by emerging young theatre-makers, including one by Chrysalis’ Saltire award-winning Emerging Director. Contribute your own thoughts and ideas on how each piece could develop. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Chrysalis: The Contact Approach workshop
19 Nov 2017
Join the creative and producing teams from Contact Young Company for a workshop and discussion surrounding the company’s approach to making work as part of a diverse and accessible artistic programme. Part of Chrysalis festival 2017.

Class Act
22 Nov 2017 – 23 Nov 2017
Class Act is the Traverse’s flagship education project. Now in its 26th year, Class Act challenges senior pupils from schools across Edinburgh to become playwrights, creating brand new scripts which are premiered on the Traverse stage.

Something There
25 Nov 2017
Composer David Paul Jones and his 7-piece ensemble present a live concert performance of his acclaimed Linn Records recording Something There.

December

Dive: The Miss Annabel Sings Show Episode 3
3 Dec 2017
Join Dive’s chief weirdo, the Dive family and the fairest drag kings and queens of the realm for a festive feast of anarchic queer cabaret. Stuffed full with the queerest selection box of quality entertainment, an extra-large slice of current affairs cake, saucy sing-song-a-longs, riotous audience games, delicious festive cocktails and a very special (bio)Queen’s speech.

Cinderella
8 Dec 2017 – 24 Dec 2017
The classic fairytale is beautifully re-imagined by Shona Reppe (Black Beauty) and performed by acclaimed puppeteer Rick Conte, in this highly visual award-winning production featuring secret hatches, hidden drawers and a handbag full of magic!

How to Disappear
8 Dec 2017 – 23 Dec 2017
When Helen Daniels from Neighbours died, Robert shut his door on the world. And he’s not opened it since. Merging biting social commentary and fantasy in unexpected ways, How to Disappear is a pitch-black comedy which gives a voice to those who often go unheard.

Traverse Masterclass: Directors & Writers
15 Dec 2017 – 16 Dec 2017
Traverse Masterclasses offer the opportunity for artists and audiences to engage with critically acclaimed Traverse directors, playwrights and associated artists. Masterclasses introduce and develop skills, offering participants the opportunity to work with experienced theatre practitioners to explore questions, uncover possibilities and think outside the box.

ENDS