SCOTLAND’S NEW WRITING THEATRE –
EXHILARATING, CHALLENGING, EXPERIMENTAL

Welcome to the Traverse’s Spring Season

From the outside it’s tricky to see the Traverse at the moment.  The metal fences, the bulldozers and the cranes that have accompanied the re-furbishment of the Usher Hall have nearly obliterated us from view.  But I am delighted that, once inside, you will find a theatre presenting work that is as exhilarating, challenging and experimental as it has ever been during the theatre’s 47 year history.

In the ‘What’s On’ area of the website you will find details of our new spring season’.  It is an explosive mix of new drama, comedy, music and dance, including work for young people and workshops for people of different ages who want to try their hand at writing plays.  Manipulate, our Festival of Puppetry returns, as does the Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival, the UK’s largest performing arts festival in Europe, for children and young people.  Brand new to the Traverse, but hopefully a yearly fixture, is a season of new works from Scottish Opera. You’ll see a couple of classics have sneaked their way into the programme too – Three Sisters and The Government Inspector. Two great plays that continue to speak to us about the world we live in today.

There are three of our own shows this season – the Scottish premiere of Edward Albee’s The Goat (or Who is Sylvia), a very funny and shocking play about the taboos we impose on society. This is followed by a wonderful new Traverse commission by Linda McLean called Any Given Day. We have introduced new Traverse Loyalty Tickets to allow you to see both of these plays for £16 (£10 Concessions). We hope you’ll take advantage of this offer to enjoy the range of Traverse Theatre Company productions. This also includes, earlier in the season, the continuation of our strand of experimental new work - Traverse Too – with What We Know, by Pamela Carter. 

Our season of lunchtime plays last year was such a success that we have decided to do it again. Five new plays by major Scottish writers will premiere at Òran Mór in Glasgow before coming to the Traverse. As usual, a pie and a pint are included in the price of your ticket.

You can be guaranteed a really warm welcome at the Traverse this spring. And as we head towards summer I know you’ll enjoy our newly-landscaped cultural quarter, courtesy of the City of Edinburgh Council, reflecting the quality and excitement of the performances happening within it.

See you there!

Dominic Hill
Artistic Director