It's an act of resistance, and now is the time to do that.
Ten years ago, Locker Room Talk began with a question: how do men really talk about women when women aren’t in the room?
Co-created by Gary McNair and Orla O’Loughlin in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s infamous dismissal of sexually aggressive comments as “locker room talk”, the piece drew on frank, anonymous conversations with men across Scotland. Their words – funny, uncomfortable, contradictory and, at times, deeply misogynistic – were then spoken verbatim on stage by a cast of women.
At the time, the work arrived in the middle of what felt like a rallying cry. Women were speaking loudly about sexism, harassment and violence; long-normalised behaviours were being dragged into public view; and conversations about gender, power and accountability seemed impossible to avoid.
Ten years later, where has that conversation taken us?
Because while some things have undoubtedly changed, misogyny has not disappeared. In many ways, it has simply found new places to thrive.
The “locker room” is no longer necessarily a physical room. It is a group chat, a podcast, a comment section, an algorithmic feed. The rise of the manosphere has given old ideas about women, masculinity and power new language, new platforms and enormous reach – particularly among boys and young men.
That makes the questions at the heart of Locker Room Talk feel startlingly current.
Restaging Locker Room Talk at the Traverse in 2026 is not about looking nostalgically back at a particular political moment. It is about putting the words of the piece back into the world now and asking what they sound like after a decade in which the conversation around gender has shifted dramatically – and yet many of its underlying tensions remain.
As McNair and O’Loughlin revisit the work ten years on, the question is no longer simply whether attitudes have changed. It is what has changed, what hasn’t – and what we do about it now.
At the Traverse, we feel passionately that this is a conversation that needs to be heard, and one that needs as many voices in the room as possible. Theatre can create a space to confront difficult questions together, to listen to experiences beyond our own and, crucially, to keep talking about the things that can be easier to ignore.
That is why, for the final week of TravFest26, we want as many people as possible to be part of the conversation. Tickets booked directly through the Traverse are available at £0, £5, £12 and £17.50 – no concession criteria or eligibility requirements, simply choose the ticket price that works for you and join us.
Below, the cast and creative team reflect on what has changed in the intervening decade, and why Locker Room Talk feels so urgent again.
