Just when everyone involved in the Festival is catching their collective breath, lurking round the corner waiting to pounce in delight are the programmes for the Autumn/Winter Season.
Since its founding in 1963, the Traverse has gained a reputation for being a hothouse for new artistic talent and this coming season demonstrates their continuing commitment, presenting work by some of today’s most influential theatre companies, artists, dance companies, writers and musicians.
Rehearsed reading come in the form of Peter Arnott’s new script Ensemble to be heard in a on 24 September and Traverse favourite Stellar Quines’ 26th Rehearsal Room when teams will work on plays by Lynda Radley, Molly Innes and Pauline Lockhart throughout the day and in the evenings of 13 – 14 November, the rehearsal room will be thrown open to audiences. The week before, four selected companies are invited to share their newest creations in various stages of development for Traverse Hothouse.
From September to November, David Greig and Sarah Beattie-Smith present a monthly Two Minute Manifesto. In this short time span, guests pitch their ideas for change in Scotland and lay the fate of their manifesto at the feet of the audience at this open event that also features poetry, music and storytelling and takes place on 10 September, 1 October and 17 November at 7pm.
There’s a broad range of drama with plays from Caroline Bowditch with her adaptation of Ágota Kristóf’s novel The Notebook to Falling in Love With Frida; Liz Lochhead’s What Goes Around is set at rehearsals of the one-hundred-year-old classic La Ronde, and two actors meet for the first time and modern mores and manners are laid bare, and Tamasha presents Sudha Bhuchar’s My Name Is… based on the 2006 disappearance of ‘Gaby/Ghazala’ from her home in Scotland to apparently turn her back on the West .
Stephen McDonald’s play Not About Heroes examines the friendship with Siegfried Sassoon that helped unlock Wilfred Owen’s genius in the year before his death on the battlefield, and site-specific theatre specialist company Grid Iron revives The Devil’s Larder based on the novel by Jim Crace at the Customs House in Leith. The true story of a crofter’s son who became a knight of the realm and Queen Victoria’s favourite general who was destroyed by allegations of scandal is told by David Gooderson in Hector, co-produced by Eden Court, Comar and Ed Littlewood Productions.
Actors Touring Company and the Unicorn Theatre Company bring Martyr to the Traverse stage to examines the clash of fundamentalism and tolerance through the story of schoolboy Benjamin, while Cora Bissett returns to direct the visual performance featuring aerial and physical theatre that is In Her Shadows, written and performed by Debbie Robbins and Rachel Macintyre.
The first ever Chrysalis festival produced by Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, takes place over two days and presents work from 20 Stories High, Citizens Theatre Young Co., Contact Youth Company and Junction 25/Tramway in early November, at the end of October, the Luminate Festival is represented by Lung Ha Theatre Company who present Linda McLean’s Thingummy Bob, an exploration of the loss of memory.
Children of all ages are in for treats galore including the brand new show for 5 – 8 year olds from Scotland’s iconic theatremaker Shona Reppe with her latest production Magic Sho; a one-day festival Pioneers of Performance will include We Are The Monsters by Collette Sadler, Chalk About by Curious Seed, Douglas by Robbie Synge and Face On by Anna Krzystek over the eight hours, and award-winning children’s theatre company Catherine Wheels return on the lead up to Christmas with White by Andy Manley. Adults can look forward to the première of Tracks of the Winter Bear by Rona Munro and Stephen Greenhorn that closes the 2015 Autumn season
From Traverse Masterclasses that include workshops with Orla O’Loughlin, Zinnie Harris, Tim Price and Stef Smith to the return of the popular A Play, A Pie and A Pint, from Òran Mór, when five plays on a range of themes across the five weeks; a celebration of dance that connects Scotland and the Nordic nations, Norddance Festival and a book launch and discussion by Jeanette Winterson of The Gap of Time, which marks next year’s 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we face the darker nights with a little less trepidation.
Traverse Café Bar is host to Soundhouse on Monday nights as well as to the Luminate Poetry Slam on 7 October that is part of Scotland’s creative ageing festival.
Theatre companies or artists interested in participating in Traverse Hothouse should contact the Traverse by 7 September.
www.traverse.co.uk or www.soundhouse.or.uk
Booking for all shows on www.traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404