The Arches Theatre Festival

Famed for playing host to legendary club nights such as Pressure and Death Disco, The Arches is perhaps better known for its lasers and 'banging' tunes than its cutting edge theatre programme. This year's Arches Theatre Festival, however, is going to give international superstar DJs such as Jeff Mills, Mylo and 2ManyDJs a run for their money.

Now in its sixth year, The Arches Theatre Festival 2007 is a bountiful feast of international and local talent providing downtown Glasgow with a glorious display of mind bending-theatre. According to Programmer Jackie Wylie, "The programme is infused with the Arches distinctive punk-rock spirit." This year the programme boasts acts from as far as New York City, Ireland, Russia and Japan.

Since its beginnings, the festival has remained a highlight in any dedicated theatre-goer's diary. Originally a showcase for Scottish talent, the festival has subsequently cast the net further afield and is now truly international. However, it has maintained its policy of nurturing Scottish talent by giving a platform for new writers who can compete for The Arches Award for Stage Directors, which is handed to emerging directorial talent.

Amada and Mother, Father, Son, directed by first time director Cora Bissett and Rosie Kellagher respectively, are set to open this year's Festival. The directors have been bestowed this honour following their winning of the coveted The Arches Award for Stage Directors 2007. Unique in the UK, this exciting award is presented to budding directors who are dedicated to working in Scotland. The award gives the winners an opportunity to stage a fully professional production with the support of The Arches and associates the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse. Previous winners of the award include luminaries such as Davey Anderson, who is now a key figure at the National Theatre of Scotland as Director in Residence.

The two award winners look set to follow suit with challenging yet soon-to-be popular pieces of work. The multi-talented Cora Bissett is also a musician - having played with self confessed outsiders Mogwai and Arab Strap - and actor, with credits including the BAFTA award winning Red Road. Her directorial debut, Amada, honours the oldest profession in the world and was inspired by a short story by Chilean writer Isabel Allende. Using three actors, a Chilean guitarist and a Basque singer, Bissett's adaptation is an eloquent rendering of Allende's tale, and evokes the same riot of emotion, colour and passion as Latin America itself.

Mother, Father, Son, is a new piece penned by Hugo Plowden, and examines Japanese subculture Hikikomori. The term, coined by Tamaki Saito, describes the apparently growing phenomenon of young men entirely alienated from society who often inhabit one room of their parents' house and refuse to leave. If that sounds familiar behaviour in adolescents the world over then prepare to see the teenage strop accelerated at breakneck speed twenty years into the future. In Kellagher's play, characters Mother or Father haven't seen Son, who has locked himself in his room, for years and they are beginning to wonder if the person at the other side of the door is in fact their son. Communicating through a series of knocks, this offbeat story of two parents' relationship with their dysfunctional son is a true original.

As Rosie - whose CV includes credits as Assistant Director on the Lyceum's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Staff Director at Oran Mor's A Play, a Pie and a Pint - explains, "It's a play about a bizarre family. Son, or someone who they think is their son lives in his bedroom and they haven't seen him for years, they only know someone is in the bedroom because they eat the food Mother and Father leave out. It's a strange little piece and funny in parts. It is the writer's first stage play so it's a great opportunity for him as well."

Other featured dramas include Plug and Play by Russian company Akhe, which is intriguingly described as "a hooligan's theatre piece strictly dedicated to the naughty child living in us all" and a Fringe First Winner, Particularly in the Heartland, presented by the Team from America.

The Arches Theatre Festival's reputation for showing innovative, edgy and quite frankly odd theatre is in good hands this year. Cabaret, music and visual art are are also well represented to ensure it remains as diverse as ever. With discounted festival passes there's no excuse for missing this quality selection of theatre. How punk is that?