Traverse Theatre announce Festival 2017 programme

Edinburgh Traverse Theatre has unveiled its line-up for the 70th anniversary year of the Edinburgh Festival, stating that the theatre is “proud to deliver its mission of championing international creative talent and programming urgent and diverse work, placing powerful contemporary theatre at the heart of cultural life.”

The programme is made up of eight world premieres, three European premieres and five Scottish premieres, with a record five shows being homegrown Traverse Theatre Company productions. The festival’s statement notes the “vital role art plays in turbulent times”, and Traverse Festival’s line-up reflects this notion by giving a platform to narratives that are often silenced or sidelined. “Our hope is that this work will both entertain and stir conversation,” says the festival’s statement, “provoking crucial debate among audiences: inspiring them to ask questions, seek answers and challenge the status quo.”

A highlight looks to be Meet Me at Dawn, Zinnie Harris's new play riffing on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice about two women who wash up on a distant shore following a boating accident. There's also Gary McNair's Letters to Morrissey, the third in a trilogy of darkly comic works drawing on the joys and struggles of growing up in working class Scotland. McNair also offers play Locker Room Talk, which is described as "a provocative and confronting piece of event theatre inspired by Donald Trump’s leaked sexually aggressive comments."

Another hot ticket will be Adam. A collaberation between theatre director Cora Bissett and writer Frances Poet, the play tells the true story of a young trans man and his journey to reconciliation, which will feature the debut stage performance by Adam Kashmiry, the real person on whom the drama is based. Alongside Adam will be Eve, a deeply personal work reflecting on one trans woman's life that's written and performed by acclaimed playwright Jo Clifford, the first openly ‘out’ transgendered woman playwright to have had a play produced on London’s West End stage.

If you prefer seat-of-your pants theatre there's Nassim, by Iranian theatre-maker Nassim Soleimanpour (White Rabbit Red Rabbit), which sees the playwright himself joined on stage each night by a different actor, who'll be given a sealed envelope containing a script that they have never seen before. There's also Zoe Cooper’s coming of age tale Jess and Joe Forever, which invites the audience to invest in the lives of two seemingly very different young people, as they lock arms in an attempt to find their place in the world. And it's always worth attending a new work by Kneehigh: the inventive company's artistic director Emma Rice directs Daniel Jamieson’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, which traces the lives of Marc and Bella Chagall as they navigate the Pogroms, the Russian Revolution, and each other.

“We live in unpredictable times as the world pitches and shifts on a daily basis,” says Orla O’Loughlin, Traverse Theatre’s artistic director. “An often frightening reality has become our new normal. We believe that at such times theatre has a crucial role to play in sounding a rallying cry for those who seek to resist the divisive and the unjust. This year’s carefully selected and proudly international line-up represents a timely opportunity for our audience to gather and bear witness and feel part of a community that believes change is possible.

“Along the way there will be laughs a-plenty, tears no doubt, surprises and provocation but overall this year’s programme speaks resolutely to the power of now and the responsibility we all have to come together even in times that seem to be hell bent on tearing us apart.”

The full line-up is below:

Traverse Theatre Company

Meet Me at Dawn
World Premiere. Traverse Theatre Company and Edinburgh International Festival Co-Production.

The Whip Hand
World Premiere. A Traverse Theatre Company and Birmingham Repertory Theatre Co-Production in association with National Theatre of Scotland.

Letters to Morrissey
World Premiere. Traverse Theatre Company in association with Tron Theatre. Part of the Made in Scotland Showcase 2017.

Breakfast Plays: Birth
Scottish Premiere. A Traverse Theatre Company and Royal Exchange Theatre Co-Production.

Locker Room Talk
World Premiere. Traverse Theatre Company.

Visiting Companies

Nina – A Story About Me and Nina Simone
Scottish Premiere. Unity Theatre and Riksteatern (Sweden) in association with Young Vic.

Adam
World Premiere. National Theatre of Scotland. Part of the Made in Scotland Showcase 2017.

Eve
World Premiere. National Theatre of Scotland.

Wild Bore
European Premiere. Soho Theatre and Malthouse Theatre.

Nassim
World Premiere. Bush Theatre.

Lilith: The Jungle Girl
European Premiere. Sisters Grimm.

Jess and Joe Forever
Scottish Premiere. Farnham Maltings in association with Orange Tree Theatre.

The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk
Scottish premiere. Kneehigh with Bristol Old Vic. Part of British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2017.

An Evening with an Immigrant
Scottish Premiere. Inua Ellams and Fuel.

Dive Queer Party’s Rainbow Soapbox
Party-starting cabaret artists and arch dissectors of gender norms hosted by chief weirdo Miss Annabel Sings, it’ll play host to a selection of special guest performers and speakers from across the Fringe – including international cabaret star Le Pustra, drag queen Alice Rabbit and queer cabaret writer, critic and academic Ben Walters.

Status
Rehearsed reading. China Plate.

Off-site

Frogman
World Premiere. curious directive and Hull UK 2017.

Party Game
European Premiere. bluemouth inc. with Necessary Angel Theatre Company.