Autumn Theatre: The Quiet After the Storm

Don’t bet on it getting any quieter, though. Theatres across the country are getting ready to launch a packed autumn  season of shows, staring right about now. The Tron in Glasgow will be housing The Collection by Mike Cullen (10-14 Sep); performed by Rapture Theatre who toured The Sash last year, The Collection follows a debt collector who is confronted with one of his clients committing suicide. The production is also due to appear at the Traverse in Edinburgh (20-21 Sep).

The Traverse will also be revitalised by the new writing produced in the MA Classical and Contemporary Text programme (12-14 Sep). This is a scheme put together by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Playwrights’ studio – they match up three of Scotland's leading playwrights, Catherine Grosvener, Rob Drummond and David Ireland, with the actors and directors studying on the MA course at the RCS to create new plays. At age 50, the Traverse continues to be the beacon for new writing in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the King’s in Edinburgh is staging a production of Dunsinane (1-5 Oct, see preview, p60), and the Lyceum brings the premiere of a play written by crime writer Ian Rankin in collaboration with director Mark Thomson and Wales Millennium Centre (25 Sep-19 Oct). Dark Road's theme is similar – a crime mystery that causes the detective in charge of an investigation to become personally involved in a case, with dire consequences. With Rankin’s talent for telling a story and keeping suspense on the ‘edge of your seat’ setting, it is difficult to imagine how this could possibly go wrong.

Turning west, Glasgow sees the return of Arches Live (17-23 Sep), the Arches’ annual celebration of new Scottish performance. This year’s theme is strongly tied to the idea of identity – especially in the context of the Scottish independence debate. The theatrical world is gearing up to fully engage with the political dialogue, in advance of next year's referendum. It's important they join in, both as a primary means of exploring the different sides of the argument, and in order to ensure their relevance as an artform is maintained. 

Yet, the idea of 'selling' something as Scottish culture is already causing problems and dilemmas: what exactly does it mean to be Scottish? Is it a geographical restriction, meaning that whoever lives in Scotland is henceforth Scottish? From the outside, is being Scottish just about Irn Bru and Walker’s Shortbread? Of course, this is not just relevant to the arts and the oft-referenced independence debate – it must also be an issue for the Commonwealth Games committee, as they try to build a positive sense of pride for the host Weegies. 

Arches Live brings this kind of debate to the fore, but also examines other aspects of identity. For example, in a talk facilitated by Dr Laura Bissell, Adrian Howells – artist in residence at the Arches – explores the definition of an artist in a breakfast discussion entitled Am I an Artist? (28 Sep, 10.30am). What makes an artist? Who can be an artist? Is it someone who gets paid to create their art, someone who studies art, or could it be anyone looking to express themselves through an artistic medium?

Meanwhile, in a durational installation concluding in a 30 minute performance, Callum MacAskill plans to consider the consumerist nature of our society. Every Pound’s a Prisoner (25-26 Sep) is created on a budget of £49.99 in collaboration with Poundland. Through the purchase of a random assortment of objects, MacAskill improvises a show in the Arches restaurant.

An equally politically themed performance seems to be Sortition by Adam Scarborough (17-18 Sep), which examines the idea of autonomy, and self-governance. The blurb describes this as 'part manifesto and part forum-theatre, together we’ll learn how to take more control over the decisions that shape our lives.' This is an intelligent premise, but how does anyone know which decision is important, and which isn’t? It is difficult to say whether this a discussion regarding personal choice and fulfillment or a manifesto relating to a collective autonomous political governance.

On the other side of Glasgow's city centre, the Tron is putting on a completely different programme, featuring Stellar Quines and David Greig in the main house. While both productions are quite interesting in their own right, the extremely exciting work seems to be taking place in the Changing House, with Fog (10-12 Sep) – a play about the problems in the foster care system – and The Taking of Zena Charbonne (6-7 Sep), a psychological thriller involving the wife of a politician being kidnapped. And even more exciting, though an age-old tale, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (25-28 Sep) is revisited by the troupe behind the Bard at the Botanics. Looking at Romeo and Juliet as a political tale (again in the context of independence), it can remind us how bigoted, racist, and prejudiced we can be, particularly about people we've never met; it's not just a love story. Shakespeare's work makes a point about the future of the Montagues and Capulets; having killed off their future generations through pride and prejudice, the two families finally realise that hate is not a way of moving forward. Examining that message in a modern context of war and strife and distrust – in strangers, in the market, in the government – it goes to show how timeless the Bard's work truly is. 

A little further north, the Macrobert in Stirling has an interesting range of work for the stage. Aside from promoting its own 2013 Fringe production Educating Ronnie (touring, 12 Sep-19 Oct), it will be visited by touring works, including Stellar Quines' The List (6 Sep), David Leddy's Long Live the Little Knife (21 Sep), and Harold Pinter's Betrayal (11 Sep). Nobel winner Pinter is known for his awkward pauses and his very strongly expressed views on politics, which makes this combination of works an extremely interesting one. 

Regardless of what you think of theatre, post-Fringe silence doesn't exist in Scotland.