Traverse 50: A Year Later

January 2013 saw the Traverse take on fifty new playwrights after a scriptwriting competition that involved 630 submissions. These playwrights became the Traverse 50, attached to the venue for the duration of the year, in celebration of the Traverse's fiftieth year. The idea was to nurture and support Scotland's new writing community, while at the end of the year a number of playwrights would be commissioned for the Traverse. 

In December 2013, the venue announced seven playwrights who will have their work performed in the 2014 programme. They are Lachlan Philpott, Molly Innes, Tim Primrose, Sylvia Dow, Martin McCormick, Alison Carr and John McCann. 

The Skinny caught up with a few of them to see how they got on. Faced with the representatives of the future generation of playwrights, it seemed only appropriate to ask about their experience, new writing, and the scriptwriting community in Scotland. 

"Being part of the Traverse across the past twelve months has been invaluable," declares McCann, the only writer out of the seven to be offered the opportunity to present his play as a full production. "The passion of the writers, actors and directors I have worked with has been inspiring."

Innes backs this up with: "I've learnt so much from excellent mentors and workshop facilitators. Guidance I don't feel I could have picked up elsewhere."

The subject of new writing and its value elicited a wide range of responses. "New writing is where Scottish theatre leads the way," remarks McCormick. "We are good at it, and this is something more than just a want or need for new writing, it is intrinsically linked to our psyche. Our generosity. You wouldn't get the chances anywhere else to be brave and take creative risks than in Scotland."

As Dow points out: "Even Shakespeare represented new writing once! Any art form benefits from a continual flow of new ideas, I'm guessing, but theatre is so dynamic, so immediate, so dependent on being experienced by an audience that it eats up new work. It's hungry for it."

The importance of new writing becomes clear in the approach from the theatre's point of view too. Without new writing, the programming would be quite dry. This draws attention to the value of theatres as educational beacons for 'new' scriptwriters, and performers, responsible for creating and sustaining a supportive environment for them.

"It’s essential that theatres commission and create the best possible environment to produce work for our stages in order to engage the artist and audience in a fresh and relevant conversation," states Linda Crooks, joint Chief Executive of the Traverse.

Now that the Traverse has celebrated its 50th year – strangely enough, along with the National Theatre – the theatre venue looks forward to the future. In their own words, they "aim to maintain the spirit of the Edinburgh Festival throughout the year and offer an international platform for the cultural voice to be heard."