Traversing New Ground: Traverse Programme Autumn/Winter '08/'09

Can Edinburgh theatre thrive and surprise after the intense summer festival? Waking us up from our slumber, the Traverse has sprouted new ideas and come up with a crisp autumn/winter programme with a twist called Shoot. Two new strands aim to cultivate new audiences and question how theatre is presented.

The Traverse brings in Traverse Too, which promises to make audiences “experience new, experimental, off-the-wall work by both [the] newest and more established writers”. Katherine Mendelsohn, the literary manager at the Traverse expands on the theatre’s motivation behind the project:

“We created Traverse Too because we wanted to get more plays out quicker and because we wanted artists to try new things in a spirit of fun and adventure. Traverse Too is a new production strand for the Traverse that will feature throughout the year and which will sit alongside our regular, larger-scale Traverse Theatre Company productions. Midsummer is the first ever Traverse Too production and we’re very excited that it’s launching this new way of producing shows.”

The new way of producing shows means that the tickets will be cheaper – good news for all of us who are feeling the pinch – because less money will be spent on productions, while keeping quality on a high level. Breaking down boundaries between theatre and the music scene, the first Traverse Too production, as Mendelsohn reasons, is likely to attract both theatre and indie rock fans:

“Midsummer is ‘a play with songs’: written by leading playwright David Greig with the music & lyrics by Gordon McIntyre (from indie band Ballboy). It marks the first time these two have collaborated, and offers indie music lovers a chance to tap into the Scottish Theatre scene and theatre-goers the chance to enjoy some great song-writing and a different night out. Future Traverse Too productions will continue to work with high quality artists: both well-known names and the exciting new voices of the future.”

Cutting-edge artistic collaboration, working across art forms, calling on new audiences – these are just some of the aspirations underlying the idea of Traverse Too. The ultimate goal is to create a space in which the confinement of conventional expression is suspended and innovative forms of theatre artwork are devised by artists of various backgrounds:

“What Traverse Too offers playwrights and artists is the freedom - created by a relaxed atmosphere - to try out new methods, styles or forms that they’re intrigued by. For David and Gordon mixing theatre and song-writing has allowed them both to explore new creative ground that can go on to inspire their main work. Traverse Too is a strand of the theatre’s work that lets everyone let their hair down. It’s created to be enjoyed in an intimate venue, allowing audiences to see dynamic new work by high quality artists, being encouraged to innovate.”

Apart from creating new spaces for artistic collaboration, the Traverse has teamed up with the National Theatre of Scotland to realise the Debuts project – this time for developing writers who have never had their work professionally produced. The Artistic Director of the NTS, Vicky Featherstone, explains how the project came about:

“When John Tiffany and I started at the National Theatre of Scotland, one of the things we wanted to do was to start developing writers. So earlier in 2008 we had a ‘writers’ jamboree’ and worked with eleven writers, most of whom hadn’t had their work professionally performed. It was an opportunity for us to connect with those writers, to develop their work and to get to know them. We asked Dominic Hill, Artistic Director of the Traverse, to come and do it with us. By the Thursday of that week, John and Dominic and I had agreed to put on some of the work we had developed. By the Friday we’d worked out how we could stage four of these plays and decided to do them as a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse. I think it’s so important to create a culture where people are genuinely flexible, that even though we’re planning big shows, we always have this space where we can react so quickly.”

This season, the Debut series comprises four new dramatic voices: Sam Holcroft, Kenny Lindsay, Andy Duffy, and Paul Higgins. Holcroft’s Cockroach, directed by Vicky Featherstone, touches upon the brutalisation of war. Set in a school context, the play explores the crisis of relationships, lost hopes and dreams of the school kids. A double bill: Lindsay’s The Dogstone and Duffy’s Nasty, Brutish and Short, directed by Dominic Hill, touch upon the idea of home and family: the first play poetically delves into the comic and tragic of the father-son relationship, while the latter represents the modern and brutal type of theatre exposing the rough bond between two brothers.

Higgins’s Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, a dark comedy about Glasgow, is his playwriting but not theatre debut, as he performed in the original production of Black Watch. Interestingly, John Tiffany who directed Higgins in Black Watch will be directing his debut play this time round. Focussing on the writing and the actors, the Debuts “… is a great way for [the Traverse and NTS] to present four new pieces together like this as it takes the pressure off one individual piece to be the Big New Play.”

What the Traverse offers in its current programme is the sense of spontaneity and adventure. It is high time Edinburgh theatre scene shaped alternative ways of theatre production, letting audiences hear new voices and it seems the Traverse is on the right track. There is room in arts for all kinds of artistic experiments and projects and it is thrilling that there are people out there who understand it and follow it through.