Traverse Theatre Archives - North West End UK

Baby Mash-Up: What on Earth Are You Doing? – Traverse Theatre

26May

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Baby Mash-Up: What on Earth Are You Doing? – Traverse Theatre

Sally Hobson’s Baby Mash-Up, What On Earth Are You Doing? Is a bold, strange and undeniably ambitious new work that often resists easy interpretation even as it reaches towards moments of startling emotional beauty. Presented by stillpoint at the Traverse Theatre and directed with restless invention by Nicholas Bone, the production unfolds across a collage-like structure of some twenty-five scenes, veering wildly between absurdist comedy, philosophical speculation, domestic intimacy and moments of piercing lyrical reflection. At first, the play feels almost deliberately destabilising. The audience is bounced from one surreal encounter to another, unsure whether to laugh, think, analyse or simply surrender to the flow of ideas washing over them. Yet gradually, beneath the theatri...

Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-in – Traverse Theatre

21May

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-in – Traverse Theatre

The Bryant & May Matchgirls strike in 1888 in Bow. Fords in Dagenham and the fishing industry champions, the Women Of Hessle Road, both in 1968. The Grunwick dispute in Dollis Hill in 1976. Fast forward to 1981, the Lee Jeans factory in Greenock, a fading town west of Glasgow once vibrant with ‘ships & sugar’. Maggie T is attempting to drag the UK out of the dismal 70’s, with, as they say, scant regard for the horses. Cue the factory’s American owners, having availed themselves of some generous government assistance in Greenock in the first place, are having their heads turned by similar enticements in N Ireland. 240 jobs, predominantly for local women, hang in the balance. The story was exhaustively researched by local journalist and broadcaster Paul English and written by...

18May

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

The Freshwater Five – Traverse Theatre

From the Isle of Wight, theatre company Deadman, have embarked on a national tour of The Freshwater Five, a true story very close to home. Directed by the company’s artistic director, Samuel Bossman, and written by Liam Patrick Harrison, this play aims to spread light on miscarriage of justice and community. Inspired by the real events, the play focuses on 2011 where five fishermen from Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, were accused and jailed for conspiring to import £53m worth of cocaine onto the island. In 2021, new evidence was found that hoped to free the men who were collectively jailed for a total of 104 years. The Freshwater Five is a deep analysis into this evidence and recounts what led up to the events. This play has an intriguing premise - a genuine local story told by cr...

2May

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Shotgunned – Traverse Theatre

Roz (Lorna Panton) packs up the belongings of Dylan (Fraser Allan Hogg), her ex. She hesitates, then adds one last item, a cheerful framed painting of the name Olivia. We see the tenderness, and the anger, that Roz and Dylan hold for each other. The story of their romance is told nonsequentially. These are the familiar, everyday moments of life, as two young people in love laugh and cry together. Their first awkward conversation. Dylan teaching Roz how to play on the Xbox. Sharing their hopes and dreams for the life they will build together. It all falls apart after Roz suffers a miscarriage. The grief for their daughter, Olivia, is too much to bear. The story is simple, and Matt Anderson’s script is very much character driven. He has provided some lovely ...

1May

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Tomorrow – Traverse Theatre

Hereford based dance company, 2Faced held the Scottish premiere of Tomorrow at The Traverse this week. Directed and choreographed by Tamsin Fitzgerald and devised with dancers Lew Baker and Sam Buswell, Tomorrow is a striking portrayal of men’s mental health displayed using contemporary dance. This show was devised in collaboration with Mind, a charity dedicated to providing mental health support for anyone who needs it across England and Wales. 2Faced partnered with Mind to create Men in Motion - a dance class specifically for men struggling with mental health issues. It was through this group’s sharing of their lived experiences, as well as the performers own experiences of mental health that Tomorrow was devised from. Fitzgerald’s direction is raw and in your face -...

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies – Traverse Theatre

23Apr

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Jack Docherty in The Chief: No Apologies – Traverse Theatre

Jack Docherty has had a much longer, and varied, career than many may be aware of. Having started at the Fringe in his home town of Edinburgh in 1980, he’s been on stage, in front of and behind the camera and as a writer for such legendary TV shows as Alas Smith & Jones, Spitting Image, Vic Reeves and Lenny Henry. Heck, he even had a chat show on Channel Five for a year or so in the late 90’s. But it’s Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson (from Scot Squad) that’s finally given him his oeuvre and the opportunity to roam unrestrained across any subject he cares to choose. Tonight’s very much like a stand-up routine but in two acts, with an interval. He’s written a book, ‘The Chief: No Apologies’ and treats us to excerpts, ‘treats’ being the operative word for we are privileged to be t...

16Apr

By Dylan MooneyNo Comments

Scotland

What I’m Here For – Traverse Theatre

With an international exploration of the health care system, What I’m Here For stops at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre as part of its Scottish tour. From the collaborative minds of Vanishing Point, from our home soil, and Danish company, Teatre Katapult, this production draws a parallel to both countries' health and care infrastructure and the daily challenges faced by those working within it. We open on Flora (Lærke Schjærff Engelbrecht) smoking on the roof of a hospital. It is the end of her shift but before she goes home to rest, she begins to reflect on the working day that had just unfolded. Memories appear and disappear as Flora struggles to separate fact from fiction. With severe staffing issues and constant pressure in her working environment, Flora’s help is required all around t...

16Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Gush – Traverse Theatre

There is something quietly exacting about a one person show. It is an island, really, a contained territory where there is nowhere to hide, no supporting architecture of cast to lean on. If it works, it approaches a kind of theatrical purity. If it does not, it is exposed within minutes. I admit, I am a sucker for the form.Gush, written by Jess Brodie and directed by Becky Hope Palmer, comes close to that sense of honed perfection.At its centre is a single performer, Jessica Hardwick, who carries the entire evening with considerable control and, at times, something approaching virtuosity. She moves deftly between roles, voices and emotional registers, and if there is a hierarchy within that, it is clear that her articulation of the female experience is where the piece truly finds its voice...

13Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Shooglenifty – Traverse Theatre

There are evenings where the relationship between performance and space becomes the story, and this is one of them. I’m at the Traverse Theatre watching Shooglenifty, a band whose entire raison d’être is to get people on their feet, and I’m sitting in the second row of a steeply raked, all seated auditorium that is doing everything in its power to keep me there.Shooglenifty have been around since 1990, and they play like it, in the best possible way. The musical evolution of the ‘Niftys’ is best described as a fusion of traditional ceilidh rhythms with global influences including Asian, Middle Eastern and contemporary sounds into a vibrant danceable whole. This is a band completely at ease with itself, driving hard, playing tight, and clearly enjoying the room, even if the room isn’t quite...

7Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Game of Crones – Traverse Theatre

The Protagonist stumbles through a haze of swirling fog and beseeches Mighty Kronos, the Lord of Time. Her vision is blurry, and her phone is inexplicably in the fridge. Plus, she has wrinkles. The Protagonist begs the Keeper of the Sands to spare her from the indignities of aging. But merciless Kronos is having none of it. The Protagonist receives the Tongue Sharpener, the Spectacles of Insight, and the Cloak of Invisibility (it's a beige cardigan), and embarks on an epic mystical quest full of pitfalls and wacky characters. Clown duo Abigail Dooley and Emma Edwards combine splendid silliness with a heightened, fantastical sensibility. The costumes, created by Jess Eaton, are a fine example of this elevated foolery. The "dragged through a hedge backwards“ costume features a wild...