Traverse Theatre Archives - Page 7 of 9

Love The Sinner – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

18May

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Love The Sinner – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The Seven Deadly Sins are sometimes known as capital vices and it’s appropriate that writer and performer Imogen Stirling chooses a fever dreamscape of Glasgow as a backdrop. She says it’s ‘Glasgow-but-not-quite’ but two key components of the play are a big river and an awful lot of rain. It’s a landscape reminiscent of Alasdair Grey’s Lanark, each sinner - it might be said - redolent of the characters in David Keenan’s ‘This Is Memorial Device’ set just down the road in Coatbridge and Airdrie. Officially North Lanark. They each employ their own strategies to deal with life’s perceived flaws, but the stars of Stirling’s second book of poetry, Sloth, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Lust and Wrath, share something in common in that they are all, apparently, isolated. It’s no surprise to learn ...

Rock, Paper, Scissors – Traverse Theatre

25Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Rock, Paper, Scissors – Traverse Theatre

Established in 2016, Tandem Writing Collective comprising of three young(ish) writers Mhairi Quinn, Jennifer Adam and Amy Hawes, gave us a sneaky peek of a trio of (in workshop) new plays to a rapt and enthusiastic audience at the subterranean Traverse 2 tonight, for one night only. And with the juicy promise that all three will become fully developed plays later this year. Accompanied very nicely by musos, Celloist Jessica Kerr and keyboard player Aaron McGregor on stage, actors Kim Allen, Natalie Arle-Toyne and Betty Valencia, with scripts in hand bring the three workshop pieces to beautiful and dynamic animated life, to the obvious delight of the writers sitting in the front row with beaming smiles. And why not, all three pieces sounded and looked great and the actors, to a woman,...

Pass Out: Utter Filth – Traverse Theatre

19Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Pass Out: Utter Filth – Traverse Theatre

For their HND showcase, the emerging performers from PASS at Edinburgh College devised and performed two pieces of theatre, both inspired by the provocative theme of “Utter Filth”. In the first performance, “Utter Filth” is a nightclub. The kind of place young people go to when they want to test their boundaries, with illicit substances aplenty. There are some nice group scenes, with collective movement and chit chat between the clubbers. We are introduced to “Josh” (Joshua Thomson), a likeably awkward young man. He is introduced to a group of friends by a mutual pal (Dan Webb) and there is some amusing dialogue between the two as Dan asks Josh to tone down his geekiness with these, clearly judgemental, new friends. The group discuss what to do on their big night out.&...

Sean and Daro Flake It ‘til They Make It – Traverse Theatre

18Apr

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Sean and Daro Flake It ‘til They Make It – Traverse Theatre

Director, Robert Softly Gale shows that disability is no impediment at all for making great theatre and scoring a five-star hit. The current artistic Director of Glasgow based, disability centred, Birds of Paradise theatre, teams up with The Traverse theatre to bring the gallus patter of Glasgow to the more refined East coast for this World premier of a show which could easily become a classic of the Scottish theatre circuit for many years to come. Fearless acting talent, Sean Connor as Sean (handy) and Cameron Fulton as Daro give truth to Laurie Motherwell’s brilliantly hilarious script which follows the fortunes of the two likely lads as they double-handedly take on the world from behind the ice cream van counter. As if to make even more room, in what is a packed theatre, the stage...

We Were Promised Honey! – Traverse Theatre

13Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

We Were Promised Honey! – Traverse Theatre

In We Were Promised Honey! members of the audience become travellers on a prophetic tour of our own futures. We are not merely observers. We are participants within the world of the story. In 2018 Richard Russell, an airport baggage handler, stole an empty passenger plane and flew it for over an hour. He had learnt to fly by playing video games. Unfortunately, Russell had never practiced landing. Russel conducted some astonishing aerial manoeuvres, experiencing and sharing moments of pure joy – but hearing his story, our delight is tempered by our awareness of how the story must end. Writer and performer, Sam Ward, tells stories about the future lives of the people in the audience. Stories that will unfold over the next few centuries. (He is optimistic a...

11Apr

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Stornoway, Quebec – Traverse Theatre

The year, 1888. The place, Stornoway. But far from the sharp coastline characteristic of the Outer Hebrides, the action is set in a forgotten town in Quebec during the worst snow blizzard of the year. The set up is simple: five people who shouldn’t be near each other end up trapped in a saloon where a mix of whisky and ether seems to be the soup of the day. Stornoway Quebec is the latest (and probably the only one of its kind) play by prolific writer Calum L. MacLeod for Scotland’s Gaelic language drama company Theatre Gu Leòr. It follows the story of Màiri MacNeill - Elspeth Turner-, a Barra-born but Texas-raised bounty hunter who after a betrayal, is on the hunt of Canada’s most wanted outlaw, Donald Morrison. A series of leads brings Mairi to a remote inn run by Mrs and Mr Bouc...

7Apr

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Family Tree – Traverse Theatre

This production, by Actors Touring Company and Belgrade Theatre Coventry, in association with Brixton House, is about Henrietta Lacks (played here by Aminita Francis) the African-American woman who was the unwitting source of the cancer cells now known as the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one which continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day, from helping fight cancer, to HIV, to COVID. However, her cells were taken without her or her family’s knowledge or permission (they only found out decades after her death, and by accident) and continue to be exploited financially. Henrietta was not the only black woman whose body has been exploited. In some cases, such as this, it was by the medical establishment with some kind of medical bas...

31Mar

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

How Not To Drown – Traverse Theatre

This might not be the best production one sees this calendar year but it’s a shining example of why theatre itself, companies like ThickSkin and venues like The Traverse are so important. Having said that, the village and/or town halls of middle England might benefit from a tour, the front five rows reserved for Daily Mail readers. It’d be nice to think this ninety minutes would prove more nourishing than the three-word-slogan diet they’ve been addicted to for the last seven years. For amongst the complexities of what constitutes home or how essential the family is, the key message here is that conditions and circumstances exist in some countries of which plenty have no concept. It explains, at the very end, why Dritan’s father took the shocking decision to send his 11-year-old son on a ha...

Revelations of Rab McVie – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

27Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Revelations of Rab McVie – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Every now and again you review a show which really stands out. Here is one. The Revelations of Rab McVie is advertised as an immersive journey through a psychedelic dreamscape of live painting, live music and theatre and the real buzz in the packed theatre bar before this show was ready evidence of the unique event to come. Experimental, raw, flawed, real. The irony of this five-star show is that with more performances, it can be even better. Barely rehearsed and on only the second night of its world premiere, this experimental ground-breaking show has been and gone, and it was my undoubted privilege to have witnessed its brief existence. Five strong band, The Filthy Tongues, from Edinburgh were at the top of their game, showcasing works from their new album, In These Dark Pla...

<strong>Tam O’Shanter, Tales and Whisky – Traverse Theatre</strong>

27Jan

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Tam O’Shanter, Tales and Whisky – Traverse Theatre

One Burns Night, a group of friends gather around the soothing glow of a campfire in an Edinburgh forest, to tell stories and sing songs. On a chilly January afternoon, Traverse 2 is sold out as folks gather to celebrate the poetry and music of Scotland. The set, by Polly Morris, is cosy – a campfire, with logs for the performers to sit on, and the musicians at the back in amongst the spooky trees. The lighting, by George Cort, creates a dappled forest floor effect. When I came downstairs to go into the theatre, I briefly thought I had got lost, and that I was about to go outside. Happily, the room is nice and warm, and not at all Januaryish in temperature. Some tickets include a complementary nip of whisky, which would further enhance the atmosphere, but sadly I’m dri...