The Gateway Writing Festival: Day 2 – The Studio, Edinburgh

Fresh voices, bright ideas, and the occasional spark of brilliance

Now in its third year and newly housed at The Studio, the Gateway Writing Festival continues to prove itself as a lively testing ground for emerging Scottish talent. Curated by Artistic Director James Wood and produced in collaboration with Capital Theatres’ Creative Engagement team, with special thanks offered by James to Claire Swanson and Izzy Sivewright for their significant support, each night offers three short plays from young writers paired with equally fresh directors and actors. The second evening’s trio explored power, guilt and the future with youthful boldness and a few rough edges, exactly what you want from a new-writing festival.

Utter Radiance
Written by Mayah Reid, directed by Briony Conaghan, with Indigo Buchanan, Duncan Macintyre and Cameron Prince.
The piece opens in a sleazy jazz bar in the blackout of 1940s Edinburgh, a man and a woman trapped both literally and morally in the dark. He’s stayed home from the war, and the play turns on the quiet shame of that decision. There’s a solid idea here about conscience in crisis, but the production never quite finds the heat beneath the premise, despite being accompanied by live sax, which is thrown in as a sort of added bonus. The performances were tentative, the direction polite, and the script felt more sketch than statement, a flicker of promise rather than a blaze.

A Stack of Chairs
Written by Jamie Watson, directed by Ben Kay, with Jordan Monks and Annabella Burgess.
This sharply written and superbly performed triptych crackled with energy, invention and style. The first, a vaguely futuristic lab experiment gone wrong, had real voltage: a woman in a lab coat, Burgess, precise and magnetic, administering electroshock therapy to a passive test subject while riffing on the ethics of progress (“We don’t do that anymore… but what if they brought it back, like vinyl?”). There are themes of control and consumerism mixed with a heady dose of a modern day Dr Frankenstein. The following two scenes, a telemarketing double act and a slick Americanised encounter in a Mercedes, sustained the rhythm and bite. Smart lighting, pulsing sound and a streak of beat poetry made this a standout: witty, unsettling and alive.

Before the Cock Crows
Written by Lola Rose-Wood, directed by Ivan Hamshaw-Thomas, with Darcy De Winter, Rory Drinnan-Murray, Elsa Kerscher and Abi Price.
Four characters, a taped-out floorplan of rooms, and a near-future where Sunday labour is outlawed and paid work itself is suspect. The play explores class, climate and control through the lives inside one household, mixing eco-anxiety, domestic politics and lyrical imagery, moths, fleas and foxes intruding from the natural world, whilst termites and wood worm nibble at the very fabric of our existence. The ending, an extended, wordless ripping up of the floor tape, lingered a touch too long, but the metaphor held. You could easily imagine this one of the three developing into a full-length play.

Performances were excellent across the board, the Queen Margaret University ensemble showing remarkable focus and talent for a one-night-only run.

By the final applause, the mood in the room was electric. The audience, mostly students and young theatre-makers, responded with warmth and noisy enthusiasm. And rightly so: Gateway has become a genuinely exciting platform for new writing in Scotland, brimming with experiment, risk and heart. Not every piece lands but the future it points to looks bright

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 4^th November 2025

North West End UK Rating: