Media Traverse Theatre Delivers A Festive Feast To Round Off 2020
By: A.A. Cristi Nov. 24, 2020
The Traverse Theatre are delivering a Festive Feast of shows, films and events to round off 2020 in their all year-round digital festival venue, Traverse 3, throughout December.
New productions and events are:
- A Gambler's Guide to Dying by Gary McNair, a theatrical capture premiere
- The Traverse Podcast - new podcast episodes with Jess Brough, Harry Josephine Giles and Bea Webster
- Happenings: Until the Flood with Dael Orlandersmith - a special piece from writer and performer Dael Orlandersmith
- Happenings live Q&A with Dael Orlandersmith, Natasha Thembiso Ruwona and May Sumbwanyambe
Returning shows:
- Shielders by Matilda Ibini
- 2020 Breakfast Plays: Second Helping featuring plays by Jamie Cowan, Rebecca Martin, Amy Rhianne Milton, Uma Nada-Rajah and Conor O'Loughlin
Traverse Executive Producer, Linda Crooks, says:
"As we near the closure of the most challenging of years for us all, we felt it important to reflect on the times and what we know within the programme. Since the onset of the crisis, we at the Traverse were determined to lean into the challenges, which undeniably have been tough. Undaunted, we have sought to create and deliver an inventive and international programme of new and reimagined stories in whatever way we could - with Traverse 3 being the torchlight, our virtual alternative.
And now we seek to bring a Christmas cornucopia for our audiences, brimming with real(ish) and fantastical stories of hope, joy, triumph over adversity - and a dollop of reckoning.
We have attempted to highlight and explore what connects us to each other and to our communities, makes us strong and resilient, empowers and disempowers, embrace humility and ultimately brings us to give a damn.
To this end, we invited our Associate Artist, Glasgow's Gary McNair, to work with us to reimagine for Traverse 3 his hit show A Gambler's Guide to Dying - a timely, heartwarming story about the relationship between fortune and fate and betting on what none of us can control. And from New York the titanic writer and performer Dael Orlandersmith gifts us her astonishing, gripping drama Until the Flood, the ugly truth about racism in the United States and beyond.
At the moment we can't control our theatre spaces but along with a range of exceptional creatives from Scotland and beyond, we can bring you brilliant stories and give you something to mull over."
THE TRAVERSE FESTIVE FEAST PROGRAMME
A GAMBLER'S GUIDE TO DYING
written and performed by Gary McNair
Directed by Gareth Nicholls and Siri Rødnes
Traverse Theatre Company
Thu 17 Dec - Wed 27 Jan
Pay What You Can
This is the story of one boy's granddad who won a fortune betting on the 1966 football World Cup and, when diagnosed with cancer, gambled it all on living to see the year 2000.
An intergenerational tale of what we live for and what we leave behind.
Having played to sell-out audiences when it premiered at the Traverse Festival - winning a Fringe First and the Holden Street Theatre Award - A Gambler's Guide to Dying has since been performed around the world. This festive season, Gary McNair's soul-stirring tale comes home to Scotland as this exciting new theatrical capture, filmed on location around Glasgow and Traverse 1, transports you to the very heart of the story.
Written and performed by Gary McNair (Locker Room Talk, Square Go), this new presentation of A Gambler's Guide to Dying is co-directed by the show's original stage director Gareth Nicholls (Ulster American, Crocodile Fever) and Siri Rødnes, with original composition by Michael John McCarthy.
Premiere event
At 8pm on Thu 17 Dec A Gambler's Guide to Dying will be live premiered online, followed by an exclusive Q&A session with writer and performer Gary McNair streamed live on our Facebook page.
Writer and Performer Gary McNair said:
"A Gambler's Guide to Dying is a very special show for me. I've been lucky enough to present it all over the world but I've always wanted to bring it back to Scotland. So, to be able to do that with Gareth again, back at the Traverse where it all began, is a real joy. Plus, to work with Siri and the rest of the team to present it in this new way has been a thrill. "
Director Gareth Nicholls said:
"It's been an absolute pleasure working on A Gambler's Guide To Dying in this new form. A piece which celebrates family, friendship and the restorative power of storytelling itself feels as resonant and pertinent now as ever before. As we head into what will be a dark few months for many I hope this joyful, funny and beautifully written story will bring some much needed light to audiences - asking big questions around how we choose to remember loved ones and who are the real heroes which we should celebrate in our lives.
'Gary McNair shines in this beautifully written, deceptively simple, warmly comic piece that accumulates layers of meaning through the act of storytelling itself. Rich and earthily funny - a genuine pleasure' **** The Guardian
A Gambler's Guide to Dying was first performed at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Made in Scotland Edinburgh Festival Showcase on 6th August 2015. It was presented by Gary McNair with Show and Tell and directed by Gareth Nicholls.
HAPPENINGS: UNTIL THE FLOOD WITH Dael Orlandersmith
From 3 Dec
Free
Following a sold out run of her revelatory play Until the Flood at the 2019 Traverse Festival, playwright and performer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith (Yellowman) presents a new event as part of our Happenings series.
In this exclusive piece available to watch from Thu 3 Dec, Dael discusses the journey of creating the play, the parallels between the America of 2014 - when the events of Until the Flood took place - and 2020, and reflects on how communities can respond to injustice through creativity.
This Happening includes extracts from Dael's poetic and revelatory plays Until the Flood, a full recording of which is also available to view, having been recorded live on stage in New York's Rattlestick Theater.
About Until the Flood:
Missouri, 2014. Michael Brown, a black teenager, is shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer.
A tidal wave of unrest sweeps across the nation, powered by a new activist movement called Black Lives Matter. Its ripples are felt all over the world.
Based on extensive of interviews with Missouri residents following the 2014 shooting, Dael confronts the powerful forces of history, race and politics and embodies the many faces of a community rallying for justice, and a country still yearning for change.
Winner: 2019 Scotsman Fringe First award
'Searing and immaculate ... superbly performed.' ***** The Scotsman
Writer and Performer Dael Orlandersmith said:
"I am not a politician - I'm a theatre worker, but having said that, I hope Until the Flood creates thought/conversation. We are in a volatile time and change is necessary. If theatre can help do that - if Until the Flood has helped add to that thought/conversation - that's the 'true applause'."
With thanks to AllArts.com.
SHIELDERS
by Matilda Ibini
Directed by Debbie Hannan
Traverse Theatre Company
Thu 3 Dec - Sun 31 Jan
Pay What You Can
Following its original August run, Matidla Ibini's otherworldly Shielders returns for a limited time.
Shahbaz, Zira and Trice have been in lockdown in Glasgow for months, spending their days on the phone to each other whilst searching the skies for sightings from another planet. Now, though the world is opening up, Shahbaz must stay in his shielding bubble as Zira and Trice head back into the outside world and their 'real' lives, losing interest in hunting for answers amongst the stars.
But for Shahbaz his 'normality' starts to take a toll, and some new friends pay him a visitation...
A digital play by Matilda Ibini (Little Miss Burden) and directed by Debbie Hannan (The Panopticon), Shielders is influenced by Afrofuturism and classic sci-fi movies, taking a unique look at the very alien world we now find ourselves in and its impact on those who still find themselves on the inside, looking out.
2020 BREAKFAST PLAYS: SECOND HELPINGS
Traverse Theatre Company
Thu 3 Dec - Sun 31 Jan
Free
This year's Breakfast Plays (New Tracks) return after a successful first run in August. Tackling what happens after an earth-shattering event occurs, each play was specially written and recorded as a podcast play so audiences around the world can enjoy these short plays in their own unique setting, be it at home, on the beach or atop a lofty peak.
The 2020 Breakfast Plays are:
CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ETHICS (OR, HOW TO CHEAT) by Jamie Cowan
RABBIT CATCHER by Rebecca Martin
MATTERHORN by Amy Rhianne Milton
THE WATERCOOLER by Uma Nada-Rajah
DOOMSDAYS by Conor O'Loughlin
TRAVERSE PODCASTS
Traverse Theatre Company
Various dates
Free
Further new episodes of The Traverse Podcast series will be available throughout December. Guests speaking with Co-Artistic Director Designate Debbie Hannan include Jess Brough, Harry Josephine Giles and Bea Webster. The final part of our US Election Special, created by Sarah Kosar, will also be coming soon.
RAPUNZEL
A National Theatre of Scotland production in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland
Live streaming of The National Theatre of Scotland's production of Rapunzel , a very special online festive show filmed in the beautiful surrounds of Stirling Castle written and directed by Johnny McKnight will also be available to view from 23rd December to 4th January. Booking details announced soon.
PARTICIPATORY PROGRAMME
Throughout the lockdown period, the Traverse has been continuing to connect people with theatre and the arts, dedicating vital space to develop the talents of early career writers as they forge new pathways in their practice. We want to extend our invitation to audiences and writers around the world to learn, converse and be inspired by the individual and collective power of creativity.
Our Traverse Young Writers project engages with young people aged 18-25 from across Scotland to discover the new writers of tomorrow. For more details see https://www.traverse.co.uk/get-involved/young-people/traverse-young-writers
And our 2020 Class Act programme has seen creatives from the worlds of theatre and music working with young people from Boroughmuir High School, Craigroyston Community High School, the Royal High School and Broughton High School to unleash their creativity. See some of the results here: https://issuu.com/traverse_theatre/docs/class_20act_202020_20-_20zine_201
All currently available events can be found at traverse.co.uk/whats-on/traverse-festival.
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