Traverse Theatre Sets Spring Season 2016

The Traverse announces its Spring season today (7 December 2015), featuring new work from Scotland and beyond. The Traverse is delighted to welcome back Michael Boyd to direct Right Now by Quebeçois playwright, Catherine-Anne Toupin, in a translation by Chris Campbell. Following an international exchange in Autumn 2014 with Montréal's Théâtre La Licorne, Right Now will be presented in a co-production between the Traverse Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath Ustinov Studio and Bush Theatre from 19 April - 7 May. First performed in English as a script-in-hand reading as part of the Traverse's New Writing from Quebec project, Right Now is a thrilling contemporary work, a disquieting exploration of one woman's crisis and darkest desires.

Crash by Andy Duffy, fresh from its sell-out success in the Traverse Festival 2015 programme, will tour the UK in April and May 2016. The story of an enigmatic trader attempting to rebuild his life following a tragedy, this tense and brooding one-man show has captivated audiences on its journey from A Play, A Pie and A Pint to full Traverse Theatre Company production. It tours to Pleasance Islington, London (12 - 24 April); Tron Theatre, Glasgow (27 - 28 April); Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (29 - 30 April); Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol (3 - 4 May) and Sherman Cymru, Cardiff (6 - 7 May).

Traverse Artistic Director Orla O'Loughlin said, "I am delighted to announce our Spring 2016 season. Not only are we presenting our European premiere of Right Now in a major new co-production, we are also celebrating the 24th ground-breaking year of Class Act and seeing last year's hit Crash head out on a UK tour. I am thrilled to welcome so many wonderful visiting companies to our stages. Spring 2016 has been a labour of love to curate. I am extremely proud of the exciting line up that sees our building bursting with brilliant contemporary drama as well as an array of hands-on engagement opportunities for audiences of all ages. In particular, it is great to see the return of our long-standing, internationally renowned festival partners manipulate and Imaginate and also witness the powerful springboard the Traverse can provide for new talent. Special mention must go to Traverse 50 alumni Alan Gordon and Eva O'Connor who we are proud to welcome back with two urgent and compelling new plays."

The season begins in January with two evenings of exciting new work from the next generation of playwrights in the form of Class Act. Now in its twenty-fourth year, the Traverse's flagship schools project represents the Theatre's continuing commitment to finding and nurturing those young people who wish to explore ideas and the world around them through the medium of writing and performance. They are guided on their journey by professional playwrights Clare Duffy, Lewis Hetherington, John McCann, Nicola McCartney and Isabel Wright.

A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Òran Mór, presented by the Traverse Theatre, returns from 15 March to 16 April with five new plays from emerging and established playwrights. Works from Clare Duffy, Anita Vittesse, Oliver Emanuel, Tim Barrow and Fabien Cloutier are directed by Johnny McKnight, Gareth Nicholls, Ryan Alexander Dewar, Nicholas Bone and Traverse Literary Associate Rosie Kellagher.

The ninth manipulate festival of visual theatre runs at the Traverse from 31 January - 6 February. Featuring over 20 events in seven days including visual theatre, animated film, the emergent theatre conference and snapshots: artists@work, the festival promises once again to bring the best visual work to the Traverse from all over the world.

The Tailor of Inverness by Matthew Zajac has been seen by over 26,000 people in ten countries and tells a moving story of displacement and survival in war-torn Europe. Winner of a Scotsman Fringe First in 2008 and the 2009 Best Actor Award from the Scottish Critics, this powerful piece of storytelling runs from 9 - 11 February in Traverse One.

Jenna Watt returns to the Traverse from 11 - 13 February with How You Gonna Live Your Dash. Based on real-life testimonies and featuring dazzling pyrotechnic effects, this performance examines the moment we choose to denote our own lives, and how we piece together a new future.

Scottish Dance Theatre presents a double bill of work on 17 and 18 February. Dreamers by Anton Lachky and Process Day by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar represent a robust physical engagement with metaphysical concepts. Lachky takes pleasure in making sense from nonsense and exploring the links between reality and surrealism, while Eyal and Behar have taken inspiration from Tirzah and Micachu for their world premiere.

Eva O'Connor, a veteran of the Traverse 50 programme, returns to Edinburgh with her acclaimed production My Name is Saoirse which won the First Fortnight Award in 2014. It tells the story of Saoirse O'Brien from Limerick who discovers she is pregnant and is forced to set out on a journey that leads her miles from home and the carefree adolescence she had known.

Late February and early March see a host of premieres at the Traverse. Mike Bartlett's c*ckby the Tron Theatre Company has its Scottish premiere on 25 February and runs until 27 February. It tells the story of John, whose long term gay relationship has come to an end, and his new girlfriend. As tensions develop, John is forced to choose as a civilised dinner to talk things over rapidly descends into a messy cockfight.

Purposeless Movements by Robert Softley Gale receives its world premiere in performances from 2 - 4 March. The five performers on stage have cerebral palsy. The way they stand and move is a dead giveaway. When they were born, doctors called it Purposeless Movements and, in this new production, stories from the lives of the performers are used to ask what it is to move and be moved.

Sherman Cymru's Iphigenia In Splott, winner of the UK Theatre Award for Best New Play 2015, tells the chaotic story of Effie as her life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs and drama. Inspired by the Greek myth, Gary Owen's play is a thoroughly modern drama that has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. It runs at the Traverse from 3 - 5 March.

Following their critically acclaimed festival production, Tomorrow, Matthew Lenton and Vanishing Point return with The Destroyed Room. Taking inspiration from Jeff Wall's famous photograph showing a ransacked room, the piece asks what we see, what we turn away from and what's coming. It runs from 9 - 12 March.

Eclipse, by Simon Armitage, asks if the moon, the second brightest object in our sky, can control the fate of one teenager? This collaboration between Lyceum Youth Theatre and the Traverse will be presented as a double bill with brand new short plays written by the Traverse Young Writers group, performed script-in-hand by members of LYT.

On 16 March, choreographer Marc Brew presents For Now, I Am . . . Stripped back - for the first time since his car accident - Brew creates an intimate show that explores what it means to be broken, reborn, purified and reconciling with being in the world in an entirely new way. Combining Brew's fierce signature physicality with tender expression, the production also features a newly commissioned musical score and striking visual projections.

A Boeing 777 begins its descent towards Heathrow unfolding its wheels from its belly. As it does the frozen body of a stowaway is thrown into the clear morning sky. Glancing skyward from the car park of B&Q, Andy sees something hurtling towards him and a body crash lands in front of him. Stowaway by Hannah Barker and Lewis Hetherington explores the extraordinary story of a man on a journey in search of an impossible future. It plays 18 - 19 March.

The Air That Carries The Weight is a world premiere from Stellar Quines by Rebecca Sharp and directed by Muriel Romanes. This new play layers reality and fantasy through immersive writing, design, lighting and original live music. We follow Isobel on a journey through memories, signs and stories to discover the truth uncovered by her friend Yvonne before her death. With a preview on 24 March, The Air That Carries The Weight is at the Traverse 25 - 26 March.

From 30 March - 2 April, acclaimed Fire Exit presents a co-production with Tron Theatre at the Traverse. International Waters is set in a world where the 1% now need asylum, and four obscenely wealthy members of this set secure passage on an exclusive party ship, the last leaving London. Sailing in the wrong direction, under a captain they don't know, it quickly becomes apparent they don't know what's going on. Directed by David Leddy, International Waters promises to explore this current topic with his trademark flair.

The iconic Lung Ha Theatre Company returns to the Traverse from 7 - 9 April with a world premiere by Douglas Maxwell, The Silent Treatment. In the midst of a sponsored silence the imperative to speak is cranked to new heights by the knowledge that one of your team has just won wads of cash. With music from MJ McCarthy, this journey aims to find the many ways there are to overcome silence when there is so much to say.

The realisation that our parents are flawed human beings and at some point will disappear from our lives is the premise behind Gods Are Fallen and All Safely Gone by Selma Dimitrijevic which runs from 4 - 6 May. This intimate and funny play presents a lifetime of conversations condensed into one hour, with a mother and daughter from the local community invited to join the cast on stage every night for a one-off performance.

Election night on 5 May brings a special event marking the culmination of Two Minute Manifesto which, over the last year, has been asking tough and intriguing questions as to how Scotland might be better run. Conceived and hosted by Traverse Associate Artist David Greig, Sarah-Beattie-Smith and Christopher Silver, this unique mix of politics, poetry, music and analysis looks back over the year that was and asks what lies in Scotland's future.

12 - 14 May sees Gary McNair return with his award-winning Festival hit Donald Robertson Is Not A Stand-Up Comedian. This monologue is by turn achingly funny and touchingly tender as Gary tells the story of Donald, a little boy with no friends and a powerful desire to perform comedy. It is an incisive look at the darker side of the art of stand-up.

Blackout by Mark Jeary tells the often brutal and frequently hilarious story of alcoholism and recovery from the point of view of those who've experienced it. The New Room Theatre production is scripted entirely from interviews with recovering alcoholics and tells their truth in their way from 18 - 19 May.

White & Givan return to the Traverse with a new work, Breathe, from 20 - 21 May. This tender work features a series of encounters exploring the remnants of lives and the dust of shared history. Against an uncompromising sound and lighting backdrop, the dancers shift through suspended moments in time between reality and memory.

Performing Arts Studio Scotland (PASS) at Edinburgh College is leading the way in the provision of high quality further education in acting and performance. PASS Out is a showcase of new, devised work that will be created by the students in the two weeks leading up to the performances on 24 and 25 May at the Traverse. The students have worked with leading professional exponents to produce the work you will see on stage.

Strange Town Youth Theatre, in collaboration with playwright and Traverse 50 alumnus Alan Gordon, has created two new plays exploring what matters to the next generation. What Next? / What Now? promise to combine young people's humour and vitality, and their passion to stand up and have their voices heard. These insights will be revealed on the Traverse stage on 10 - 11 June.

Also in late May and early June, the Traverse Theatre will be one of the venues across Edinburgh playing host to the Imaginate Festival. Edinburgh's international children's festival aims to promote and develop performing arts for children and young people in Scotland and also offers the opportunity to see some of the world's finest theatre for children and young people. In 2016 Imaginate runs 28 May - 5 June.

Engagement with audiences and burgeoning artists remains a central aspect of the Traverse Theatre's mission and, to that end, there is a programme of projects, workshops and events throughout the Spring Season 2016. Scribble (ages 15 - 18) starts 18 January for a ten-week course offering young writers the opportunity to work with members of the Traverse Artistic Team to learn the skills that enable them to turn ideas into great scripts. The Traverse Young Writers course invites participants to join and learn from a network how best to hone their playwriting skills through debate and discussion. It starts Monday 15 February for 10 weeks. Words, Words, Words is a no-holds-barred, work-in-progress, scratch extravaganza. Selected writers are offered a slot of up to ten minutes each to explore work which can be brand new, a bit rough or rather unpolished. The emphasis is on progress, and scripts will be brought to life by a company of actors after a day's rehearsals. On 16 January is the Diverse Stories and Writing for Performance workshop. Participants will work with playwright May Sumbwanyambe to look at writing stories that examine diversity and tackle the challenges of good and bad practice across a variety of dramatic forms.

The Soundhouse residency, which has seen an exciting and eclectic mix of musicians playing live in the Traverse Café Bar, continues in 2016. Every Monday from 18 January, bands and musicians from all over the world perform, kicking off with Three Cane Whale. The Spring Season also including performances by Adam Holmes and the Embers, Woody Pines and Cera Impala.

Booking for all shows on www.traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404

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