Published: May 24th, 2013
 Conor Lovett in First Love by Samuel Beckett, directed by Judy Hegarty Lovett. Photo creadit Ros Kavanagh Traverse Theatre
Thurs 23-Sat 25 May, 2013
Review by Thom Dibdin
Samuel Beckett is back in the house, down in Traverse One with the return of the Gare St Lazare Players and their thorough, particular adaptation of First Love, a short story written in 1948 but not published until 1971.
On the surface, there is little to this first-person narrative. A young man leaves home when his father dies, meets a woman on a bench by the canal and, after a bit of havering, goes to live with her in her flat. Despite his best intentions he is in love.
But such a synopsis is an all-but-inappropriate oversimplification of a tale which twists with spite and failed lassitude. The sweet smell of corpses underlines it and the young man is motivated – if that is not … Continue reading Review – First Love
Published: May 24th, 2013
 Jenna Watt in Flaneurs. Photo credit Eoin Carey Traverse Theatre
Thurs 23/Fri 24 May 2013
Review by Irene Brown
The attack and mugging of a friend in London horrified writer and creator Jenna Watt. Even more so, when she discovered that the attack took place in front of many witnesses.
Watt uses an engaging direct narration to tell her personal response to the crime in which she makes a particular point of questioning the role of bystanders. There is a belief that “the larger the crowd, the less likely it is that anyone will intervene”.
It is this phenomenon that focuses Watt’s work and gives it its title. Flâneurs comes from the French verb flâner meaning to stroll – or, pejoratively, to hing aboot. A flâneur, then, is one who does … Continue reading Review – Flâneurs
Published: May 18th, 2013 * * * Poohdunnit with claws
 Guy Darnell and Angela Clerkin star in The Bear, a stylish noir thriller. Photo credit Sheila Burnett Traverse Theatre
Thurs 16 – Sat 18 May 2013
Review by Irene Brown
Not the amazing dancing bear, but a murdering bear. Or so we are led to believe. A kind of Winnie the Poohdunnit with claws.
Sultry sax notes of 50s film noir and Grappelli-esque fiddle at the start give promise to a gumshoe genre that fails to fully materialise. A US voiceover continues the private eye theme as Angela Clerkin stands like a sleuthing Lily Marlene under the light of a yellow lamp. This element weaves in and out of the action but is lost as a dominant theme despite the play’s hype.
Instead, Angela Clerkin narrates her true story, based on … Continue reading Review – The Bear
Published: May 2nd, 2013 Platform 18: New Work Award * * * */* *
 Publicity photo for Wuthering Heights Traverse Theatre
Wed 1 – Fri 3 April
Review by Irene Brown
The Arches Platform 18 Award aims to support Scotland’s most exciting theatre makers and offer them the opportunity to stage a funded production at the Arches and Traverse.
Two productions are chosen by a selection panel and this year the winners were Wuthering Heights by Peter McMaster and Poke by Amanda Monfrooe.
Irene Brown saw the resulting double bill for the Annals. … Continue reading Review – Platform 18
Published: April 4th, 2013
 Meet the contestants: Gail Watson, Paul Thomas Hickey and Eileen Walsh. Photo by Eoin Carey Traverse Theatre
2 – 20 April 2013
Guest Review by Irene Brown
A gaudy, glitzy, tinselled television studio set is the believable backdrop to Rob Drummond’s audacious participatory theatre – the first full production of the Traverse’s fiftieth anniversary season. Full of flashing lights, disco music and gizmos, this is the home of popular quiz show: False!.
It would be brave to say in a short sentence what a play is about. But if anyone can, the writer can, and in Drummond’s forward to his script, he says, “Quiz Show is about the value of chasing truth at all costs…”
As False!, the show with the catch phrase ‘The Truth can be Cruel’, starts in … Continue reading Review – Quiz Show
Published: March 24th, 2013 * * * * Fast and furious
 Chapel Street. Photo © Alex Brenner Traverse Theatre
Thurs 21 –Sat 23 March 2013
Guest review by Irene Brown
Fast, furious and full of fancy footwork, this double bill from two fresh, award-winning English companies has the high impact immediacy only delivered by the young.
Chapel Street, by Luke Barnes for Scrawl, is a tale of two unconnected young people, Kristy and Joe, living in the north of England. The separate narration is delivered directly to the audience, with what sounded like authentic accents, casually and intermittently breaking the fourth wall.
We learn through the fast-paced stream-of-consciousness delivery that Joe is a Sun-reading, unreconstructed and unemployed male with a … Continue reading Review: Chapel Street/Bitch Boxer
Published: March 18th, 2013 A little publicity goes a long, long way
 The Traverse grabbed the headlines from the outset. By Thom Dibdin
There’s nothing like a good story to set the pulse racing. Especially one that promises sex, absolute peril or triumph over adversity. Or even a combination of the three.
Last night on BBC Radio 3, Joyce McMillan’s fantastic little homage to the Traverse Theatre – which you can’t really escape noticing is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year – had all three. Although being in the rather esoteric Sunday evening feature slot, it didn’t boast about the fact.
What it was all about was telling stories. That thing which theatre exists to do. Without stories to tell there would be no theatre – and in some ways. without the theatres to tell them in, the stories of our culture – stories which we need to make sense of our place in a changing world – would become lost and less distinct. … Continue reading Sex and death – selling theatres
Published: March 13th, 2013 * * * Quick and slick
 Joanna Kaczynska (Katya) Samantha Pearl (Zainab) and Nadia Clifford (Chloe) in Sabrina Mahfouz’s Clean. Production photo © Play, Pie and a Pint. Traverse Theatre: A Play, a Pie and a Pint
Tue 12 – Sat 16 March 2013
Review by Thom Dibdin
Classy and compelling, Sabrina Mahfouz’s fizzing three-hander slams down onto the Play, Pie and a Pint stage for a lunchtime treat of slick, sick attitude.
That’s Attitude, girl. The one with a capital ‘A’. And don’t you forget it, boy.
This is the cruel world of cool, the video-game playground which Mahfouz has reclaimed from under the noses of the boys. She re-imagines it with vibrant female characters, plenty of kick-ass action and clever crimes – but clean crimes: no mindless violence, no innocent victims.
As theatre, this is a character-driven narrative, performed on a … Continue reading Review – Clean
Published: March 7th, 2013 * * * Kentucky Fried Raunch
 Gabriel Quigley and Richard Rankin in David Ireland’s Most Favoured. Production photo © Play, Pie and a Pint Traverse Theatre: A Play, a Pie and a Pint
Tue 5 – Sat 9 March 2013
Review by Thom Dibdin
Satisfaction is not always a reflection of the absolute quality of what is on offer, as this constantly surprising a Play, a Pie and a Pint offering by David Ireland demonstrates most effectively.
It is a post-coital morning in an anonymous Edinburgh hotel room in the middle of the fringe. And Gabriel Quigley’s Glaswegian, Mary, is loved-up beyond ecstasy. Her night before, while just the latest in a succession of one night stands, has been exceptional.
Richard Rankin’s young American, Michael, is equally loved-up. His satisfaction comes not as a result of the previous night’s exertions, however, entertaining thought they might have been and willing though he is to … Continue reading Review – Most Favoured
Published: February 28th, 2013 * * * * What a stoater
 Traverse Theatre, a Play a Pie and a Pint
Tue 26 Feb-Sat 2 Mar 2013
Review by Thom Dibdin
The relationship between language and power is woven right through Douglas Maxwell’s misleadingly simple script for a Play, a Pie and a Pint, at the Traverse theatre every lunchtime until Saturday.
On the surface this is a comedy of expletive-driven language. Joanna Tope’s recently widowed Annabelle meets Scott Fletcher’s Motherwell-supporting Jim after her husband’s funeral.
A slip of the tongue from the youngster, flustered in the presence of his recently dead boss’s wife, leads to a friendship in she actively learns to use the vernacular of the football terraces. On the … Continue reading Review – A respectable Woman Takes to Vulgarity
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