The Traverse: A Love Affair
My first memory of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre is being taken there by my mother to their pantomime. I use the word "pantomime" loosely as, aside from the fact that the Trav would never put on anything so vulgar, it was some sort of gothic morality tale quite unsuitable for anyone below the age of consent. I have a vague recollection of someone or something crawling up the aisle towards me, although this might have been another child trying to escape the horrors being portrayed onstage. For my part I just about shat myself and have never really been able to rid myself of the memory.
That would have been in the Traverse’s old premises at the West Bow. Last year the Trav celebrated its 60th anniversary in a purpose-built two theatre space in Cambridge Street where it had moved to in 1992.
That early theatrical experience didn’t put me off the sound of boards being trod & the smell of greasepaint, and from the late 1990s well into the 2000s, I reckon I must have attended in excess of 100 productions staged at the Traverse’s new home. Highlights include Stephen Greenhorn’s Passing Places (two Motherwell lads go on a voyage of discovery in a stolen Lada), Jonathan Watson in Rob Drummond’s Quiz Show (an unsettling examination of the cult of celebrity), a pair of Zinnie Harris plays Fall and The Wheel, a pitch-perfect performance of timing and subtle facial movements from Bill Paterson in Tom Holloway’s And No More Shall We Part, Gregory’s Burke’s portrayal of the absurdity of the Falklands War in The Straits, a memorable hour long monologue - while running on a treadmill - from Shauna MacDonald in Gary McNair’s Born To Run and a sold out revival of the late John Byrne’s The Slab Boys Trilogy.
The last show I saw was in August 2013, Ciara, a David Harrower piece about a Glasgow art gallery owner performed by Blythe Duff. At the time I noted that “the play doesn't drift too much - there is a conclusion of sorts.” High praise, but I did drift, I drifted to the Lyceum Theatre over on the other side of the Usher Hall. And then after a few years, drifted away from going to the theatre at all.
Like the break up of so many love affairs it was a case of, it’s not you, it’s me, a self-serving excuse if ever there was. The Traverse was still producing quality theatre, but for whatever reason I was unable to appreciate it, tempted by the fruit of another, tempted but the truth is discovered.
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A couple of months ago I returned to the Traverse to see BAFTA award winning writer and actor Jack Docherty’s show David Bowie and Me: Parallel Lives. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the show but I wondered why I’d left it so long. As I wrote in 2011 reviewing You Cannot Go Forward From Where You Are Now by David Watson:
I think the theatre is the only place that I feel totally relaxed. No phonecalls, no text messages, no emails - nothing to distract. When the lights go down I love knowing that the only thing that I need to do is to concentrate on the action as it unfolds before me.
Leaving the Traverse after Docherty’s show I picked up the theatre’s programme for the forthcoming festival season (25th July - 25th August). Doing what it does best - showcasing new writing - there are eight premieres among the ten productions from seven countries and every single one looks worth seeing. A new Douglas Maxwell play - So Young - is always welcome; A Knock On The Roof by Khawla Ibraheem addresses the realities of those living in Gaza during these fractured times; and a gender-flipped retelling of Cyrano should be worth contrasting against Communicado Theatre’s staging of Edmond Rostand’s classic play, the very first I saw when the Traverse opened its doors at Cambridge Street in 1992.
Full circle, and a lot to look forward to.
Image: The Traverse Theatre, West Bow, Edinburgh, 1969 - 1992 © Traverse Theatre