The nights are drawing in and there is a host of enticing work on offer this season.
I am delighted to be directing our two flagship Traverse productions.
The first is a new play by one of Scotland’s most distinctive voices, Morna Pearson, the chilling but hilarious The Artist Man and the Mother Woman . Set in a small town in the North East of Scotland, the relationship between a mother and son unravels as our hero makes a bid to cut the apron strings he’s clung on to for far too long. This is a pitch black tale with a big, big heart.
Our second world premiere is a riotous Christmas show. The
Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society by Steven Canny and
John Nicholson is a collaboration between the Traverse and the acclaimed Peepolykus. All is not what it seems in this illustrated lecture about life, death and the afterlife. Physical theatre, comedy and big ideas merge as we explore, amongst other things, just what might happen when Arthur Conan Doyle is put face to face with his creation, Sherlock Holmes.
I’m really excited about our Autumn Dance Festival, which enters its fourth year. Highlights include Scotland’s first Open
Art Surgery by Breakin’ Convention, Smallpetitklein Dance
Company's haunting piece Within This Dust and Red Note

Ensemble’s fusion of music, sensational choreography and animation in The Intoxicating Rose Garden .
World class writers are presented by some of the best Scottish theatre companies around. Linda McLean’s new play Sex and
God is brought to us by Magnetic North and Platform. Multiaward winning Grid Iron present the latest play from Ella
Hickson, and Random Accomplice presents Johnny McKnight’s
The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam .
We’ll be taking you out of the Traverse too this season, with a couple of thrilling off site projects. Vanishing Point’s audio experience, Entartet at Leith’s Old Ambulance Depot – part installation, part performance and totally free. Red Note
Ensemble will transport you to Summerhall to experience the apocalypse with The End of the World (for one night only) .
This Christmas, for our younger audiences we are teaming up with macrobert and Frozen Charlotte to bring you Too Many
Penguins . A truly magical polar adventure.
So, as the days get shorter and darkness falls on Edinburgh, I hope you’ll join us at the Traverse for a celebration of all that is weird and downright wonderful
See you there,
Orla O’Loughlin

In person from the Traverse Box Office
10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh EH1 2ED
By phone
0131 228 1404
Online traverse.co.uk
Opening Times
Monday to Saturday: 10am-6pm
Or until performance starts Sundays: two hours before the performance
School Bookings
All tickets are £6 plus one complimentary teacher ticket for every 10 paying students.
Group Bookings
One complimentary ticket for every 10 tickets bought (i.e. 11th ticket free). Group bookings can be reserved for an extended period.
Concession tickets
For some discounts proof of concession will be required.
• Students
• Under 18s (children under 14 must be accompanied by adult)
• Over 60s

• Disabled patrons (complimentary companion tickets are available)
• Traverse Theatre Club Members
• Members of Entertainment Unions
• YoungScot Cardholders
• Unemployed (proof of Jobseekers Allowance must be shown)
Exchanges
Tickets can be exchanged for an alternative performance or for credit up to 24 hours before the original performance booked, on return of the tickets to the box office. Exchanges are subject to a £1 fee per ticket to a maximum of £5.
2 & 3 October
Director Lies Pauwels
Devised by the Company
Cast Katie Armstrong, Thomas J Baylis and Hanna Stanbridge
Alison Peebles is a leading Scottish actor. But that’s not the point. Alison Peebles has primary progressive MS which was first diagnosed 12 years ago, after a series of falls as a creeping numbness spread throughout her body. But maybe that’s not the point either. The point is that she is as vulnerable as all of us.

Thomas, Katie and Hanna are beautiful young performers, but it’s not important that they have healthy, flexible, reliable bodies. What’s important is that their minds and their emotions can be as unpredictable as Alison’s body.
My Shrinking Life is a confrontation between fundamental concepts in human life, between weakness and vanity, between choice and coercion, between movement and stasis, beginnings and ends. Celebratory, irreverent and, at times, surreal. My
Shrinking Life blends theatre and dance examining the emotional and physical journey we are all on as vulnerable, fragile people, diagnosed or not. nationaltheatrescotland.com
@NTSonline
Dates & Times
Tue 2 & Wed 3 Oct, 7.30pm
Tickets
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Tue 2 Oct
Venue: Traverse 1

4 & 5 October
Director Marilyn Imrie
Stellar Quines in partnership with Luminate, Scotland’s creative ageing festival, presents a rehearsed reading of Liz Lochhead’s humorous and poignant play, Mortal Memories.
Nettie Abernethy, widow of the local minister and with a passion for the work of Robert Burns, was a leading light of the
Women’s Guild Burns Suppers in the 1970s. Nearly 40 years later she builds an unlikely friendship in her sheltered housing community, as they prepare to celebrate Burns night and share some secrets and memories from the past. Liz Lochhead will take part in an after show discussion following both performances. stellarquines.com luminatescotland.org
@Stellarquines
@LuminateScot
Dates & Times
Thu 4 & Fri 5 Oct, 7.30pm

Tickets
£6/£4
After Show Discussion
Fri 5 Oct
Sign Language Performance
Fri 5 Oct, 7.30pm
"Sometimes the most magical moments happen in the rehearsal room"
Participant, FST Open Space event
PART OF THE LUMINATE FESTIVAL
Luminate is Scotland’s creative ageing festival celebrating and profiling our creative lives as we age.
4 – 6 October
Director Iain Johnstone
Designer Natasha Jiggins
Lighting Gerron Stewart
Costume Kat Smith

If you go down to the woods tonight, you’re in for a big surprise! The course of true love never did run smooth: a strict father and his headstrong daughter; star-crossed lovers and quarrelling fairies; mischievous imps, supernatural spells and people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expect the unexpected as you are drawn into an enchanted forest on the most magical night of the year - Midsummer’s night... Wee
Stories’ re-telling of Shakespeare’s fabulous fairy tale will be an entertaining, fast moving and delightfully inventive night out. weestoriestheatre.org
@Wee_Stories
“When it comes to Children’s Theatre in Scotland, Wee Stories are just about the best there is… pure, light-touch fairytale magic.”
The Scotsman
Dates & Times
Thu 4 – Sat 6 Oct, 7pm
Matinee Sat 6 Oct, 1.30pm
Tickets
£10/ family tickets £8 each
Traverse Theatre Club
Thu 4 Oct
Family tickets £7 each
Venue: Traverse 1

Age Recommendation: 10+
Supported by Creative Scotland
8 October & 10 December
Performers Red Note Ensemble
Conductor John Harris
Noisy Nights , now in their fourth year, are Red Note’s regular informal new music nights at the Traverse. Short pieces of new music are submitted from all around the world to be premiered here, in response to a new line-up of instruments and players each time. Noisy Nights are fun, informal and easy-going.
Members of the audience even get the chance to write their own pieces for Red Note to play with the now-famous 10
Minute Composer’s Challenge in the interval! Sign up to our
Facebook or Twitter feeds to learn about how to submit your music, or just show up to hear the very freshest of new music. rednoteensemble.com
@rednoteensemble
Dates & Times
Mon 8 Oct, 8pm & Mon 10 Dec, 8pm

Tickets Free (ticketed)
Venue: Traverse Bar
Creative Scotland, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, PRS for Music
Foundation, Hope Scott Trust, Traverse Theatre, Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland.
5 November
Words, Words, Words is a no holds barred, work in progress, scratch extravaganza. We're offering you, the writers, slots of up to 10 minutes each. The 10 best, most interesting, challenging scripts will be read out by actors who will work with directors on the day to give first breath to these hatchlings.
The work can be brand new, a bit rough, rather unpolished - but the emphasis is on development of work inprogress…birthing, gasping, whooping to life and with bigger things in mind for the future. Words, Words, Words will be directed by the Traverse Emerging Directors. Anyone who wants to touch the beating heart of new writing - come along and watch this event. Afterwards, please join us the bar to talk about what we've seen and give the writers feedback on their work.
Dates & Times
Mon 5 Nov, 8pm

Tickets Free (ticketed)
Venue: Traverse 2
11 – 13 October
Director Nicholas Bone
Designer Claire Halleran
Lighting Simon Wilkinson
Sound Kim Moore
Tantalising fragments of the lives of four women from across the twentieth century are woven together to transform everyday experiences into something extraordinary in this lyrical new play by Linda McLean. The writer of many acclaimed and award-winning plays, including Any Given Day
(Traverse and Magic Theatre, San Francisco), Linda McLean has “quietly emerged as one of Scotland’s top women’s playwrights”
(The Scotsman)
Sex and God is the latest production from Magnetic North, whose distinctive and highly acclaimed previous work includes

Walden, Pass the Spoon and Word for Word, a previous collaboration with Linda McLean. magneticnorth.org.uk
@magnorththeatre
“Theatrical perfection.”
The List (on Word for Word)
“Works beautifully.”
The Scotsman (on Walden)
Dates & Times
Thu 11 – Sat 13 Oct, 7.30pm
Tickets
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thu 11 Oct
Venue: Traverse 1
Age Recommendation: 14+
Supported by Creative Scotland

16 – 26 October
Previews 12 & 13 October
Director Ben Harrison
Composer MJ McCarthy
Designer Becky Minto
Kate Bane returns home to her eccentric family for a winter weekend to introduce her new boyfriend. As the snow falls, mobile phone signal fails and the trains stop running, Kate finds herself searching with increasing desperation for an authentic account of her family’s past. Are her memories fact, or are they continually shifting acts of imagination? Unable to pin down the truth, what does this mean for her future… which version of the family mythology will ensure her own happiness? Ella
Hickson’s new painfully comic excavation of a family history asks if there is an authorised version of the past – or just the one we can live with.
Multi-award winning Grid Iron present the latest play from brilliant young writer Ella Hickson with original music from
MJ McCarthy (of Glasgow based Indie band, Zoey Van Goey). gridiron.org.uk
@gridirontheatre
“Grid Iron is not just a Scottish national treasure but one of the

companies that has shaped British theatre over the last 20 years.”
The Guardian
“Ella Hickson has already found her voice and it’s a potent one.”
New York Times
Previews
Fri 12 & Sat 13 Oct, 8pm
Dates & Times
Tue 16 – Fri 26 Oct, 8pm
Tickets
Previews
£11/£6
Sun – Thu
£15.50/ £11.50/£6
Fri & Sat
£17.50/£13.50
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thu 16 Oct
Venue: Traverse 2
Age Recommendation: 14+
Supported by Creative Scotland & Playwrights’ Studio Scotland

18 – 20 October
Director Johnny McKnight
Producer Julie Brown
A brand new electrifying story of an ordinary boy with an extraordinary life. Sam McTannan is just a typical 15 year old - with one exception. Sam is a Superhero. He can literally turn
See-Thru when it suits him, only today something is wrong. In
Superhero comics they would call it a blip. Sam's powers are failing him and the people he doesn’t want to see him start paying him a little bit too much attention. With sensational animation creating Sam’s world, accentuated by a haunting score, The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam is an unmissable show from “one of Scotland’s most versatile and energetic companies” (The Skinny)
A heartbreaking, life-affirming comedy about life, love and being a total loser. seethrusam.com
@randomaccomplic #SeeThruSam
“An often hilarious and uproarious evening of stage comedy…a right rollicking night out.”
Sunday Herald, Mark Brown (on Smalltown)

“Such sustained brilliance…that it sometimes threatens to take the breath away.”
***** The Scotsman, Joyce MacMillan (on Promises
Promises)
Dates & Times
Thu 18 – Sat 20 Oct 7.30pm
Tickets
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thu 18
Venue: Traverse 1
Age Recommendation: 14+
Supported by Creative Scotland & Glasgow City Council
1 –17 November
Previews 30 & 31 October
Director Orla O’Loughlin
Designer Anthony Lamble
Composer/ Sound Designer Daniel Krass

Lighting Designer Richard Howell
Cast includes Garry Collins, Lewis Howden, Lynn Kennedy and Anne Lacey
“Of all human struggles there is none so treacherous and remorseless as the struggle between the artist man and the mother woman.” Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw.
Geoffrey Buncher is an art teacher. Until now his only meaningful relationship has been with his mother Edie, who doesn’t want her ‘wee man growing up too fast’. One day he reads in the paper that he’s working in amongst the top 10 sexiest professions. He decides it’s time for change. Now
Geoffrey is old enough to buy his own Ribena, and it’s time to find himself a wife.
Written in Morna Pearson’s trademark “lurid, post-modern
Doric” (The Scotsman), The Artist Man and the Mother Woman is a wickedly funny, surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship. Prepare for a celebration of small town life as a mother and son find their universe threatened by old demons and newly aroused passions. Morna started her career at the Traverse Young Writers' Group. Her first play for the Traverse, Distracted, won the Meyer Whitworth prize. Her other plays include: Elf Analysis, The Company Will
Overlook a Moment of Madness and Skin; or How To
Disappear, along with a variety of work for BBC Radio. Morna has been commissioned by NT Connections. Her play Ailie and the Alien will be staged as part of their 2013 season.

“Dour, hilarious and chilling…full of acid colour and showstopping theatricality”
The Scotsman
(on a performed reading of The Artist Man and the Mother
Woman )
Previews
Tue 30 & Wed 31 Oct, 7.30pm
Preview tickets
£11/£6
Dates
Wed 31 Oct – Sat 17 Nov
Tickets
Sun – Thu and matinees
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Fri & Sat
£17.50/£15.50
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thurs 1 Nov
Venue: Traverse 1
Age Recommendation: 16+
Audio Described: Thu 15 Nov, 7.30pm
Touch Tour of Set: Thu 15 Nov, 6.45pm
Sign Language Interpretation: Thu 15 Nov, 7.30pm

6 November
Director Drew Taylor
Producer Jana Robert
“See what happens when discrimination is put on trial.”
8 is the real-life story of Kris & Sandy and Paul & Jeff, two loving couples who want to get married but can’t. Together with attorneys and a host of expert witnesses, they take aim at
Proposition 8, a discriminatory law that took away the right for
LGBT couples to marry in California in 2008.
Written by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J.
Edgar), 8 is based on the actual words of the Perry v
Schwarzenegger trial transcripts, first-hand observations of the courtroom drama and interviews with the plaintiffs and their families. glasgay.co.uk
8theplay.com equalmarriage.org.uk
@glasgayfestival

Dates & Times
Tue 6 Nov, 8pm
Tickets
£6/£4
Venue: Traverse 2
Age Recommendation: 16+
American Foundation for Equal Rights & Broadway Impact
7 – 10 November
Entartet creates a space to listen, and to imagine what can no longer be seen.
75 years ago an infamous exhibition opened in Munich. It ridiculed the Modern Art on display and marked their creators as degenerate - and dangerous. For the included artist, there were to be bitter consequences.

Entartet uses original text from the exhibition's guidebook to create an audio guide to empty spaces. It creates an environment to imagine an infamous event and the world in which it took place.
Entartet is an audio installation that also features live performance; you can experience the installation on its own, or you can book a ticket to experience both the installation and performance together. vanishing-point.org entartet.info theoldambulancedepot.co.uk
@VpointTheatreCo
**** The Scotsman
Installation – FREE
11am – 4.30pm (Wed & Thu)
11am – 2pm (Fri & Sat)
Performances – FREE (ticketed)
5.30pm – 8.30pm (Wed & Thu)
3pm – 6.30pm (Fri & Sat)
*Tickets for the performance are available in half-hour slots – within your allocated slot, you are free to arrive and experience
Entartet in your own time.

8 – 10 November
Jess is stuck. Her lifelong friend, Chris, can’t help. The others are out getting wasted. And the world is falling apart. Luckily
Jess and Chris have a cooler full of beer, a goofy rapport, a series of dance moves - and a sincere desire to make you, the audience, happy.
Or so they claim.
They also claim that each other are liars. That they only met last year. And that they are eyewitnesses to the key world events of the last hundred years.
A flat-out, unhinged and very normal performance about trying to connect: to the person next to you and to the unknown victim of a televised tragedy.
We Hope That You’re Happy (Why Would We Lie?) is a hilarious and unsettling examination of what it means to be a tuned-in, delusional and unwitting consumer in a hyper-communicative world. madeinchinatheatre.com

@madeinchinathtr
"50 minute pocket rocket.”
Time Out
"A slick, clever and disquieting exploration of dissatisfaction, compassion fatigue, empathy and emotional consumerism.”
The Guardian
Dates & Times
Thu 8 – Sat 10 Nov, 8pm
Tickets
£15.50/ £11.50/£6
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thu 8 Nov
Venue: Traverse 2
Age Recommendation: 14+
14 – 17 November
Director Richard Baron
Designer Adrian Rees

Cast Blythe Duff, Irene Allan, Crawford Logan and Claire Dargo
In prison for the murder of her husband, Fay receives a visit from her daughter whom she hasn't seen for 15 years. Hailed by the Daily Telegraph as "a shatteringly powerful play", Iron unravels the lives of both women with scalpel-like precision as
Josie struggles to understand the stranger before her and above all to find out what really happened on the night her father was killed.
New Borders-based theatre company Firebrand's emotionally blistering production features Blythe Duff as the convicted murderer in a play that shows how terrifyingly easy it is to kill the things you love. firebrandtheatre.co.uk
@firebrandtheatr
"Psychological drama at its best."
**** Daily Telegraph
Dates & Times
Wed 14 – Sat 17 Nov, 8pm
Sat 17 Nov, 2pm
Tickets
£15.50/ £11.50/£6
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off Wed 14 Nov

Venue: Traverse 2
Age Recommendation: 14+
Supported by Creative Scotland
SMITH dancetheatre
Citymoves + Aberdeen Performing Arts
Red Note Ensemble
Greg Sinclair and macrobert
Smallpetitklein
Breakin' Convention
Tickets: £15.50/£11.50/£6.00
Traverse Theatre Club: £12.50/£8.50
Sonata £10/ family tickets £8 each
Traverse Theatre Club: Family tickets £7 each
DANCE FESTIVAL OFFER
2 shows for £28/£20
3 shows for £39/£27
20 November / 7.30pm 8+
Artistic Director Neil Paris

Created and performed Dan Canham, Sarah Lewis, Ronnie
Beecham, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret Pikes Music Gianluca
Pezzino
SMITH dancetheatre's Agnes and Walter: a little love story is a delightful flight of fancy that set the Edinburgh Festival Fringe alight with its poignant and compelling comic story-telling.
Crossing boundaries of dance and theatre, the work combines physical and visual performance styles including dance, physical theatre, clowning and live music. A love story of long term commitment, secret desires, day-dreaming and a garden shed,
Agnes and Walter is inspired by James Thurber’s classic story,
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty , and features an exceptional cast that spans the generations, aged 26-78.
"Gives a true sense of love's journey through the years, a charming work."
**** Broadway Baby agnesandwalter.co.uk
Citymoves Dance Agency & Aberdeen Performing Arts
21 November / 7.30pm 8+
Director/Choreographer Andy Howitt
Composer Stephen Deazley
Guilty? Not Guilty? 12 Dancers / Deliberance is a new dance work, choreographed by Andy Howitt, with an original score

composed by Stephen Deazley. Set in a jury room, 12 strangers come together and during the course of one night slowly and sometimes explosively begin to express their opinions. Is there reasonable doubt? How can they work through conflict to build consensus? Featuring an all-star cast of 12 of the leading male dancers from Scotland. citymoves.org.uk
@danceaberdeen
12 Dancers / Deliberance is supported by Creative Scotland and the PRS for Music Foundation
Red Note Ensemble
22 November / 7.30pm
Dancer and Choreographer Michael Popper
Composers Sally Beamish and Anoosh Jahanshahi
Artist Jila Peacock with Laurie Irvine
Red Note ( A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle and Noisy Nights ) return to the Traverse with The Intoxicating Rose Garden, a new hybrid work which takes the poems of Hafez, the 14th century Persian mystic, as its starting-point. Combining music, song, dance and animated image, it explores the longing and separation, as well as the sense of belonging and completeness

that are so present in Hafez’s poems. Red Note Ensemble will be joined by the outstanding young Iranian sitar player Anoosh
Jahanshahi. Red Note are an Associate Company of the
Traverse Theatre.
"One of our boldest, most original musical minds.”
The Observer (on Sally Beamish) rednoteensemble.com
@rednoteensemble
Supported by Creative Scotland, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation,
PRS for Music Foundation, Hope Scott Trust, Traverse Theatre,
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Greg Sinclair and macrobert
23 November / 7pm & 24 November / 2.30pm 10+
Cast Greg Sinclair & Bartek Bialucki
Ticket offer £10/ family tickets £8 each
Who says you’ve got to act your age, not your shoe size?
Sonata for a Man and a Boy is a duet featuring live cello music, chat and movement. An everyday cello lesson becomes a journey into the unexpected for a boy who’s nearly twelve and a thirtysomething man. As their roles shift and change and the

lesson is turned on its head, we begin to wonder: do we ever really grow up? gregsinclair.net macrobert.org
Supported by Creative Scotland
Smallpetitklein Dance Company
23 November / 7.30pm
Artistic Director Thomas Small
Animator Graeme Hawkins [Retchy]
Smallpetitklein Dance Company present their hauntingly beautiful Within This Dust . Developed by award winning choreographer and the company’s Artistic Director, Thomas
Small, the performance includes 3 live dance works, film and animation exploring the events surrounding 9/11. Inspired by the series of photographs by Richard Drew that capture a man falling from the World Trade Center during the attacks. Within
This Dust is a stunning blend of beautiful movement and subtle storytelling, with sublime lighting design by Emma Jones, animation by Graeme Hawkins [Retchy] and a sumptuous score by Gorecki, Arnalds and Richter.

“So beautiful I had tears pouring down my face.'’
**** The Scotsman
Smallpetiteklein.com
@smallpetitklein
Supported by Creative Scotland and ON at Fife
Breakin’ Convention
24 November / 7.30pm 14+
Delve into the mind and souls of some of Scotland’s finest hip hop artists as they dare to try something new, dangerous and exciting! Artists present brand new short works devised and developed with hip hop theatre pioneer and Breakin'
Convention Artistic Director, Jonzi D. Scotland’s first Open Art
Surgery will feature performances from Freshmess, Jackin’ The
Box, Nico Major, Xena and Bigg Taj plus more to be confirmed.
Afterwards, give your feedback to the artists in the bar, where
DJs will spin the best in hip hop, funk and soul. breakinconvention.com
@BConvention
“Hip Hop to make your jaw drop.”
Evening Standard

Breakin’ Convention is a Sadler’s Wells project. Supported by
Dance Base.
6 – 22 December
Previews 4 & 5 December
Director Orla O’Loughlin
Designer Anthony Lamble
Sound Designer Fergus O’Hare
Lighting Designer Richard Howell
Cast Javier Marzan, John Nicholson and Gabriel Quigley
Just because you don’t believe in ghosts, Holmes, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Who, really, was the man behind Sherlock Holmes?
The creator of the world's greatest fictional detective was also a leading advocate for spiritualism who famously fell out with
Harry Houdini over the matter. This man was Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle.
Welcome to a very special presentation, where ideas of the rational collide with the supernatural. And very strange things begin to happen. From The Hound of The Baskervilles to fairies

and particle physics, this riotous show fuses lecture, storytelling, slapstick comedy and lightning-fast costume changes to explore some pretty big ideas.
The joyfully anarchic Peepolykus once again team up with
Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin following their box office Record-smashing show, The Hound of the Baskervilles .
The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society follows last year’s sell out Traverse Christmas show about David Hume and Adam
Smith, The Tree of Knowledge . We’re delighted to once again bring one of Edinburgh’s best loved figures back to life for a seasonal celebration.
Peepolykus' previous productions have toured extensively throughout Europe, North America and Australia. Recent productions have had sell-out runs in the West End, Lyric
Hammersmith and Liverpool Playhouse. Their work has also been featured on BBC Radio 4.
“Dazzling… Simple-seeming gags are transformed into theatrical gems.”
The Observer (on The Hound of the Baskervilles)
“Peepolykus are unfailingly hilarious. Orla O’Loughlin’s production leaves plenty to enjoy.” theatrical gems.”
The Guardian (on The Hound of the Baskervilles)
Previews
Tue 4 Dec & Wed 5 Dec, 7.30pm

Preview tickets
£11/£6
Dates
Wed 6 Dec – Sat 22 Dec
Tickets
Sun – Thu and matinees
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Fri & Sat
£17.50/£15.50
Traverse Theatre Club
£3 off on Thu 6 Dec
Venue: Traverse 1
Age Recommendation: 14+
Audio Described: Thu 20 Dec, 7.30pm
Touch Tour of Set: Thu 20 Dec, 6.45pm
Sign Language Interpreted: Thu 20 Dec, 7.30pm
11 – 22 December
Director Heather Fulton
Dramaturge Brenda Murphy
Designer Katy Wilson

Composer/Sound Designer Greg Sinclair
How many penguins are too many penguins? Mr Polaro thinks that one is more than enough, thank you very much. Penguina wants someone to play with. Just one friend, well maybe two, or three... How many penguins can we get in one space?
Squeeze into this fun theatrical experience, created especially for 1 - 4 year olds, to find out. It might get crowded, but we promise the arrival of the penguins, however many, will entertain and delight.
Winner CATS (Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland) Award
Best Production for Children and Young People 2012 macrobert.org frozencharlotte.com
@macrobert
@Frozen_C
"A little bit of theatrical magic."
**** The Scotsman
"The production glows with a serene beauty."
**** TV Bomb
"Adults as well as little ones are entranced."
**** The Herald
Dates & Times
Tue 11 - Sat 22 December
10:30am and 2pm every day except Sundays & Mondays

Tickets
£10/ family tickets £8 each
Traverse Theatre Club
Tue 11 Dec 10.30am & 2pm
Family Tickets £7 each
Venue: Traverse 2
Age Recommendation: 1 –4 years
21 December
Director Andy Arnold
Performers Red Note Ensemble
Join the Red Note Ensemble as we prepare ourselves for the end of the world.
Do you remember the moment you realised the world was going to end? Did you feel panic? Fear? Were you excited or frozen to the spot? Or maybe, just maybe, you felt hope for the possibility of a new beginning...?

This is a one-off, site-specific music-and-theatre piece about the predicted apocalypse on 21st December 2012. With new work by Gareth Williams, John Harris, Oliver Emanuel, Hanna
Tuulikki, Colin Broom and Ludwig van Beethoven about beginnings and endings, time and nothingness, the things we leave behind and what we want to take into the future.
Who can bear himself forgotten?
WH Auden rednoteensemble.com
@rednoteensemble
“National Treasure Status Awaits.”
List Hot 100 citation 2011
Dates & Times
Fri 21 Dec, 9pm
Tickets
£15.50/£11.50/£6
Spotlight On…Careers in Theatre
Scribble
From Blank Page to Full Stage
Creating and Devising Theatre
Bruntwood Prize Workshop

Emerging Artists: Directors Autumn
Traverse 50th events
Traverse Fifty
Class Act: Reloaded
For Young People...
Spotlight on…Careers in Theatre
Tuesday 11 September 10am-4pm
The Traverse Theatre, along with the Lyceum and Festival
Theatres, is hosting a free interactive careers event aimed at
5th and 6 th year pupils interested in pursuing a career in
Theatre. The day will focus on careers in Marketing and Press,
Acting and Writing and Directing. Spotlight on…Careers in
Theatre is a fantastic opportunity for pupils and teachers to hear from a wide range of professionals working in theatre, and get an insight into their roles.
For more information or to register email catherine.makin@traverse.co.uk
Scribble
Starts Monday 10 September 4.30-6pm
Have you ever watched a play or TV programme and thought:
“I could write a better script than this”? Well now is your chance to have a go! If you are in S4-S6 and interested in creating theatre, then Scribble is for you. Scribble is a fantastic new playwriting and theatre skills programme which will give

you the chance to work with professionals from the Traverse
Theatre to discover the skills you need to write a play and help you turn your ideas into a great script!
Further information and booking noelle.o’donoghue@traverse.co.uk
From Blank Page to Full Stage
A Practical Workshop for Secondary
School Teachers
Friday 2nd November, 2.30-4.30pm
Join Traverse Associate Director, Hamish Pirie for a practical whirlwind workshop of theatre-making. Over two hours you will explore writing, dramaturgy and staging techniques from the
Traverse rehearsal room; all of which you can use in your classroom. Workshop participants will be entitled to a reducedprice ticket to The Artist Man and the Mother Woman by Morna
Pearson, on Friday 2nd November.
Further information and booking
Box Office on 0131 228 1404
Young Writers' Group
Starts Monday 1 Oct
Are you aged between 18-25 and interested in theatre? It’s free to join the Traverse Young Writers' Group and whether you’ve written something before or are completely new to playwriting, all you’ll need is enthusiasm and a pen! The

fortnightly sessions are led by professional playwright Alan
Wilkins and will give you a chance to learn about different aspects of writing plays and to develop your own writing.
For more information email catherine.makin@traverse.co.uk
Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting Workshop
In partnership with the Manchester Royal Exchange
Theatre
Sat 27 Oct 10.30am & 2.30pm, £6.50
The Bruntwood Prize is the search for great new plays. It is the biggest national competition of its kind and many of the winning plays have been produced at the Royal Exchange
Theatre and beyond. Our workshops will help you put pen to paper, create stories on stage and bring your ideas and imagination to life. Each workshop will be led by multi awardwinning playwright Vivienne Franzmann.
Emerging Directors Events
In partnership with JMK Trust
Throughout Autumn
This Autumn we are offering a series of events especially for emerging directors. We have joined forces with the esteemed
JMK Trust so we can arm Scotland’s next generation of theatre directors with the tools to support the work of new writers. The
JMK Award is the single most sought-after prize for outstanding young theatre directors.

Autumn events include:
–– Bare Bones Workshop – presenting new writing in a pressurised environment. Facilitated by Hamish Pirie
–– Words, Words, Words – the Traverse’s informal testing ground for new ideas. Submissions directed by our Emerging
Directors
–– Invitation to the Scottish launch of The James
Menzies-Kitchin Young Director’s Award.
–– Post-show discussion with Orla O’Loughlin, director of The
Artist Man and the Mother Woman.
–– JMK Director's Workshop. A workshop with a leading director selected by the JMK trust.
To join our group of Traverse Emerging Directors and to receive updates about our exclusive free events, email catherine.makin@traverse.co.uk
Further information and booking
Box Office on 0131 228 1404
th
The Traverse is a child of the 60s and 2013 is a big year for us.
We go gold not grey.

The Traverse was born out of a desire to break away from convention, shake things up, and rock the boat. We might be turning 50 but we won’t be ageing gracefully. We are keeping the focus sharply on new writers and theatre makers. And the preparations start here.
Traverse Fifty
We are searching for the next generation of new writers, who embody the spirit of the Traverse. We want to find the best new voices from Scotland and beyond. The Traverse Fifty is a year-long writer’s attachment to the Traverse Theatre. 50 brand new writers will work with our artistic team, developing work to be performed on our stages. Exclusive events for the group will be held throughout the year, including panel discussions, workshops and one-on-one dramaturgy and the chance to have their work performed on our stages. This will culminate in a New Writing Festival in October, featuring the work of the Traverse Fifty. At the end of the process we will offer three seed commissions, to start the next 50 years of the
Traverse off with a bang.
This is a group that you can’t buy into. Only your words can get you in. For full details on how to apply, visit traverse.co.uk or email Catherine.Makin@traverse.co.uk
Class Act: Reloaded
30 & 31 Jan 2013, 7.30pm
The Traverse Theatre’s schools playwriting project is back and it’s reloaded. Engaging and inspiring school pupils from across

Edinburgh, we will help students devise, write and stage their very first professional play. Through Class Act, we invite young people across Scotland to make their mark on the Traverse stage and shake us up.
The scripts are being written now and will be performed as our inaugural celebratory event in January 2013.
Copies of this brochure and an access guide are available in large print and audio formats from the Traverse Box Office
Access – The Building
There are two theatres: Traverse 1 which seats around 200 and Traverse 2 which seats around 100.
From the Cambridge Street entrance there is level access through two sets of automatic doors to the Ground Floor foyer where the Box Office is situated. There are adapted toilets on the Ground and Lower Ground Bar Café levels.
There are 20 stairs from Ground Floor to the Bar Café, 29 stairs down from the Bar Café to Traverse 1 & Traverse 2.
Please mention when booking if you require lift access to
Traverse 1 or Traverse 2, then make yourself known to Front of
House staff on arrival. The Front of House Manager will meet and accompany you to the theatre once the house is open and of course collect you at the end of the performance.

Companion Service
Artlink (Edinburgh and the Lothians) offers a companion service for people who have difficulty attending performances on their own. For more information please phone
0131 229 3555, type talk 18001 0131 229 3555 or go to artlinkedinburgh.co.uk
Services at the Traverse
Sign language Interpreted Performances
Sign language interpretation is a way of communicating dialogue, songs and sound effects to provide access for British
Sign Language users.
Audio Described Performances
Audio description is a way of communicating the visual elements of a theatre production for blind and visually impaired people. Information is relayed as a live commentary to a personal headset via an infra-red transmitter. This ranges from character backgrounds, the appearance of the set and interactions during the performance.
Touch Tours
Touch tours give the opportunity to feel the structure and texture of the set, props and costumes.
Hearing Enhancement
Hearing enhancement is amplified sound to a personal headset via an infra-red transmitter. This service is suitable for low to moderate hearing loss and can be used in conjunction with existing hearing aids.

Wheelchair Spaces
We have four wheelchair spaces available over the two theatres. We can reserve a space and nearby seats for your guests.
Wheelchair Transfer
We can reserve easily accessible seating if you’d prefer to transfer from your wheelchair to a seat.
Wheelchair Loan
We have two wheelchairs available for you to borrow at the
Traverse.
Accessible Seating and/or Lift Access
If you’d like to avoid the stairs, we can arrange use of the lift and reserve appropriate seating in the front row. Aisle seating is also available.
Guide and hearing dogs are welcome.
If you would like to use any of these services, please let the
Box Office know at the time of booking on 0131 228 1404 or email boxoffice@traverse.co.uk then make yourself known to the Front of House Team on arrival, as they will be expecting you.

Traverse Sessions - 15 and 29 October, 12 and 26
November
Our free live music night returns for a second season this
Autumn in the Traverse Bar Cafe. Pull up a pew and enjoy some of the best new Edinburgh-based music in the relaxed atmosphere of our Bar Café.
If you’re one of the best new acts in Edinburgh send a link to your music to catherine.makin@traverse.co.uk and we'll be in touch!
Traverse Arts & Entertainment Quiz
22 October
19 November
17 December
Bar Café Reservations
0131 228 5383
Open
Mon - Fri 8am till 2.30pm
Come grab the finest cup of coffee in town, right here at the
Traverse! TBC is the Traverse’s dedicated coffee stop. We serve Edinburgh’s top coffee supplied by local connoisseurs,

Artisan Roast. Drop in for Au Gourmand pastries, home-made scones, sandwiches and soup.
Find us near the Traverse Box Office
Support the Traverse Theatre!
Help us to continue to shape the future cultural landscape of
Scotland with new work that resonates across the world.
You’ll be in good company.
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their recent support:
Cairn
Heineken
Alliance Wines
ESRC Genomics Network
Bairds Fine & Country Wines
To find out more about supporting the
Traverse, please contact Helen Davies
0131 228 3223 or helen.davies@traverse.co.uk
Class Act would not be possible without the kind and generous support of the John Thaw Foundation, Scott and Co and
Edinburgh Airport Communities Fund

Trusts And Foundations
The Binks Trust, The Craignish Trust
Traverse
Theatre Club
Join the Club!
It’s back – with a 21st Century twist!
As a member of the legendary Traverse Theatre Club, you can help ensure the continued success of Scotland’s pioneering new writing theatre as it moves towards its 50th birthday in 2013.
Benefits include priority booking, reserved seating, exclusive access to dress rehearsals, meet the cast and other special events, free tickets for opening nights, Club Ticket offers and much much more, depending on the level of membership you choose.
Your membership fees will:
• Contribute directly towards the costs of at least one Traverse
Theatre Company production every year. This production will be acknowledged as “supported by the Traverse Theatre Club”.
• Enable hundreds of young people to learn the art of playwriting through our Traverse Learning work.
Yearly membership levels:
• Saltire Traverse 2 £25

• Saltire Traverse 1 £75
• Grassmarket £250
• Lawnmarket £500
(Joint and gift memberships also available.)
Work in the arts or under 26? Special Club membership is available for only £5!
We also welcome Corporate members.
To join and for full details of all the benefits available at the different membership levels, please visit traverse.co.uk, email
theatreclub@traverse.co.uk or call Jennifer Deane, Box
Office and Theatre Club Manager, on 0131 228 1404
Lawnmarket members: Stewart Binnie, Katie Bradford,
Fiona Campbell, Lawrence Clark, Joscelyn Fox, Iain Millar,
Gillian Moulton, Helen Pitkethly, Fiona Campbell,
Nicholas Pryor.
Grassmarket members: Joan Aitken, Richard Burtles, Karen
Cameron, Angus McLeod, Helen Ogilvy, John Knight OBE,
Gerard Welch, Margaret Jackson, Dr Kenneth Wilkie,
Kate Osborne, Karen Cameron.
Saltire Traverse One: Jane Attias, Elaine Cameron,
Kristine Sander, Georgia Thornton, Margaret Third, Dr Peng
Lee Yap, Adrian Clark, Dale Idiens, Colin & Willa McWhannell,
Fiona Sturgeon Shea, Richard Buckland, Fiona Byrne, Ann
Caldwell, Dr Sally Cross, Andrew Davis, Billy Differ, Anne
Dignan, Brian Ferguson, Lynda K Haughney, Paul Holmes, Dale
Idiens, Richard Parry, Mike Ridings, Susan Tritton, Val Wilson.

Scotland’s New Writing Theatre Since 1963
Registered in Scotland SC 076037 Registered charity No. SC
002368. VAT Registration No. 3560682 47. Registered Office:
Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED
Buses
0.3 miles from Lothian Bus services on Lothian Road. 1, 10,
11, 15, 15A, 16, 22, 25, 30, 34, N8, N22 N30, N31, X25
Trains
0.8 miles from Waverley Train Station 0.6 miles from
Haymarket Train Station
Car Parking
4 blue badge bays on Cambridge Street
0.2 miles from Castle Terrace Car Park.
Pay & Display on-street parking in surrounding streets
Taxis
Drop off point at main entrance to Traverse Theatre 0.1 miles from Taxi rank on Lothian Road outside Sheraton Hotel traverse.co.uk
0131 228 1404