TRAVERSE AT 50 Inset: Billy Connolly. Below : Tilda Swinton in Peter Arnott’s White Rose, 1985.
Rich, i erce and exhilarating plays gave the Traverse its reputation
can draw on a rich and fluid tradition without betraying its core identity. That fluidity has been aided and abetted by the nature of the theatre’s various stages. The first venue had two banks of seats either side of a 12’ by 9’ stage – a set-up actually known as transverse, but mistaken by those naming the Trav. The 1968 move to an old warehouse at 112 West Bow in the Grassmarket brought in a flexible stage, while since 1992 – when the new theatre became the first purpose-built new writing theatre in Europe – it has had an open end-on stage and, downstairs, a thrust stage studio. None of these are purpose-built for the social realism so dominant south of the border and the Traverse has been able to build on Scotland’s more radical, often folk- infused, theatrical tradition as a result: think Liz Lochhead and Tom McGrath or CP Taylor and Zinnie Harris.
That spirit was at the heart of the groundbreaking 1985 season. Under artistic director Jenny Killick, only 25 at the time, the theatre turned out eight in-house productions, all with vast scope and bold sensibilities. The plays included Peter Arnott’s White Rose, Chris Hannan’s Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and Losing Venice by Jo Clifford. Tilda Swinton and Ken Stott were amongst those performing. ‘It put Scotland on the map,’ Clifford told The List two years ago. ‘You can see the legacy of it today in the National Theatre of Scotland and the massive international success of Black Watch and now, when there is a hit, the structures are in place for it to go abroad and get the kind of exposure it needs to establish itself in the repertoire.’ You see its legacy, too, in the world-renowned playwrights to have come out of the Traverse in the last 20 years under artistic directors Ian Brown, Philip Howard and Dominic Hill: David
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16 May–13 Jun 2013 THE LIST 15