Traverse
4Play 2024: One
Fuckers: ★★★★☆ Scabrous
Colours Run: ★★★☆☆ Promising
Edinburgh-based new writing showcase 4Play returns to the Traverse this week. This time round, the plays are described as full-length developed pieces, although there is still an air of the unfinished at times.
The Tailor of Inverness
★★★★☆ Enduring
Now in its sixteenth year of production, Dogstar Theatre Company’s The Tailor of Inverness remains a compelling —and troublingly timely— depiction of the multigenerational scars of war.
The Brenda Line
★★★★☆ Warm
The Brenda Line by Harry Mould, from the Pitlochry Festival Theatre and playing in Traverse 2 for four performances only, is a clever, moving and beautifully pitched production.
Arán & Im
★★★★☆ A winning combination
Irish writer and television documentary maker, Manchán Magan’s Arán & Im (Bread & Butter) is a fascinating piece of storytelling, slicing through Irish history, language and culture, while baking traditional Irish sourdough and churning fresh cream to create butter, live on stage. It is a winning combination.
PPP: Detained
★★★★☆ Heartfelt
Detained, the final instalment in the Traverse’s autumn season of offerings from from Òran Mór’s Play, Pie and a Pint, is a thoughtful and incisive piece of theatre.
PPP: Lost Girls / At Bus Stops
★★★☆☆ Excellent performances
Lost Girls / At Bus Stops, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint from Òran Mór at the Traverse, is a rather sweet take on a time-honoured dramatic dilemma.
To Save the Sea
★★★★☆ Defiant hope
Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company presents To Save the Sea at the Traverse and on a Scottish tour, a new musical capturing the efforts of Greenpeace environmental activists to prevent the disposal of Shell’s Brent Spar oil storage facility at sea in 1995.
PPP: Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard
★★★☆☆ Tuneful
Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard, this week’s lunchtime theatre offering at the Traverse before continuing on tour, provides a melodic new slant on the familiar story of Robert Burns.
PPP: The Wolves at the Door
★★★☆☆ Well-intentioned
The Wolves at the Door by Jack Hunter, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint offering from Òran Mór at the Traverse, is a piece of politically-informed theatre that has heart but is ultimately lacking in bite.
PPP: The Last Cabaret on Earth
★★★★☆ Impressive
The Last Cabaret on Earth, by Brian James O’Sullivan at the Traverse, is the first in the new series of Play, Pie and a Pint from Òran Mór (with Ayr Gaiety) – and has an impact out of all proportion to its small scale.
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