Traverse Theatre

Traverse Theatre
Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED

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Scotland's long-standing home of new writing, the Traverse has been a key player in British theatre for nearly 50 years. It is here audiences got their first taste of playwrights such as Gregory Burke, Liz Lochhead and John Byrne, names now widely known by theatregoers. Part of the cluster of buildings forming the Lothian Road arts quarter, the theatre is in the basement of an office block next door to the Usher Hall. Beyond the large and popular bar and café are two performance spaces. Traverse 1 accommodates up to 350 people – although it feels much bigger – while Traverse 2, with seating for 100, recalls the company’s intimate former theatre in the Grassmarket. Specialising in UK and world premieres, the Traverse also has a busy line-up of visiting companies and hosts everything from children's theatre to puppetry and experimental music. Behind the scenes, it puts in a lot of work with up-and coming playwrights and runs a programme of workshops, classes, readings and discussions. It is one of the liveliest venues on the Edinburgh Fringe.

  • Provides: Free wi-fi

Event times

There are 19 events at this location

Sorted by title / date & time

Black Box Live

Black Box ventures outside the box for an evening of live projection performance and end-of-festival celebration. Join us for this exciting first installment of Black Box Live – experiments in cinema outside the cinema! Three multi-projector, perceptually immersive performances with live sound by Edinburgh’s own Screen…

Sat 29 Jun

£9 (£7.50) / 0131 623 8030

Part of Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Brand New Ancients

'The gods are in the betting shops, the gods are in the café. / The gods can’t afford the deposit on their flat… / Winged sandals tearing up the pavement. / Me, you, everyone, brand new ancients.' / Poet and rapper Kate Tempest tells an everyday epic over an exhilarating live score played by tuba, cello, violin, drums…

Tue 20 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Wed 21 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Thu 22 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 3 more dates until 25 Aug

Breakfast Plays: A Respectable Widow Takes To Vulgarity

Whether you’ve been up all night or are an early riser, start your festival day at the Traverse. Simply pick a brew, grab a breakfast roll and feast on the finest theatre around. Mourning her husband’s death, Annabelle strikes up an unlikely relationship with his potty-mouthed employee, Jim. As she enters into Jim's…

Tue 13 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Thu 15 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 17 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 3 more dates until 24 Aug

Breakfast Plays: Clean

Whether you’ve been up all night or are an early riser, start your festival day at the Traverse. Simply pick a brew, grab a breakfast roll and feast on the finest theatre around. Welcome to the world of London’s top female underground criminals on their biggest job yet, an international heist. Zainab, Chloe and Katya…

Wed 14 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 16 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sun 18 Aug

Traverse 2

£14 / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 3 more dates until 25 Aug

Cadre

Countries go through times of turmoil when in transition from one of governing to a new order. They consist of many giant and individual struggles. But what happens when the future you meet is not the one that you were expecting? Cadre is one such South African story of dreams and change. Omphile Molusi is one of…

Mon 29 Jul

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sun 4 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 18 more dates until 25 Aug
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Ciara

Mick was the kind of gangster who was proud of where he came from, who protected and looked after his own kind. But if you crossed him, well, that was a different story. A man defined by the landscape of Glasgow, that infamous no mean city, the tales of what Mick did to those people have become the stuff of legend.

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sun 4 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 18 more dates until 25 Aug

The Events

Screams echo through corridors. A forest echoes with the sound of gunfire. At Claire’s choir rehearsal, something terrible happens. David Greig’s daring new play asks how far forgiveness will stretch in the face of atrocity. Featuring local choirs and a soaring soundtrack, The Events tells of tragedy, obsession and…

Wed 31 Jul

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sun 4 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 18 more dates until 25 Aug

Fight Night

Five performers. Five Rounds. Your vote. One survivor. Belgium’s multiple Fringe First-winning company Ontroerend Goed, and Australia’s The Border Project put the power into your hands to vote for your favourite candidate amongst our five actors in an immersive exploration into the intricacies and traps of voting…

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 2

£12 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 19 more dates until 25 Aug

Grounded

She's a hot-rod F16 fighter pilot. She's pregnant. Her career in the sky is over. Now, she sits in an air-conditioned trailer in Las Vegas flying remote-controlled drones over Pakistan. She struggles through surreal 12 hour shifts far from the battlefield - hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by…

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 2

£12 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 19 more dates until 25 Aug
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Have I No Mouth

Feidlim Cannon’s father died 12 years ago. His death could have been prevented. Have I No Mouth explores the changing nature of the relationship between Brokentalkers’ director Feidlim Cannon and his mother, Ann, in the aftermath of tragedy. The piece is written and performed by Feidlim and Ann Cannon. Through a…

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 2

£12 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 19 more dates until 25 Aug

I'm With the Band

An Englishman, a Northern Irishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman walked into a recording studio, creating The Union. Commercially successful and critically acclaimed, the pioneering Indie Rock band is on the verge of breaking up. When financial disaster strikes and Scottish guitarist Barry leaves the band, artistic…

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sun 4 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 18 more dates until 25 Aug

In Person: Robert Carlyle

Hear from the instantly recognisable but always believable actor about a life in film, from Begbie to Renard and beyond. Part of Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Fri 21 Jun

£12 (£8) / 0131 623 8030

Part of Edinburgh International Film Festival.

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Long Live The Little Knife

Multi award-winning ‘theatrical maverick’ (Financial Times), ‘site-specific genius’ (Scotsman) and ‘Fringe institution’ (Independent) David Leddy presents this dynamic, uplifting escapade about art forgery, castration and blind drunkenness. Liz and Jim are small-time con artists who need £250,000 fast. They decide to…

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 2

£12 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 19 more dates until 25 Aug

Pre:View

Four readings from four brand new plays by four emerging writers from across Europe. By Helene Grøn, Rosanna Hall, Matthew Knights and Jenny Knotts. Extracts from the plays are performed as script-in-hand readings by an ensemble of leading Scottish actors. All writers are graduating from the MSc in Writing for Theatre…

Mon 12 Aug

Traverse 2

£6.50 (£4.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mon 19 Aug

Traverse 2

£6.50 (£4.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Quietly

‘There’s more to the truth than facts.’ Belfast is a place where things need to be said. Jimmy and Ian are meeting tonight for the first time. They share a violent past. They need to talk. Quietly is a powerful story about truth and forgiveness. It premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in November 2012 and was…

Thu 1 Aug

Traverse 2

£12 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Fri 2 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Sat 3 Aug

Traverse 2

£19 (£14) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 19 more dates until 25 Aug
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The Secret Agent

Secret terror cells, political conspiracy, police bungling, state-sponsored bomb plots… This is London, 1896. Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s classic novel, The Secret Agent is theatre O’s heartbreaking and hilarious chronicle of passion, betrayal and terrorism. Set at a time of social upheaval and growing disparity…

Tue 6 Aug

Traverse 1

£13 (£6) / 0131 226 0000

Preview Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Wed 7 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Thu 8 Aug

Traverse 1

£18 (£13) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

…and 15 more dates until 25 Aug

TalkFest 2013

Inspirational discussions with leading writers and theatre-makers from this year’s Festival. Whatever Happened to Political Drama?, chaired by Kieran Hurley with panellists including AJ Taudevin (Chalk Farm), David MacLennan (a Play, a Pie and a Pint) and writers from Theatre Uncut. Big Bang Theatre chaired by Rob…

Mon 19 Aug

Traverse 2

£6.50 (£4.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

back to top

TalkFest 2013

Inspirational discussions with leading writers and theatre-makers from this year’s Fringe. The Body Politic: the Human Body as the Drama, chaired by Jo Clifford with panellists including writer /performers Adura Onashile (HeLa) and Robert Softley Gale (If These Spasms Could Speak). Let the Games Begin: the Art and…

Mon 12 Aug

Traverse 2

£6.50 (£4.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Theatre Uncut

Theatre Uncut presents new plays that aim to get people thinking, talking and taking action on what is going on in the world around us. The plays are available for anyone to perform anywhere during Theatre Uncut’s annual mass theatrical action events. Following the success at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe (winning a…

Mon 5 Aug

Traverse Bar Cafe

£7.50 (£5.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mon 12 Aug

Traverse Bar Cafe

£7.50 (£5.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Mon 19 Aug

Traverse Bar Cafe

£7.50 (£5.50) / 0131 226 0000

Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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