Traverse Theatre

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights and theatremakers whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma speaks to Rebecca Sharp. Rebecca Sharp is a writer from Glasgow. Her guiding interest is in exploring the intersections between ideas and artistic practice, creating innovative projects, often in collaboration with other artists. Her own practice regularly extends beyond writing to include directing, producing and performing. Her work reflects a wide range of interests and influences: storytelling and folklore, landscape and map-making, ideas of North, archaeology, the voice and multiple voices, memory, reverberation and layering, absence and presence - and a pervading interest in the interconnectivity of thing.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights and theatremakers whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma speaks to David Greig. Traverse Associate Artist, David Greig has been on the Scottish theatre scene since 1993 when Stalinland was produced by the Citizen's Theatre and he received his first professional commissions from The Traverse Theatre and The Royal Court. He has written many plays, most of which have premiered in Scotland. From 2005 to 2007 he was the first Dramaturg of The National Theatre of Scotland.

Since his first main stage production Europe at the Traverse Theatre in 1996, his work has been produced extensively abroad. His plays have been translated and produced in most of the countries of Europe, the USA and Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Korea.

David Greig has produced around 50 plays, texts, adaptations, translations and libretti in the first two decades of his career. He has produced adaptations of Tintin in Tibet (2005) for the Barbican, London and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013) for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Other recent plays include The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (2011) and The Events (2013). This year, he co-curated the National Theatre of Scotland's The Great Yes, No, Don't Know Five Minute Theatre Show with the late David MacLennan.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma speaks to Kim Noble.

Kim is an awarding comedic performance and video artist. His multi-disciplined approach has led him to work across theatre, TV, film, art and comedy He was one one half of Perrier Award-winning, BAFTA-nominated experimental art-comedy duo Noble and Silver.

Kim’s work uses a provocative and humourous style to expose the human condition: notions of death, sexuality, gender and religion are picked at with dry comedic use of tragedy meshed with absurdity.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse. In this episode, Emma speaks to Valentijn Dhaenens.

After obtaining a Master’s Degree in Dramatic Arts at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Valentijn co-founded his own theatre company, SKaGeN. From 2006, the company has been rewarded with structural subsidisation from the Flemish / Belgian Government for their work as one of the leading modern theatre groups in Belgium and Holland.

Outside SKaGeN he has worked extensively as an actor in over 30 productions for Belgium’s major companies such as NT Gent, Kaaitheater Brussels and Ontroerend Goed. His international breakthrough came with his own written and directed solo-show BigMoutH that is touring extensively to major festivals and venues worldwide. A follow up called SmallWaR was presented at the Traverse Theatre as part of its Edinburgh Festival 2014 programme.

Aside from his theatre work, Valentijn is a sought-after narrator for documentaries such as The boy is gone by Christophe Bohn. Occasionally he is a guest lecturer at Belgian and Dutch theatre schools. To a broader audience, Valentijn is best known for his acting in several TV shows and films, most notably for his lead-role in De helaasheid der dingen / The Misfortunates by Felix Van Groeningen which won numerous prizes worldwide such as the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival 2009.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights and theatremakers whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma Speaks to John McCann.

John's play Spoiling is part of the Traverse Festival 2014 programme. John is originally from County Armagh in Northern Ireland. He now lives in Scotland where his short play This Long Time was given a staged reading at the Traverse Theatre as part of Ten and where another play, The Next Of It, was read as part of Stellar Quines' Rehearsal Room 16. He was one of four emerging writers selected to participate in the Playwrights' Studio Scotland mentoring programme during 2009-2010. His latest play, The Cleanroom, was recently staged by Tinderbox Theatre Company in Belfast as part of the acclaimed True North ensemble project.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights and theatre makers whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma speaks to Mark Thomas. Mark is a writer, performer, journalist and political campaigner who has been on stage, screen and radio for nearly 30 years, when he started on London’s alternative comedy scene.

This August, Mark is bringing his latest show, Cuckooed to the Traverse Festival. He has most recently completed 100 Acts of Minor Dissent. In 2012, Mark performed his first ever theatre piece at the Traverse, Bravo Figaro, a touching and poignant tale first commissioned by the Royal Opera House about his opera-loving father which sold out its entire run and won Mark a Herald Angel award, a Scotsman Fringe First, and was recently broadcast on Radio 4. This show is set to tour Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

He is the author of several books and his TV series, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product ran for six series. His radio show the Manifesto is on-going.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre.

Associate Director Emma Callander interviews well known playwrights and theatre makers whose work features in the programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma is joined by three writers taking part in Writing on the Wall: Ella Phillips, a seventeen year old writer who took part in Class Act 2014; Lara Jo Bazzu, twenty-two year old University student and member of Traverse Young Writers and Hannah Jo Doherty Mackinlay, a nineteen year old Class Act Alumni writer and member of Traverse Young Writers.

Writing on the Wall is a project to coincide with the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum with the voices of the young writers we work with throughout the year. Young writers from Scribble (our writing programme for 14-17 year olds) , Traverse Young Writers (Traverse writing programme for 18-25 year olds) and Class Act (our flag ship senior schools playwriting project) were invited to work with the Traverse Artistic Team to create short plays, monologues, one word provocations which will be scrawled on the Traverse walls, tables, fixtures and fittings until September. These mini plays are the young writers’ ideas on independence, looking towards what happens now and next. The project explored how the young writers feel creatively at this time of potential change and how this creativity can be part of a wider conversation.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Directors, Hamish Pirie and Emma Callander interview well known playwrights whose work features in the programme at the Traverse.

In this episode and his final TravCast, Hamish speaks to Iain Heggie, writer of 'The Queen Of Lucky People' and the last in our A Play, A Pie and A Pint series.

Glasgow born and based, Iain Heggie is a playwright and director. His many plays include 'Wholly Healthy Glasgow', 'American Bagpipes', 'Sauchiehall Street', 'Experienced Woman Gives Advice', 'King Of Scotland' and 'Wiping My Mother’s Arse'. He wrote 'Tobacco Merchant’s Lawyer' which started life at Òran Mór and was a huge hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. He has just completed 'Tragic', a one man version of the Hamlet story for Subway Theatre and the first Scottish version of Gorky’s masterpiece 'Lower Depths' for National Theatre of Scotland and his latest work is the James 6th monologue for NTS's 'Dear Scotland' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Emma Callander, interviews well known playwrights whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Emma speaks to Tony Cox, writer of 'Love With a Capital 'L'' and the first in our A Play, A Pie and A Pint series.

Tony graduated with a Masters degree from Edinburgh University where he worked in the Dept of Educational Studies and helped organise a teaching programme for local prisons. Then after a stint as a secondary school teacher at Tynecastle and Leith Academy he drifted into advertising, working in London and New York. He has written 2 radio plays, 3 text books, dozens of television commercials and has recently completed a film script for Scott Free. 'Love With A Capital 'L'' is his first stage play.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

TravCast is the Writer's Podcast from the Traverse, Scotland’s New Writing Theatre. Associate Director, Hamish Pirie, interviews well known playwrights, artists and theatre makers whose work features in the year round programme at the Traverse.

In this episode, Hamish speaks to Fleur Darkin, Artistic Director of Scottish Dance Theatre, as their latest tour, Yama/Kingdom, comes to the Traverse stage.

Fleur’s work made under her own company Hotel (2005), Augustine (2007), Low Fidelity (2009) and DisGo (2009) toured to more than 100 venues in the UK alone.

Internationally, her artistic practice has been commissioned by partners including Junges Hundes (Germany), P.A.R.T.S. (Belgium) and Bolzano Danz (Italy). Fleur is a prolific collaborator and her theatre work includes Roam (Grid Iron), Playtime (West Yorkshire Playhouse), You Tell Us What Was (National Theatre of Scotland), Bint Jbeil (Grid Iron/National Theatre of Scotland), The Three Musketeers (Traverse/Belgrade), Virgins (Company of Angels) and various productions for venues including Birmingham Rep, Dundee Rep, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool's Everyman, Edinburgh Lyceum and Battersea Arts Centre.

Darkin’s large-scale projects include three Glastonbury Festivals, choreographing the world’s first ever science musical, Dr Tatiana, (Channel 4/Discovery) and the 2006 commission Parabolic, which played to a live audience of 25,000. Circus productions include Helter Skelter (Tramway/Brewhouse), War and Peace (Giffords Circus) and her aerial choreography for Threesixty's Peter Pan - "best of all" Benedict Nightingale (The Times) - was seen by audiences of over 300,000 on its two year global tour.

She is a passionate advocate of innovative dance education and was at the helm of The Collaboratory - the UK's first peer-lead choreographic laboratory in 2012. Darkin has choreographed in castles, universities, prisons, schools and nightclubs and written for publications including The Guardian, Icon and The Observer. Darkin is passionate that dance is a powerful means of self-transformation and has worked with participants in schools, pupil referral units and mental health charities. Darkin is currently developing partnerships with the V&A at Dundee and various festivals and venues in India and Brazil for forthcoming projects.

Fleur joined Scottish Dance Theatre as Artistic Director in 2012.

Original music by James Iremonger www.jamesiremonger.co.uk

Produced and engineered by Cian O Siochain

*Please note, this episode contains language some people may find offensive*