The Traverse Fifty

In celebration of their 50th anniversary in 2013, the Traverse Theatre launched a competition in September to find 50 writers from Scotland and beyond for a year-long attachment.  The Traverse Fifty application was a 500-word play submission with the theme “Plays for Edinburgh”, and being both a writer and an Edinburgh native I thought this was a brief I could get my teeth into.

I promptly set about writing The Boundary, my uber-short about the Edinburgh/Leith divide, and was delighted to be notified in December that I had been selected as one of the Traverse Fifty! This certainly meant my 2013 started with a bang, and the year ahead is looking very exciting indeed, albeit extremely busy…

Since I no longer live in Scotland the main issue is physically getting to the monthly events at the Traverse.  I have begun the intricate juggling act that is finding regular travel between London and Edinburgh that does not require a remortgage, and so far have managed to book up until April without too much difficulty. The theatre are kindly assisting with costs which is a huge help, particularly as this month we have two events that I certainly would not be willing to miss.

This Monday, 14th Jan, is the Traverse Fifty official launch day so I have already landed in Edinburgh and am eagerly awaiting my first opportunity to meet the Traverse team and the other fourty-nine and to hear about the plans for the year ahead.

1 city, 50 writers, 50 plays, 25,000 words

On the 26th Jan the Traverse is staging the plays of all those selected in an evening entitled “50 Plays for Edinburgh“. The showcase is directed by Orla O’Loughlin and Hamish Pirie, and tickets are a very reasonable £6 (£4 conc). I will be there with very excited bells on!