Tron Theatre Announce New Autumn Season

Artistic Director Andy Arnold's 10th anniversary year Autumn/Winter programme continues to champion the surreal, absurd and challenging pieces that have become his signature over the time he's been at the helm of Tron Theatre. Highlights this upcoming season will include:

- Enda Walsh's exuberant, surreal and gut-wrenchingly sad Ballyturk presented by Tron Theatre Company.

- Performances of all three of Fishamble and the extraordinary performer Pat Kinevane's works, Forgotten, the Olivier Award-winning Silent and Underneath.

- Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Firebrand Theatre Company's production of Rona Munro's tense, passionate reimagining of the true story of the alleged Witch of Dornoch, The Last Witch.

- The return of Johnny McKnight to the Tron stage, this time as Mammy Goose in another irreverent and anarchic Weegified take on panto.

Tron Theatre Company's main house production for the season will be Enda Walsh's Ballyturk (4-20 Oct, Press Night: Friday 5 Oct, 7.45pm), a moving meditation on the brevity of our existence, with echoes of Dylan Thomas's Llareggub in Under Milk Wood viewed through a Truman Show style filter of confined artificiality.

In the main auditorium, we once again offer up a diverse programme of work. The Allusionist Live (8 Sept, 7.45pm) is Helen Zaltzman's award-winning podcast about the world we make with words brought to the stage. Theatre Gu Leòr with support from National Theatre of Scotland and Abbey Theatre presents Scotties (13-15 Sept, Press Night: Fri 14 Sept, 7.45pm), a powerful new play celebrating the music and languages of Scotland and Ireland. Fishamble and Pat Kinevane have garnered Olivier Awards and plaudits across the world for their hauntingly beautiful work and we're delighted to be able to present all three Forgotten (20 Sept, 7.45pm), Silent (21 Sept, 7.45pm) and Underneath (22 Sept, 7.45pm) this autumn. Fringe First winners SH!T Theatre have a bold new show, DollyWould (25-27 Oct, 7.45pm) about country legend Dolly Parton, cloning, branding immortality and death and the final main house show of the season before panto is Rona Munro's The Last Witch (30 Oct - 3 Nov, 7.45pm), a tense and passionate piece of work that reimagines the true story of the alleged Witch of Dornoch and programmed over Halloween for maximum drama.

The season concludes with another rip-roaring panto fresh from the pen of the peerless Johnny McKnight. Mammy Goose (27 Nov '18 - 6 Jan '19), Press Night: Friday 30 Nov, 7.30pm) will see the traditional story given a Weegie make-over and Mammy Goose, played by Johnny, faced with the dilemma of choosing eternal youth over her best friend, a 6ft goose.

New company Wildfire Theatre, formed by Wendy Seager, Pauline Lockhart, Molly Innes and Natalie Arle-Toyne open our Changing House programme with Project #2 (7 & 8 Sept, 8pm), a series of rehearsed readings of work from exciting new local talent. Frozen Charlotte and Stadium Rock bring a contemporary tale for Scotland's Year of Young People that questions how society treats the young and vulnerable, Nests (13-15 Sept, 8pm), and Grid Iron in association with Platform present South Bend (19-22 Sept, 8pm), Martin McCormick's tale of hope, love, a good Samaritan and a relationship gone bad. Daniel Defoe's surprisingly contemporary debates on marriage, wealth, sexuality and autonomy are brought to the stage in History of a Life (3 Oct, 8pm), in a work-in-progress performance by Modest Predicament. We have two shows In Preview this Autumn, National Theatre of Scotland's story of love, loss and bereavement, The Drift (6 Oct, 8pm) by Hannah Lavery and SUPERFAN's Like Animals (19 & 20 Oct, 8pm), a funny and touching investigation into love and communication in human and not so human relationships. Terra Incognita return with My Friend Selma (12 & 13 Oct, 8pm) and Silent Uproar presents Olivier Award winner Jon Brittain's (Rotterndam and Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho) A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) (25-27 Oct, 8pm), a hilarious cabaret musical about depression that explains, sings and throws glitter all over how it's OK not to be OK. Finally, Tron Theatre Company's offering for very young audiences this Christmas will be Remember December (1-31 Dec, times vary), a fun-filled festive adventure for 3 - 6 year-olds written by Lisa Keenan and directed by Rosalind Sydney.

In our Vic Bar all the regular sessions are back including Sunday Jazz, The Seven Song Club, Poetry Slams, Folkify and An Evening Of... and we've added in a new strand of programming, Vic Bar Solos, with stand-up comedy from Rachel Jackson. Slutty Little Goldfish (20 Sept), music from Heir of the Cursed (18 Oct) and theatre from Gudrun Soley Sigurdardottir, Elision (8 Nov). There's also a one-off celebration of female independent music artists in Carol Laula & Guests (Wed 31 Oct) presented by Outspoken Arts Scotland.

Andy Arnold said of his Autumn/Winter programme:
'Absurdism has continued as a theme through my 10th anniversary year's programme and I'm honoured that the Tron has the opportunity to present the first British production of Enda Walsh's contemporary masterpiece, Ballyturk as the centrepiece of the Autumn season. I love to challenge audiences and this extraordinarily surreal piece, alongside the other work I've programmed will certainly push theatrical boundaries.'

Tickets go on sale on Monday 30th July at 11am.

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