Traverse Theatre's Leading Class Act Programme Celebrates 30th Anniversary With Performances Of Short Scripts By Young Edinburgh Residents

The Traverse is thrilled to be welcoming Class Act back to Traverse 1 in 2022.

This year's stories have been created by students from five local secondary schools - Craigroyston Community High School, Craigmount High School, Forrester High School, Broughton High School and Royal High School - who have participated in the Traverse's flagship education project, Class Act, since October 2021.

Each script - be it play, poem, or song - will be brought to life by a team of professional theatre-makers including directors, actors, filmmakers and musicians - some of whom were previously Class Act participants themselves, including Greg McHugh (Gary: Tank Commander, Fresh Meat, The A Word)!

Prepare yourself for a great night out at the theatre with a packed performance that features drama, poetry, live music, comedy, film and animation. Covering a kaleidoscope of topics - from mental health to current politics, warring superheroes to ghost stories, and everything in between - these pieces are a frank, sometimes hilarious and always insightful reflection of the hopes and concerns of Scotland's young people.

Placing professional playwrights and artists into each school, Class Act supports students to become writers and storytellers, providing both the artistic support and safe space necessary for participants to express themselves freely and imagine without inhibition. The results address what they feel passionate about, and each script crackles with unparalleled energy.

This is your chance to experience the work of Scotland's next generation of form-breaking creatives.

The world premiere of all works will be in Traverse 1 on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 March at 7.30pm.

Class Act 2021-22 has engaged over 30 freelance artists and over 150 young people.

Casting for these performances includes Greg McHugh, Shyvonne Ahmmad, Hannah Donaldson, Laura Lovemore, Elena Redmond, Manjot Sumal, Chloe-Ann Tylor and Martin Donaghy.

Performances are directed by Robbie Gordon, Gareth Nicholls and Fiona Mackinnon, with music and sound design by VanIves, design by Katy McGlynn and Rachel Light.

Class Act facilitators over the last year have included Hazel Darwin Clements, Chloe-Ann Tylor, Joanna Bowman and playwrights Lewis Hetherington, James Ley, Nicola McCartney, Martin O'Connor and Michael John O'Neill.

Wezi Mhura and Robbie Gordon, the Traverse's Creative Development Producers, said:

"This year's Class Act sees around 30 short pieces for audiences to enjoy, all written by the young people of Edinburgh, it's a truly brilliant and wild selection of work. As current custodians of Class Act, it's been our privilege to bring pieces like this to life over the last two years.

Last year we couldn't deliver the Class Act in the usual way, which has always culminated in a script-in-hand reading in Traverse 1. We were gutted, but we worked hard to ensure that the voices of young people still had their moment through our new digital venue Traverse 3.

We're now in Class Act's 30th anniversary year, so we decided that we wanted to keep the forward momentum of the project going and celebrate its return to the stage in style. This year there has been 150 young people and over 30 artists involved. For the first time ever, we are working with a brilliant ensemble for two weeks, including some of Scotland's best actors and some Class Act alumni too and we believe this might be our biggest published collection of plays we've ever produced for Class Act. We can't wait to welcome people as we takeover Traverse 1 for two nights to perform these exciting new works"

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