Traverse Theatre Ends WRITE HERE Festival Today

The Traverse's nine-day festival held at the Theatre this month, curated by recently appointed Artistic Director, Orla O'Loughlin, closes today, April 24. Write Here featured a variety of new work at different stages of development which gives a look behind the scenes to the work of the Traverse literary team and playwrights in a series of readings, talks, workshops and performance.

Speaking about the festival, Traverse Artistic Director Orla O'Loughlin said, "Our final event will see us mount the World Premiere of Demos. This unique event, like this festival, is all about getting in on the action and playing a part in the future success of new writing here at the Traverse."

In the spirit of showing what's behind the scenes at Scotland's New Writing theatre, the festival kicked off with Open Views, a chance to experience script development as it happens, with work by Peter Arnott, Morna Pearson and Rob Drummond, which will also have rehearsed readings (16-21 April).

There were panel discussions with some of Scotland's most exciting established and emerging playwrights including Gregory Burke, Zinnie Harris and D C Jackson (18 & 19 April) as well as a range of public workshops and events.

Traverse Introducing provided a chance to discover the next generation of Scottish playwriting talent, with readings of new work from graduates of the Theatre's celebrated Young Writers' Group, who will collaborate with well-known directors including Philip Howard and James Dacre (16-21 April).

The festival culminates in an immersive live theatre event inspired by the Occupy movement, by Tim Price. Demos, written for a cast of over fifty, questions the very nature of democracy, in an exciting one-off show which places the audience at the center of the event (24 April).

Write Here will also feature a directors workshop led by Orla O'Loughlin (23 April) and one-to-one meetings with Orla and Literary Officer Jennifer Williams in Open Hours (24 April).