Tron Theatre Sets Spring/Summer 2016 Season

The Tron Theatre is delighted to announce its Spring/Summer 2016 season, a strong programme of new work, including two new productions by Tron Theatre Company itself, as well as a number of high profile co-productions and work from some of the best producing companies in the country. Highlights will include:

* James Anthony Pearson in the role of the conflicted John, in Tron Theatre Company's production of Cock, the first staging in the UK of Mike Bartlett's play since its Royal Court premiere six years ago.

* Acclaimed theatre-makers Vanishing Point and their co-production with Battersea Arts Centre, The Destroyed Room, inspired by the famous Jeff Wall photograph.

* Innovator and maverick, David Leddy premiering his new production International Waters for Fire Exit in a co-production with the Tron.

* Lung Ha Theatre Company taking us on a (quiet) journey in Douglas Maxwell's The Silent Treatment.

Tron Theatre Company will take on the challenge of staging Mike Bartlett's play c*ck(9-20 February, Press Night: Wednesday 10 February, 7.45pm). Devoid of set and props, the genius of Bartlett's play stems from the focus only on the dialogue, with biting, barbed exchanges and verbal sparring taking centre stage. Witty and woundingly authentic, c*ckis a brilliantly constructed study of emotional and sexual confusion.

We'll also present Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West (6-23 July, Press Night: Friday 8 July, 7.45pm) as the production that brings the season to a close. The third in his bleak but blackly comic Leenane trilogy, McDonagh's bickering brothers Coleman and Valene squabble over everything from religious icons to packets of crisps, with grim and bloody consequences.

In the main auditorium, we once again offer up a diverse programme of work. Celtic Connections returns (15-30 January) with the festival's trademark eclectic mix of the best in folk and world music. We're delighted to be working in association with Vanishing Point to present the premiere of The Destroyed Room (25 Feb - 5 March, Press Night: Friday 26 February, 7.45pm), their new work inspired by Jeff Wall's famous photograph of a ransacked room. Innovator and maverick, David Leddy and his company Fire Exit are next up with International Waters (22-26 March, Press Night: Wednesday 23 March, 7.45pm) with a twisting plot exploring how progress can be a trap, involving elegant glamour, brutal food poisoning, cyborg finance and a delicious bull testicle meringue! Lung Ha Theatre Company take us on a (quiet) journey in The Silent Treatment (1 & 2 April, 7.45pm), written by Douglas Maxwell with music by MJ McCarthy.

Mark Thomas returns after the sell-out success of Cuckooed with his brand new show Trespass (13-15 April, 8pm), which uses theatre, stand-up and activism to query how we might turn our urban environments into more playful spaces. Emma Callander, who directed Thomas's Cuckooed in the spring of 2015, is back, this time directing the Traverse Theatre Company production Crash (27 & 28 April, 7.45pm), a rare and poetic insight into the psychology of a banker's world; and Puppet State Theatre Company bring to life JRR Tolkien's miniature masterpiece, Leaf by Niggle (29 & 30 April, 2.30pm & 7.45pm), which he wrote in one sitting in the midst of his struggle to complete The Lord of the Rings.

Tron Young Company, directed by Martin O'Connor, open our Changing House programme with Sheep (4-6 Feb, 8pm) inspired by attitudes to war and militarisation and the expected roles for women and men in conflict. Catherine Wheels return with their brilliant show for 2-4 year olds, White (24 & 25 Feb, 10.30am & 1.15pm) and Amy Conway's 30:60:80 (2-5 March, 8pm) in association with Platform is a celebration of three lives spanning fifty years with the women of one family. Following a 5-star sell out run in London, New Room Theatre present their honest, brutal and often hilarious insight into alcoholism and recovery, Blackout (20-23 April, 8pm) and Spilt Milk, the company formed following our Festival 2014 production of Under Milk Wood present their first full-scale production, Adulting (16-18 June, 8pm) which wrestles with the responsibilities and expectations associated with being a grown-up.

Our established Vic Bar events continue to sell out each month, with Sunday Jazz and The Seven Song Club returning for the Spring/Summer season, alongside a new comedy scratch night, Comedy New Writing, an acoustic folk night, Folkify, with Sandy Nelson and Morna Young, performance poetry in the form of the Sunday Slams and Peter Arnott's Moon Country. The Progressive Playwright continues in the Changing House, with the Award (14 Jan, 7.45pm), the regular monthly themed nights from March - May and the January Award recipient's work showcased in June (23-25 June, 8pm) and the art of playwriting is also celebrated with the return of Talkfest, Playwright Studio, Scotland's week of workshops, rehearsed readings and masterclasses (18-23 April).

Andy Arnold said of his Spring/Summer programme:
'It is one of the strongest programmes I've assembled in recent years, and not only am I excited about the work Tron Theatre Company will present, but also delighted to have such a high caliber of visiting companies premiering work on the Tron stage.'

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