PPP tales of coming home
Six play season of lunchtime theatre at Traverse
Tales of coming home unite the Traverse’s six lunchtime theatre productions from A Play A Pie and A Pint this Autumn, with the first production, Ship Rats, opening this week.
PPP’s ever-popular format of a 50 minute play, a pie and a pint (other drinks are available) continues to bring more new plays to the stage at its Oran Mor base at the top of Byres Road in Glasgow than any other venue in Scotland.
The six-play seasons at the Traverse regularly sell out too, with the theatre currently offering a play-only ticket at £12 or the full deal for £17.50. This Autumn’s season runs from Tuesday 19 September to Saturday 28 October, with all shows playing daily, Tue to Sat, at 1pm.
PPP: Tales of Coming Home…
The season opens with Alice Clark’s Ship Rats (Tue 19 – 23. Tickets), “an uplifting drama about finding allies in unexpected places based on the writer’s garrulous Glaswegian great-great-granny who sailed the world,” and already reviewed by our critic here: ★★★☆☆ Energetic.
Next week, Annie George directs her own script for Coast (Tue 26 – Sat 30 Sept. Tickets). Half-siblings, Jay and Kay, are on a road trip travelling overnight from Glasgow. After growing up apart, the recently re-united pair are heading for the coast down south to go camping for a few nights and get to know each other better.
However, things don’t go according to plan. As family secrets and lies unravel, Jay and Kay are forced to make an urgent detour but attract unwanted attention on the road, which threatens to foil their renewed mission.
Playing the half-siblings are Hamzah Aftab (East is East, Birmingham Rep/National Theatre) and Beruce Khan (The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare’s Globe) in their debut performances at PPP and marking Hamzah’s first ever visit to Scotland.
road movie
Coast will also feature evocative sound design by Eve Allan and her Edinburgh-based alternative rock band HÜSH.
Annie George said: “Coast was inspired by my love of the road movie genre. It explores the ties that bind people together in families and in relationships, the breakdown of trust and love lost, in a comic and moving drama.
“I’m excited to be working for the first time with the phenomenal PPP creative team, a wonderful cast who are new to Scottish audiences and with extraordinary sound design featuring the music of HÜSH.”
Beruce Khan and Hamzah Aftab in Coast. Pic: Tommy-Ga-Ken-Wan
PPP’s artistic director Jemima Levick helms the third offering of the season, The Sheriff Of Kalamaki (Tue 3 – Sat 7 Oct. Tickets) by Douglas Maxwell, a sun-drenched comedy-drama staring brothers Paul and Stephen McCole about the myths we tell ourselves about living a “good” life.
Kalamaki is a tourist trap at the southern tip of the Greek island of Zante – and to Dion (Paul McCole), it’s heaven. He came here on holiday thirty years ago and he’s never gone home. He has finally found his perfect position, getting paid to keep an eye on troublesome Brits and nip disasters in the bud.
This newfound gig gives Dion some pride but when his brother (Stephen McCole) arrives looking for help, Dion may have to sacrifice his future and return to a very different life.
comic premise
Douglas Maxwell said: “This play has been a long time coming. My wife and I went to Zante way back in 2004 and I got talking to a bloke who said he was paid by the taverns to keep an eye on Brits abroad which I knew would be a fun character to write. What started as a comic premise has developed into the story of what we do as we get older and how to live a good life.
“Paul’s been in a couple of my shows, he’s fantastic, and I can’t wait to get to work with Stephen.”
Brothers Paul and Stephen McCole who will be starring in The Sheriff of Kalamaki by Douglas Maxwell
Stay (Tue 10 – Sat 14 Oct. Tickets) is a new two-hander musical by Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage exploring love, grief and peculiar park-life.
Melanie Bell directs Daisy Ann Fletcher (Vanishing Point’s Metamorphosis: Unplugged and National Theatre’s The Doncastrian Chalk Circle) and Craig Hunter, who was recently in acclaimed Scottish folk musical A Mother’s Song at Macrobert Arts Centre, as ex-lovers Kit and Rowan.
The pair are found standing at the edge of a park pond with a funeral urn and four years of unresolved history between them. After the scattering ceremony flops, something draws both Kit and Rowan to stay…but can death rekindle the past?
snippets
Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage said: “We’ve been working on this story for over two years now, sharing snippets throughout its development, but this is the first-time audiences will be seeing the musical in full.
“The whole cast and creative team are making their PPP debuts and we can’t wait to share this moving and intimate story filled with laughter, love and the bittersweet complexities of grief. Definitely bring yer tissues!”
Daisy Ann Fletcher and Craig Hunter who will be staring in Stay by Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage.
Meetings With The Monk (Tue 17 – Sat 21 Oct. Tickets) is a “heartwarming semi-autobiographical story about depression, salvation and some very funny holy men”.
Brian is depressed…well that’s putting it mildly. He doesn’t have long left unless something drastic happens. A chance visit to a monastery leads him to meet a monk who is unlike any person, religious or otherwise, that he has ever encountered. But would this be the moment that changes things for good?
It’s written by PPP regular Brian James O’Sullivan, who has also been seen as an actor at the Lyceum and is a talented panto dame – this year winning Best Dame at the UK Panto awards for his turn as Maw Goose at the Macrobert in Stirling.
The show is directed by Laila Noble, resident director at PPP for its Autumn Season – thanks to the Marilyn Imrie Fellowship in association with Stellar Quines. Her recent directing credits include The Bush, Waves, Svetlana and Moonlight on Leith. She is a literary producer and mentor for Page2Stage Edinburgh and has her own company, Clarty Burd.
Disfunction
The final play of the season is Disfunction (Tue 24 – Sat 28 Oct. Tickets) by Kate Bowen, a “brutal comedy about a family ripping itself apart to find the truth within and how far anyone might go for the financial security they crave.” Direction comes from Lu Kemp, who recently left her role as artistic director at Perth Theatre after seven years.
Two sisters have been playing and perfecting their secret sibling game for decades. Now in their sixties, and about to lose their home, it’s time to unleash the family fun on the world.
Their goddaughter, desperate for the plan to succeed, has been pitching the game to investors; but with added high stakes – win a real-money jackpot by playing the game publicly online – with a live voting audience judging the emotionally eviscerating, truth telling final round.
The family test out this new feature…but can their relationships survive this ruthless game? Will their home even be worthing saving by the end of it?
Listings
Ship Rats (PPP)
Tue 19 – Sat 23 Sept 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written by Alice Clark.
In 1880, being the only woman on board a cargo ship in the South China Sea is not the safest place for Jessie, recently-widowed and demoted to the worst cabin. Especially when she’s puking for Scotland and sailors are dropping dead by the day. An uplifting drama about finding allies in unexpected places. Book here.
Coast (PPP)
Tue 26 – Sat 30 Sept 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written and directed by Annie George.
Half-siblings, Jay and Kay, are on a road trip travelling overnight from Glasgow. After growing up apart, the recently united pair are heading for the coast down south, to go camping for a few nights and get to know each other better. A poignant and comic drama that veers off course and becomes a journey of self-discovery. Book here.
October 2023
The Sheriff of Kalamaki (PPP)
Tue 3 – Sat 7 Oct 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written by Douglas Maxwell
Kalamaki is a tourist trap at the southern tip of the Greek island of Zante – and to Dion, it’s heaven. He came here on holiday thirty years ago and he’s never gone home. A sun-drenched comedy-drama about the myths we tell ourselves about living a “good” life. Book here.
Stay (PPP)
Tue 10 – Sat 14 Oct 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written by Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage
Ex-lovers Kit and Rowan stand at the edge of a park pond with an urn and four years of unresolved history between them. After the scattering ceremony flops, something draws both Kit and Rowan to stay…but can death rekindle the past? A new two-hander musical by exploring love, grief and peculiar park life. Book here.
Meetings with the Monk (PPP)
Tue 17 – Sat 21 Oct 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written by Brian James O’Sullivan.
Brian is depressed… well that’s putting it mildly. He doesn’t have long left unless something drastic happens. A heart-warming semi-autobiographical story by about depression, salvation and some very funny holy men. Book here.
Disfunction (PPP)
Tue 24 – Sat 28 Oct 2023.
Matinees: 1pm. (Traverse 2).
Written by Kate Bowen
Two sisters have been playing and perfecting their secret sibling game for decades. Now in their sixties, and about to lose their home, it’s time to unleash the family fun on the world. A brutal comedy about a family ripping itself apart to find the truth within and how far anyone might go for the financial security they crave. Book here.
ENDS
