Tron Theatre announces Spring & Summer 2022 season

As the sector continues its recovery, the Tron Theatre are delighted to be announcing a busy new season of work for Spring-Summer 2022!

Article Source: Tron Theatre
Last Updated: 19 January 2022 13:04

Our first live performances at the end of 2021 were well received, with audience confidence relatively high and superb feedback from people visiting the building about how safe and comfortable they felt. We’ll be presenting four new Tron Theatre Company productions between now and the end of July. An ambitious undertaking for us, without a doubt, but one that is underpinned by our resolve to return to live theatre with a vengeance, and to provide opportunities to showcase new writing as well as support to a host of talented Scotland-based creatives.

Inspired by true stories, Moorcroft (17 Feb – 5 Mar, Press Performance: Friday 18 February, 7.30pm), written and directed by Eilidh Loan, explores true friendship, pain, love and what it means to be a ‘real man’ in working class Scotland. Says Eilidh of the piece: ‘I have been on a journey with Moorcroft for over seven years. It’s been more than just writing a play for me. It’s been years of pinning down exactly what I wanted to say about this world and why it mattered. It’s brought me closer to my dad. It’s changed his view on the world we live in, started vital conversations about mental health and helped him find a sense of purpose. That’s what I set out to achieve.’

Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir, who was originally engaged as Mayfesto Director in 2020 returns as a Tron Associate to direct two shows this season: Uther Dean’s Me and My Sister Tell Each Other Everything (23 Mar – 2 Apr, Press Performance: Thu 24 March, 7.45pm), an intricate story with songs by Uther Dean and Oliver Devlin about the damage we carry; and debbie tucker green’s hang (28 Apr – 7 May, Press Performance: Friday 29 April, 7.30pm), a shattering play about one woman’s unspeakable decision. Finally after a delay of not one, but two years, Andy Arnold will direct John Byrne’s brilliantly funny Underwood Lane (14-30 July), packed with iconic songs from the late 50s underscoring a story about fierce love rivalry, broken hearts, dodgy dealers, religion, sex and death. Underwood Lane is being produced in partnership with Renfrewshire Leisure as part of their Future Paisley programme and will open at the newly refurbished Johnston Town Hall before playing at the Tron.

We are also delighted to be presenting a busy and ambitious programme of work from leading theatre companies and artists from across the UK. As ever, our hope is that we engage, excite, challenge and entice audiences, and we’ll be restaging a number of shows that we had to cancelled in 2020, as well as giving a platform for brand new work. We co-produced The Metamorphosis with Vanishing Point which premiered to five-star reviews on our main stage before we sadly had to close for lockdown. The company will return to complete this cancelled run of Kafka’s famous story of an ordinary man who wakes up one morning to find he has been transformed into a giant insect (16-26 March).

The programme of visiting work will include Company of Wolves’ new adaptation of Julius Caesar (31 Mar – 2 Apr) that uses physicality to breathe new life into Shakespeare’s masterpiece; Spuds (13-16 Apr), Andy McGregor’s five-star musical comedy about grief, greed and grease set in Glasgow; Caroline Horton’s award‑winning All of Me (19-21 May), a five-star intimate and absurd exploration of wanting to live, wanting to die and what can happen if we sit together in the dark, presented in partnership with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival; and Who Killed My Father (11-14 May), an intimate declaration of love from son to father and a defiant call for social justice in an ambitious adaptation of Édouard Louis’ book of the same name, presented by surrogate productions in association with Platform. We are also delighted to welcome Tandem Writing Collective (5 May) back to our Changing House, with script-in-hand performances of fresh new writing accompanied by live music.

Tron CREATIVE, our year round Artist Development programme aimed at providing opportunities to encourage and develop the talented community of creative practitioners making theatre in Scotland, has a busy season of work ahead. We will launch Writer Lab, a new initiative for early career writers in partnership with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, host a winter LabWeek residency, welcome back our scratch night event Outside Eyes (20 Apr) and continue to deliver the BUILD programme of workshops, talks and social activities, with guest artists from across the UK.

Tron PARTICIPATION will continue to deliver a hybrid of online and in-person workshops following the success of this work in 2020 and 2021. Junior and Senior Youth Theatre will continue to be delivered in the building, while we look forward to taking Skillshops (drama classes for primary-aged children) into the community, working with local schools and groups. Early years work will return, in a partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, to deliver outdoor storytelling workshops in Strathclyde Country Park whilst closer to home, we’ll be taking our Tall Tales sessions back out to local community venues. After the successful launch of their audio piece Retro/Future at Cop26, Tron Young Company will work with local youth groups exploring the sound piece and developing their skills in planning and facilitating creative workshops. Write Tron will relaunch with online script development sessions, whilst Tron Studio and Tron Community Choir will continue in person. With further easing of restrictions we will be looking to increase our capacities across the Participation programme.

The Spring-Summer 2022 season is now on sale with all performances available to book online, by telephone or in person at our Box Office. Operationally, we will be moving to full capacity in our auditoria, but will continue to implement Covid-19 mitigating measures throughout the building to keep staff, artists and performers and audiences safe.

Andy Arnold, Artistic Director says of the Tron Theatre’s programme for Spring-Summer 2022: ‘Artistically we are coming back with great momentum, not only with an amazing programme of visiting companies but also, for the first time in decades, four brand new Tron Theatre Company productions in one season. Each of these very different and diverse shows will platform an array of brilliant Scotland-based artists both on and off stage. We can’t wait to start making the work.’