Tracks of the Winter Bear--Traverse

A forest in winter. A city at night. The first fall of snow.
Where do the tracks lead? What waits in the dark?
Two plays. One inspiration.
A seasonal tale of lovers, loners and carnivores. Read more …

The Traverse Theatre presents a very special double bill of short plays by two of its most successful alumni, Rona Munro (The James Plays, Iron, The Last Witch) and Stephen Greenhorn (Passing Places, Sunshine on Leith), both defining voices in Scottish theatre.

Featuring an ensemble company and a colourful musical score, Tracks of the Winter Bear provides the perfect escape for those dark December nights.

Tracks of the Winter Bear is directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin (Swallow, Spoiling, Ciara) and Traverse Associate Director Zinnie Harris (The Garden, While You Lie).

The critical consensus

If you fancy something out of the ordinary this Yuletide, follow the bear tracks to (and inside!) the Traverse for some snow themed surprises.

(*) (*) Irene Brown, Edinburgh Guide, 10/12/2015

As each play eases its way gently beyond their initial chilliness towards something warmer, in different ways they become moving paeans to loss, healing and survival against all odds in this most painful and wildest of worlds.

(*) Neil Cooper, Coffee-Table Notes, 10/12/2015

Stephen Greenhorn and Rona Munro’s one-act companion pieces aim for a warming sense of Dickensian resolution, but are actually a bit of a downer.

(*) (*) Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 10/12/2015

A world that's both magical and brutal, and full of down-to-earth comic realism.

(*) Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 10/12/2015

One is played for emotional impact, the other for bitter humour, but directors Zinnie Harris and Orla O’Loughlin imbue each with a thread of snow-frosted, elegiac wonder.

(*) David Pollock, The Independent, 13/12/2015

If you believe a sad tale is best for winter, however, you will relish the touchingly fragile and frostily sad vignettes so expertly acted here.

(*) (*) Hugh Simpson, All Edinburgh Theatre, 10/12/2015

These two ostensibly different plays dovetail via their shared winter motifs and complementary themes of love, loss and facing up to an uncertain future.

(*) Allan Radcliffe, 15/12/2015

It isn't the triumph it could have been.

(*) (*) Michael Cox, Across the Arts, 16/12/2015

Pretends to be a two-act play with two distinct writers. What it is, in fact, is a double bill of two very distinct short plays.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 18/12/2015

A seasonal antidote to the enforced jollity and dubious morality of pantomimes, the Traverse’s double bill of short plays by Rona Munro (The James Plays) and Stephen Greenhorn (Sunshine on Leith) presents a melancholic, but ultimately life-affirming, alternative Christmas.

(*) (*) Gareth K Vile, The List, 21/12/2015