Traverse Theatre
13 minute walk from Haymarket station · Edinburgh and South East
The Traverse Theatre is a purpose-built venue known as "Scotland’s new writing theatre." Founded in 1962 to keep the spirit of city festivals alive year-round, it operates from a professional two-theatre space featuring a bar café.
The theatre is famous for developing new plays and launching the careers of world-renowned writers and actors. It acts as a primary host for Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows and the Edinburgh International Children's Festival, with critics often describing its cutting-edge programming as the backbone of the Fringe.
Visitors can enjoy contemporary productions in flexible performance spaces. Whether watching a commissioned new work or a visiting company, guests experience intimate staging in a venue steeped in history, where even the sponsored seats feature quirky plaques from famous former performers.
Visitor information
- Place type
- Theatre
- Good for
- Literature & writers, Theatre & performance
- Characteristics
- 20th-century, Nationally significant
- Admission
- Paid admission
- Opening
- Open year-round
- Facilities
- Café
- Region
- Edinburgh and South East
Stations within walking distance
- Haymarket station — 13 min walk, 1.1 km
- Edinburgh station — 16 min walk, 1.2 km
Other places near Haymarket
- Royal Lyceum Theatre — 12 min walk from the station
- John Muir Way: Edinburgh to Prestonpans — 22 min walk from the station
- Dean Village and the Galleries of Modern Art — 22 min walk from the station
- Old Town, Edinburgh — 24 min walk from the station
- Stockbridge and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — 25 min walk from the station
- Calton Hill, Edinburgh — 25 min walk from the station