Leading theatre warns it is 'almost impossible' to make new plays in Scotland due to funding limbo

One of Scotland's leading theatres has warned it is now "almost impossible" to make new plays due to a lack of certainty over its future Scottish Government funding.

Performers in the Fringe show Same Team staged a protest against arts funding cuts at the end of their run in August. | Supplied

The Traverse Theatre, which describes itself as "Scotland's new writing theatre," has admitted it is struggling to programme more than six months ahead.

Artistic director Gareth Nicholls has spoken out weeks after national arts agency Creative Scotland was forced to delay decisions due in October on 281 long-term funding applications after being left without a government budget.

Gareth Nicholls is artistic director of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Picture: David Monteith-Hodge

The Federation of Scottish Theatre has warned the delay has triggered "a moment of unprecedented crisis," which organisations who have been left in limbo until the end of January forced to take "immediate and in some cases significant action to safeguard their futures."

The government refused to commit any funding to Creative Scotland next three-year programme, which is due to take effect from April 1, weeks after Creative Scotland chief executive Iain Munro warned MSPs that a number of organisations were on the "cliff edges" of financial collapse due to a lack of clarity over their future funding.

A History of Paper was staged at the Traverse Theatre in August. Picture: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Creative Scotland has since been forced to publish advice for organisations who are "facing imminent closure," but has warned it does not have any any "emergency funding" available.

The Traverse Theatre started life as a theatre club in an abandoned brothel off the Lawnmarket in 1963. It moved to a bigger space in the Grassmarket in 1969 before moving to a purpose-built home on Cambridge Street in 1992.

The Traverse Theatre has been based at Cambridge Street in Edinburgh since 1992.

Actors Alan Cumming, Billy Connolly, Ashley Jensen, Bill Paterson, Simon Callow, Ken Stott, Richard Wilson, Cillian Murphy, Tilda Swinton and Alan Cumming have performed at its various incarnations.

Writers championed by the Traverse include John Byrne, Zinnie Harris, Kieran Hurley, Jo Clifford, Gregory Burke, David Greig, Liz Lochhead and David Harrower.

Mr Nicholls was speaking at the Traverse at the recording of the final part of a new podcast series exploring the evolution of Scottish theatre.

Critic and commentator Fergus Morgan, presenter of the series, asked Mr Nicholls how hard it was to put on new plays in the current financial climate.

Mr Nicholls said: "Very. It's almost impossible. It's really hard. It's been seven years of standstill funding against a backdrop of the pandemic and austerity before that, the cost of living crisis and inflation.

"The financials are really hard, but it's more than that. It's about how can we create an environment where artists can flourish, where they can take risks and play and fail and get back up and do it again. It's about how can we create an environment where we give things the space, time and support which is needed to develop (new plays) so can go on when they are ready and if they're not ready we can push them forwards. All of that is really, really difficult at the moment.

"The uncertainty within the sector makes it really hard to plan beyond the next six months. It's often being done on a hope and a prayer. For every plan A, you've got to have a plan B, C, D and E.

"That's really hard for people working within organisations, but it's doubly hard for people outside of organisations who are freelancers, because often they're in the most financially precarious positions. I think that takes a toll on mental health. It doesn't create a cohesive environment for brilliant art."

Playwright and director Nicola McCartney, who has been working with the Traverse for more than 20 years, spoke at the venue about the increasingly difficult in getting new work before audiences.

She said: "Every new play in the last 10 years has been a defiant heartbeat in a theatre sector which has undergone multiple cardiac arrests and is currently on life-support.

"For every single new play which has made it to the stage in the last decade, or will continue to in future, a theatre, producer and playwright will have engaged in a monumental struggle against the apathy of government, of funding bodies and ultimately, our society.

"Each one is an act of resistance against austerity, which has been slowly strangling the cultural sector across the UK for more than the last decade.

"It's not easy to find the money to develop a play, but that money exists. The problem is getting it to the stage.

"A play needs time, it needs different eyes on it and it needs nurtured to get it absolutely ready. There is so much pressure now on a play when it first goes up to be absolutely perfect. But it often hasn't had the room to grow."

The Traverse is the latest Scottish theatre to raise concerns since Creative Scotland announced a three-month decision-making delay on £87.5 million worth of bids for long-term funding bids.

It would only have around £40 million available if it is kept on standstill funding by the government, which has promised an additional £100m in new investment for the arts by 2028, but has not committed anything to pay for Creative Scotland's three-year programme.

Jemima Levick, who has just taken over as artistic director at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, has described the three-month delay as "hugely frustrating" and "massively disappointing."

She added: "No matter how you dress it up, it looks fairly catastrophic. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a bloodbath.”

Dundee Rep's executive director, Liam Sinclair, said it was having to model "quite drastic financial implications" for 2025 due to uncertainty over its funding, with the current decision-making limbo on its future funding posing a "direct threat" to its financial stability.

Creative Scotland has ringfenced £11 million for "transition funding" to help organisations who lose long-term funding draw up new business plans and restructure.

A new Q&A bulletin for applicants states: "If any funded organisation finds itself in difficulty it is important for us to understand the situation so that we can offer potential flexibility in any existing funding awards, provide advice and/or provide signposting to potentially direct them to other support services. All Creative Scotland’s funding agreements require organisations to inform us if they are experiencing financial difficulties."