Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The Traverse Theatre, situated in Edinburgh, was established in 1962 under the name The Traverse Theatre Club by a group of individuals including John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes, Richard Demarco, Terry Lane, Andrew Muir, John Martin, and Sheila Colvin. This theatre company specializes in commissioning and developing new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights and also showcases productions from visiting theater groups. Additionally, during the month of August, the Traverse Theatre serves as a venue for shows as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is also known as the venue for the Edinburgh International Children's Festival, formerly known as the Imaginate Festival.

In 1992, the Traverse Theatre relocated to its current address on Cambridge Street, which was constructed as part of the Saltire Court development on Castle Terrace, with a total cost of £3.3 million. The new facility consists of two theaters and a bar café. The inaugural performance at this location took place on July 3, 1992. Traverse 1 is the larger theater space, featuring adaptable seating that can be rearranged to accommodate various configurations, such as transverse, end-on, or in-the-round setups. The most commonly used configuration is 'end on,' with a seating capacity of 214. Traverse 2 is the smaller studio space, which underwent a seating upgrade in September 2005 to facilitate different staging arrangements. The standard seating capacity for Traverse 2 is approximately 115 seats.