THE £1 ticket. Traverse Theatre’s executive director Ellen Gledhill proudly took me through the origins amid the excitement of encouraging new audiences and blowing the doors off for inclusion.

“It is the spirit of Christmas and it’s just brilliant because it goes from strength to strength,” she said.

Running since 2018, the £1 ticket project has two strands, as Gledhill explained: “Under-25s and low income, inclusive of any kind of low-income benefit. Carers’ allowance and pension allowance also.

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“The instigator was accessibility, future audiences and making sure the work we do can be accessed by the broadest audience.”

“[When] a very well-established attendee sadly passed away,” she went on, “his friends did some fundraising to make a gift in his memory. He was a big advocate for our work and attending theatre. He would tell us when we got it wrong as well as when we got it right – love with critical friendship.

“He would often say to people, ‘you’ve never seen this show, I’ll buy you a ticket’. The idea of that, the ethos he lived by – introduce people, give them the opportunity, have the conversation – that’s what we enshrined in the project.”

The £1 ticket is not just for Christmas but includes the most expensive time of the year in Edinburgh: “This August was the second where every piece of the programme was included. If people are excluded [from the Fringe] because they don’t feel they belong or there’s a socio-economic barrier then it’s on us to do everything we can to break those.

“There’s no postcode analysis. You could live anywhere in the country but it’s more prescient in Edinburgh when those local audiences feel excluded from this huge arts festival that’s on the doorstep but is outwith their reach financially.

“It’s horrendously expensive. We got to 2022, and every bit of the programme was part of the project – that’s a real milestone. It’s got a full page in every brochure, its own identity and icon.”

The ethos is hard-wired into the programme, as Gledhill expanded on: “We didn’t want to create a selection of fixed performances controlled by our agenda. We wanted to give people agency, an egalitarian experience. They’re there. Always will be. It is as inclusive as it possibly can be.

“Our analysis was that we very rarely sell out houses; there’s always latent capacity. It would be far better that capacity is used to encourage new audiences, more people to come, see theatre, feel part of the community. It’s the Traverse spirit; of the happenings. The happenings are the exciting place where new ideas come together.”

The Traverse not only produces its own work but has a rich tapestry of coproduction and bringing the best into the theatre, but as Gledhill gleefully noted when the visitors are told of the £1 ticket: “Companies could say, ‘we’re going to lose income’. Everybody subscribed. Nobody opts out. We have an agreed allowance and sometimes companies say, ‘can we put more allowance into that!’”

The ethos continues into the auditorium as people who qualify for the £1 tickets “are not treated any differently from anyone else that comes through the door. We don’t have the posh seats, and the cheap seats. They’re just here to enjoy and can come see more of the work”.

The Traverse team see their role as community-based.

Gledhill continued: “Doing work like we did with Same Team in December 2023, getting out into the community, working with partners like Street Soccer, is so valuable because they didn’t feel like theatre was a place for them.

“Through that co-creation process, we ended up with a brilliant show and with a community of advocates and amazing partner in Street Soccer who continued to champion the work we do.”

The December Sessions include four shows – a spoken-word performance, Trouble In Spiritland; a feminist gig theatre show, Mary: A Gig Theatre Show; four new emerging Edinburgh playwrights’ plays, 4Play, and work with schools, Class Act.

“The agenda was ‘let’s try and get this on as much of the programme as possible’, rather than it being something that is an add-on.

“Our December Sessions give us an opportunity to play with smaller-scale work, appeals to a broader audience. Mary is a feminist take that has been told by many. It is about standing behind local, young, emerging talent. Most of them are still students, emerging in terms of their practice.

“Class Act is a creative writing project not setting out to create playwrights but cultural engagement and lifelong connection to the arts and is important due to pressures in the curriculum and active signposting away from arts and humanities subjects.

“We’ve done it in five different locations around Scotland, work with state schools, the communities where often schools don’t have drama departments because it’s so valuable in terms of remodelling the learning environment, giving young people lots of space to express themselves and value creative expression which then becomes creative engagement and cultural advocacy.

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“It’s really important that we’re saying there’s a space for you, not only to sit in the auditorium but to tell a story on our stage.”

The £1 tickets promote the idea that “you’ve seen your play, now come and see someone else’s and be part of the community”.

But Gledhill also had a yuletide message for the sector, hunkered down hoping that Creative Scotland is everybody’s fairy godmother, not their Ebenezer: “We will never win if we take and don’t give. We want our community to grow, our organisation to flourish.

“There’s a lot of people who find this time of year challenging and we’ve been working with a local befriending organisation. Loneliness and isolation become more heightened in darker nights, and we’ve had a few group bookings coming through to see bits of programming.

“It’s much better to have an audience and a community of people connecting with that work, engaging and getting something positive. It feels exciting.”

I can hear the sleigh bells…

Traverse’s December Sessions are 4Play December 4- 7; Class Act Winter Showcase December 12-13; Trouble In Spiritland by Paul Tinto December 17- 18; Mary: A Gig Theatre Show by Rona Johnston, December 19-21