Tilt

Tilt is a season of new plays that forms part of Traverse Cubed - a month-long festival of theatre, music and visual art. Each of the three plays is a distinct production, but all three share the same cast, director and designer.

White Point by David Priestley, a former member of the Traverse Young Writers Group, taps a similiar vein of twentysomething angst to the 2004 film Garden State. This rather stilted three-hander charts the relationships of a young woman, Lesley (Abigail Davies) with Graeme (David Ireland) and his old school friend, Robert (Garry Collins).

Tellingly, the two men are at their happiest when reminiscing about a childhood camping trip, which they are prevented from re-creating by the trials of the big, bad world. Their romantic relationships falter due to commitment-phobia and jealousy respectively, but the absence of chemistry between any of the performers makes it difficult to believe or really care.

Broke is by French playwright David Lescot, but thanks to the Traverse's Playwrights in Partnership scheme this version in English by Iain F MacLeod is its first production.

Ireland plays a 'kept man gone to seed' who finds himself alone and deep in debt. When a suited man appears, breezily introducing himself as the liquidator, he's promised a second chance. He must surrender all possessions except the bare essentials, and re-build his life.

What follows is a surreal, philosophical brainteaser in which our hero imagines himself physically diminishing as his belongings disappear, leaving a disorientating amount of empty space. Following the advice of his new debt collector/life coach to 'embrace a cause', he sets out to win back the woman he loves. Smart, witty and surprising, this is theatre for those with well-stroked chins.

Distracted by Morna's Pearson, another one-time Traverse Young Writer, is a short, sharp theatrical happy slap that's likely to divide audiences. Set in Aberdeen, it centres on two young boys, Jamie and George-Michael, who form a friendship of convenience in the caravan park where they both live. The pair inhabit a grotesquely colourful world: from rape and suicide to drugs and flammable tramps, there are no taboos.

It's difficult to imagine a better production of this brilliantly daring and very, very funny play. Davies is unrecognisable under layers of eyeliner, delivering a succession of killer lines deadpan. Collins perfectly captures the permanently startled aspect of a troubled young soul who seeks refuge in counting, nicely constrasting Ireland's boisterous, needy George-Michael. Anne Lacey completes the cast as Jamie's terrifying grandmother, spitting biscuits across the stage while soliciting cuddles.

What does it all mean? Hard to say, but there's no doubt that Morna Pearson is a name to watch. If you see just one of the Tilt plays, make it Distracted.