The Tron Theatre is located in the corner of

Trongate Trongate is one of the oldest streets in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Trongate begins at Glasgow Cross, where the steeple of the old Glasgow Tolbooth is situated, being the original centre of medieval Glasgow, and goes westward changing its na ...

and Chisholm Street, in what was formerly the Tron Kirk which had started as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne in the Trongate area of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The Tron Steeple still stands adjacent to the theatre. Home to the Tron Theatre Company, it is a

producing house A producing house is a theatre which ‘manufactures' its own shows in-house (such as plays, musicals, opera, or dance) and perhaps does everything from honing the script, building the set, casting the actors and designing and making the costum ...

for contemporary theatrical work and also functions as a

receiving house A receiving house (sometimes called a roadhouse) is a theatre which does not produce its own repertoire but instead receives touring theatre companies, usually for a brief period such as three nights or a full week. The incoming company may receive ...

for a visiting programme of theatre, comedy and music from Scotland, the UK and abroad. Its Education and Outreach department offers a range of activities from drama workshops for children and young people, to creative writing for adults and professional development opportunities for theatre students and practitioners.

History

The present day Tron Theatre Company, based in the Trongate, started life as the Glasgow Theatre Club in 1978, established by Joe Gerber, Tom Laurie, Tom McGrath and Linda Haase, at times using the Close Theatre which was part of the

Citizens' Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various s ...

in Gorbals. After the fire affecting that venue, the Club in 1980 took over the almost derelict

Tron Kirk The Tron Kirk is a former principal parish church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a well-known landmark on the Royal Mile. It was built in the 17th century and closed as a church in 1952. Having stood empty for over fifty years, it was used ...

, which had been built for the Church of Scotland in 1795, designed by James Adam, Adams had been the co-designer of the very new Royal Infirmary and a few years later designed the city's Assembly Rooms in Ingram Street. The theatre opened its doors on 10 May 1981, and two days later the first season of short plays opened with a production of Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, directed by Ida Schuster-Berkeley, in the Victorian Bar. An earlier, separate manifestation was RF Pollock's short-lived Tron Theatre Club which was active c.1929-32. Pollock's vision was to develop a distinct Scottish style of acting using principles similar to those developed by

Konstantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian Soviet Fe ...

. One of the company's achievements was a production of

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' ( no, Bygmester Solness) is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published ...

. Actor Duncan Macrae began his career with Pollock's Tron Theatre Club. The amateur group dispersed in 1932, splitting into three new separate groups. These included the

Curtain Theatre The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Hewett Street, Shoreditch (within the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It opened in 1577, and continued staging plays until 1624. The Curtain was ...

and the

Dumbarton People's Theatre Dumbarton People's Theatre (often abbreviated to DPT) is an amateur theatre group which exists in the town of Dumbarton in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island o ...

Artistic legacy

Under the Artistic leadership of Michael Boyd (1986 to 1996), artists including

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

Forbes Masson Forbes (Robertson) Masson (born 17 August 1963 in Falkirk) is a Scottish actor and writer. He is an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his roles in classical theatre, musicals, comedies, and appearances ...

Peter Mullan Peter Mullan (; born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's ''My Name Is Joe'' (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival, 2000's '' The Claim'' and all thr ...

Craig Ferguson Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-born American comedian, actor, writer, and television host. He is best known for hosting the CBS late-night talk show ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2005–2014), for which he won a ...

and

Siobhan Redmond Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles. Early life Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...

, as well as musician Craig Armstrong emerged from the company. In 2000, the Tron Theatre Company presented two world premieres of plays by Scottish writers: "Our Bad Magnet" by

Douglas Maxwell Douglas Maxwell (born 1974 in Girvan) is a Scottish playwright, whose work has been performed throughout Scotland, the UK and abroad. Life & work He was born to two teachers in Girvan on the Ayrshire south-west coast of Scotland. He has one sis ...

and "

Further than the Furthest Thing ''Further than the Furthest Thing'' is a play in two acts by the Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris, set in 1961 on a remote island based loosely on Tristan da Cunha, and in the English city of Southampton. It was inspired by Harris' mother's memor ...

" by

Zinnie Harris Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shake ...

. "Further than the Furthest Thing," directed by

Irina Brown Irina Brown (born Leningrad, Russia) is a theatre and opera director in the United Kingdom, where she has lived and worked for over thirty years. Brown was the Artistic Director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow from 1996 to 2000, and Natural Perspecti ...

, was a co-production between the Tron Theatre Company and the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. The production premiered at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival 2000 to universal critical acclaim, winning four major awards before a London run at the National Theatre, a subsequent transfer to the Tricycle Theatre, London and a tour of South Africa. In 2002, Neil Murray was appointed Director of the Tron, serving as Artistic Producer for the Company. Shows produced by the Tron in this period include Iain Heggie's "Love Freaks," "Possible Worlds" by John Mighton (as the centrepiece of the Canadian Six Stages Festival), Forbes Masson's "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Cinderella" and Chris Hannan's "Shining Souls" in a co-production with v.amp productions which was awarded Best Production in the Critics Awards for Theatre In Scotland in 2003. Previous productions include the world premiere of David Greig's "San Diego" (2004 EIF,) Anthony Neilson's "The Wonderful World of Dissocia" in 2004, this time in a collaboration with EIF and the Theatre Royal, Plymouth. "The Wonderful World of Dissocia" subsequently went on to win 5 out of 10 awards in the 2005 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland. The production was also revived in 2007 in conjunction with the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

, touring the UK including performances at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Murray left in 2005, to take up the post of Executive Director of the

, and between May 2005 and May 2006 the post of Director was held by Ali Curran, formerly of the Peacock Theatre at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...

in Dublin. The Tron produced three new works during this time: the premiere of "Ubu the King," a co-production with Dundee Repertory Theatre, the Barbican, Old Vic and Bite:05, adapted by David Greig and directed by Dominic Hill; the European premiere of John Mighton's latest work, "Half Life" co-produced with Perth Theatre and Canadian based Necessary Angel; and its annual Christmas panto, written by Forbes Masson, "Weans in the Wood." From 2006 until 2008 Gregory Thompson was Artistic Director and the tron produced "The Patriot" by Grae Cleugh, "Antigone" and co-produced "The Wall" by

D C Jackson Daniel Craig Jackson, also known as D.C. Jackson, is a Scottish playwright, born in 1980. Career His first full-length play ''The Wall'' premiered at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in 2008. It was produced by Borderline Theatre Company and was no ...

with Borderline Theatre Company. In April 2008 the Tron appointed a new Director

Andy Arnold Andy Arnold is a Scotland-based theatre director and the artistic director of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Career Arnold was the major force behind setting up The Arches, Glasgow's long running multi-arts venue, which was open from 1991 to 20 ...

, previously founder of the Arches Theatre Company. Productions since 2008 have included The Drawer Boy, Monaciallo (Naples Theatre Festival, A Slow Air by David Harrower (London and New York), Sea and land and Sky - new play by Abigail Docherty, Edwin Morgan's Dreams and Other Nightmares - new play by Liz Lochhead, a new adaptation by John Byrne of Three Sisters, and the UK and Irish stage premiere of James Joyce's Ulysses adapted by Dermot Bolger and touring to Belfast, Dublin and Cork - named best production of 2012 by The List magazine. The Tron Theatre has two notable contemporary sculptures that were added to the exterior of the theatre as part of its lottery funded refurbishment in 1999. The sculptures are of a large golden cherub and of a skull. The works are by artist

Kenny Hunter Kenny Hunter (born 1962) is a Scottish sculptor. He lives and works in Edinburgh. Between 2015 and 2018, he was programme director of sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art where he now continues to work part-time as a lecturer in Fine Art, Sculp ...

Paranormal activity

The Tron Theatre has an extensive repertoire of

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

stories, most of which stem from its infamous 'haunted' boiler room. There have been reports made by a number of ghost hunting companies that claim to have heard wailing, and to have 'sensed' a girl with a missing hand, a young boy, and a worker who was supposedly murdered in the room. They also claimed that their equipment's battery power decreased extremely quickly whilst inside the room. None of these claims has been verified by anybody outside of these companies, nor by the theatre themselves.

References

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 55.85686, N, 4.24554, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Category A listed buildings in Glasgow Theatres in Glasgow Listed theatres in Scotland Former churches in Scotland Theatres completed in 1981 Arts organisations based in Scotland 1981 establishments in Scotland Clock towers in the United Kingdom