Library Item

Sign board of former Traverse Theatre, James' Court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

1992

The first Traverse Theatre was situated in a rather dilapidated building owned by Tom Mitchell at 15 James Court, off Edinburgh's Lawnmarket. Reputedly a former brothel and lodging house, it went by the nickname of 'Kelly's Paradise'.
On the first floor an oblong room only 15 feet wide and 8 feet high was converted into a 60 seat theatre, the seats themselves coming from the disused Palace Cinema further down the High Street. Terry Lane suggested two banks of seats on either side of a central stage, an arrangement he erroneously thought was called 'traverse'. The actual term is transverse, but from such a misconception the name Traverse Theatre was born.
The basement of the building was used for dressing rooms, a scene dock and wardrobe accommodation, the second floor housed the box office and a coffee bar, and the third had a restaurant and bar. The Traverse occupied this building from 1963 to 1969 when it moved into its second location in the Grassmarket.