By Grace Hatchell

If your plans for early 2027 involve getting out more, Glasgow’s Tron Theatre has provided a fair few reasons to find your coat. Its January–April programme brings together a new Scottish play, a contemporary encounter with Noël Coward, a UFO doomsday cult and a band whose musical reputation requires a bit of explaining. I’ve delivered some varied bundles in my time, but this one’s got range.

Artistic Director Jemima Levick’s spring season includes two Tron Theatre Company productions alongside visiting work from Groupwork, In Bed With My Brother and Outwith It Theatre Company. There’s music through Celtic Connections, opportunities to catch developing performances and a continuing campaign to help more people through the theatre doors.

First into my diary is The Ferry, running at the Tron from 23 February to 6 March 2027. Written by Linda McLean and directed by Levick, it follows fifteen-year-old Freddy, newly orphaned and offered what looks like a fresh start.

A family “friend”, Chris, supplies a job and a train ticket from Glasgow to Broughty Ferry. But the promise of care conceals exploitation, drawing Freddy into the world of county lines networks.

That distinction between someone looking after you and someone controlling you sits at the heart of the play. Inspired by an original idea by Paul Rattray, The Ferry explores grief, family and the price attached to an apparent opportunity. Levick describes a work with humour, poetry and heart alongside its devastating subject matter.

It’s a co-production between Dundee Rep Theatre, Tron Theatre, Traverse Theatre and ETT, opening in Dundee before travelling to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Then, from 9–24 April, comes Private Lives, with Stewart Laing both directing and designing a contemporary Scottish take on Noël Coward’s dark romantic comedy.

Amanda and Elyot have divorced, remarried and headed off on separate honeymoons. Unfortunately, they’ve managed to end up near each other. Of all the things you want to discover on honeymoon, I’d put your ex somewhere below a missing suitcase.

Old attraction flares, new spouses become an inconvenience, and the pair charge back towards a relationship whose original faults haven’t obligingly packed up and left. Expect desire, jealousy, sharp language and the return of some thoroughly destructive habits. Laing’s production promises to explore the brutality beneath that sparkling wit.

Before either of those productions arrives, Celtic Connections brings music to the Tron between 14 and 31 January. Announced performers include Seamus Egan and Maeve Gilchrist, Sárán Ó Maolagáin and Muirine Nic Róibín, Billy Kay and Robyn Stapleton, Jeffrey Foucault and Eric Koskinen, plus Fraser Bruce performing the songs of Matt McGinn. More artists are still to be announced.

February then takes a turn towards the end of the world. Groupwork’s When Prophecy Fails visits from 4–6 February, following a sold-out run at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Written by Finn den Hertog and Lewis den Hertog, and co-directed by Finn and Vicki Manderson, it draws on the events surrounding a 1954 UFO doomsday cult and the study associated with the theory of cognitive dissonance. Devotion, disillusionment and apocalyptic predictions meet the company’s physical and visual storytelling.

I struggle enough when the parcel tracking promises something that plainly hasn’t happened. The collapse of an entire prophecy sounds rather more difficult to explain away.

In the Changing House studio, Outwith It Theatre Company presents Davey Anderson’s Snuff on 5 and 6 March, directed by Fraser Scott.

Set in Glasgow in 2004, it finds Kevin living quietly in a high-rise flat between shifts at the bookies. Then childhood friend Billy returns from Iraq, arriving unannounced and asking questions about what’s on Kevin’s television. Fear, mistrust, violence and the influence of the media shape a drama first performed at Glasgow’s Arches Theatre in 2005.

Next comes Philosophy of the World, from In Bed With My Brother, running from 11–13 March. Created by Nora Alexander, Dora Lynn and Kat Cory, it takes inspiration from The Shaggs and their famously divisive 1969 album.

The company attempts to wrestle the band’s story into a three-act biopic, with feminist reclamation, high-intensity dance, questionable mime, cheap wigs and philosophical detours along the way. Somewhere amid that glorious-sounding commotion are questions about power, ownership and who gets to decide whether somebody is a legend or a loser.

The production’s honours include a 2025 Scotsman Fringe First. I suspect its wigs won’t be the only things doing some heavy lifting.

There’s also Outside Eyes on 17 March, offering audiences a look at performances in their early stages, alongside continuing creative and community engagement opportunities for artists, young people, schools and local communities.

And there’s a birthday worth marking. The Tron’s Pay It Forward scheme began in 2016, helping people experiencing disadvantage attend a Tron Theatre Company production or panto for free. Its tenth-anniversary campaign continues into 2027, with nearly 5,000 people from more than 90 charities and community groups having received tickets over the past decade.

Suggested £10 donations will help the scheme welcome more people. Behind those figures are thousands of individual evenings at the theatre, and I’m glad to see that work getting its moment in the spotlight.

For performances, ticket availability and booking, visit the Tron Theatre website or call 0141 552 4267. Listed prices include £17 for Snuff, £22 for Celtic Connections, and £20–£27 for When Prophecy Fails, The Ferry and Philosophy of the World. Private Lives previews are £17, with the main run priced at £20–£27.

That’s my spring postbag delivered: complicated love, dangerous promises, musical rebellion and an appointment with the apocalypse. Best check the diary before agreeing to anything else.