Which of the Trav's five pies will you have with your play?

HAMLET may have claimed '˜the play's the thing', but at the Traverse next week the pie will prove every bit as important.

Scotch Pie

Yes, as the autumn season of A Play, A Pie, And A Pint approaches, the Cambridge Street theatre is determined to ensure lunchtime theatre-goers have more than just the best short plays upon which to feast.

With a choice of no fewer than five different pies, all supplied by The Piemaker on South Bridge, a visit to the theatre has never been tastier.

We can reveal the pies on offer will be the perennial favourite the Scotch pie, a chicken and vegetable pie, a cottage pie, a Macaroni pie (the Vegetarian option) and, for vegans, a vegetable tartlet.

There’s an appetising menu of plays lined up for the next six weeks too and the action kicks off on Tuesday with Outside In by Chris Grady (11-15 September.

Jay hasn’t left his flat in years due to a fear of the outside world... but when a gun is inexplicably posted through his letter box and two unwelcome visitors come knocking, Jay can’t hide any longer.

The following week it’s Tap Dancing with Jean-Paul Sartre by James Runcie (18-22 September.

The Lottery Ticket by Donna Franceschild (25-29 September) is next.

The season of 50 minute bite-sized lunchtime plays continues throughout October with Tipping The Hat by John Bet (2-6 October), Alan Bissett’s It Wisnae Me (9-13 October) and The Last Picture Show by Morag Fullarton (16-20 October).

A Play, A Pie, A Pint, Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 11 September-20 October, 1pm (Fridays 7pm), £13.50 (includes pie and pint of beer/125ml glass of house wine or regular soft drink, coffee or tea, 0131-228 1404