Gagarin Way is a play by Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 playwright Gregory Burke

Gregory Burke

Gregory Burke is a Scottish playwright from Rosyth, Fife, Scotland.-Life:His family moved to Gibraltar in 1979 and returned to Dunfermline in 1984. He attended St John's Primary in Rosyth, St Christopher's Middle School in Gibraltar, Bayside Comprehensive, Gibraltar and St Columba's High School,...

, named after a street in the West Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

 village of Lumphinnans

Lumphinnans

Lumphinnans is a small village, placed between the larger towns of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly in central Fife.Lumphinnans is a small community, consisting of no more than half a dozen streets. There are few amenities including a pub, a shop, and a Chinese takeaway...

, on the edge of Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is 5 miles north-east of Dunfermline and 18 miles north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a Police Burgh in 1890...

. The play documents the disappearance of socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 from an area where political radicalism was once a defining characteristic of the population. Gagarin Way debuted at the Traverse Theatre

Traverse Theatre

The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...

, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, in July 2001, before transferring to the National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

in London. It was translated into 20 languages and toured the world.