Royal Exchange Archives - North West End UK

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

16Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Dancing at Lughnasa – Royal Exchange Theatre

Writer Brian Friel is universally regarded as one of the leading figures in English language drama, a reputation which seems to grow with every passing year since he died in 2015. The style of his work, examining the transitional culture and politics in Irish society in the 20th Century, has drawn serious comparisons with Miller, Williams and especially Anton Chekhov. This Autumn, in a continuation of their recent return to form, the Royal Exchange has teamed up with The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to produce a spellbinding production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’, Friel’s exploration of his memories of growing up in rural 1930s Ireland. The comparisons of Friel with Chekhov are a serious one; both writers work is set in communities on the cusp of radical change from rural to industrial ec...

19Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dancing at Lughnasa – Crucible Theatre

Riveting and far reaching, a masterclass of storytelling. The Sheffield Theatres and Royal Exchange Theatre Production of Dancing at Lughnasa is inspired by its renown writer’s own life and Brian Friel’s powerful play is given an outstanding outing by the new Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Elizabeth Newman. Newman’s vision is crisp, captivating and concise, disregarding sentimentality and instead allowing the audience to witness the societal change on a generation with great intricacy and care. It is harvest time in 1936, rural Donegal, Ireland and we meet the five unmarried Mundy sisters. Their lives are marred with hardship yet laced with unfulfilled and often hidden dreams and in one season their mundane lives are changes irrevocably. Enter Uncle Jack, a clergyman of the...

Royal Exchange Announces 50th Anniversary Season

16Sep

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Royal Exchange Announces 50th Anniversary Season

Announcing her first season of work on the 49th birthday of the Theatre, Selina Cartmell, Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, welcomed Sir Tom Courtenay, after 24 years, back to the theatre to celebrate its iconic history alongside a brilliant group of other artists connected to the Exchange, to launch A HOMECOMING - a season that celebrates the theatres past and re-defines its future. A HOMECOMING, Selina Cartmell’s inaugural season for the Royal Exchange’s 50th Anniversary includes: •Selina Cartmell opens the season with ROAD by Jim Cartwright, starring Johnny Vegas, Lucy Beaumont and Shobna Gulati, with a special appearance on film by Sir Tom Courtenay, his 17th time performing at the Exchange since its opening in 1976. •PRIVATE LIVES by Noël Coward directed by Bla...

10Apr

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

Abigail’s Party – Royal Exchange

Most of the packed press night audience will have arrived in the Victorian splendour of the Royal Exchange thinking they had a firm idea of what to expect from their evening’s entertainment. This suburban satire is firmly fixed in the collective theatrical imagination, chiefly thanks to the 1977 televised ‘Play For Today’, which confirmed Mike Leigh as a theatrical auteur and launched the stellar acting career of (his then wife) Alison Steadman. However, with this new production, the Royal Exchange has succeeded in demonstrating the bitter and caustic underbelly of this ‘puckish satire on contemporary mores’ without losing the humour at its heart. Director Natalie Abrahami decides to transpose the action in place but not in time, so we are presented with our Richmond Road setting in sub...

Brennan Reece: Me Me Me – Royal Exchange

23Mar

By Kathryn GortonNo Comments

North West

Brennan Reece: Me Me Me – Royal Exchange

Playing to a sold out , home crowd of family , friends and fans of this extremely popular, highly likeable and extremely watchable home grown Manc comedian on a Friday night at the beautiful Royal Exchange was Brennan Reece. What a brilliant venue and I was interested how he’d play to the audience in the round but he absolutely revelled in it and worked every curve as he assessed his audience and fed off their laughter. With three supporting acts to open and warm up the crowd was the ‘ intense eyed ‘ Larry Dean whose manic expressions, quick patter and physical comedy, Norman Wisdomesque face pulling and self analysis of his Autism making him conclude that all his previous relationships were gas lighters had me howling. Next, was Tito Giacotto, an ex-professional Sicilia...

Escaped Alone & What If If Only – Royal Exchange

13Feb

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Escaped Alone & What If If Only – Royal Exchange

Caryl Churchill has been feted amongst the theatrical fraternity for over half a century. Through her associations with The Royal Court and Joint Stock companies and their exploration of feminist themes and sexual identity, she was in the vanguard of gender politics, her style of writing and staging drawing comparisons with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. My exposure to her work has been limited to a production of ‘The Skriker’ at this theatre for the Manchester International Festival a decade ago, so I was keen to delve deeper into her worldview with this presentation of two of her later works as a double bill. Photo: Johan Persson Helmed by Sarah Frankcom, who, as the acclaimed former Artistic Director of this theatre, knows the opportunities and pitfalls of directing in this uni...

29Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Spend Spend Spend – Royal Exchange

Viv Nicholson is a pretty obscure name in British popular culture nowadays, perhaps the odd fan of 80’s indie darlings The Smiths would recognise her as the brassy blonde staring out aggressively from the front cover of ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, her real claim to fame having been gradually consigned to the dustbin of history. However, back in 1964, when she and her husband Keith won £152,319 (the equivalent of £4.3 million today) on the football pools, she could reasonable lay claim to have been as famous in the UK as The Beatles or Harold Wilson. This festive season, The Royal Exchange have mounted a joyous revival of ‘Spend Spend Spend’ the 1998 musical by the late Steve Brown and Justin Greene, exploring Viv’s rise, fall and redemption, and in a cracking return to...

The Importance of Being Earnest – Royal Exchange

20Jun

By NewsdeskNo Comments

North West

The Importance of Being Earnest – Royal Exchange

When a play is so ubiquitous that most people with even a passing interest in the Arts have seen a theatrical production or filmed version of it, anyone thinking of purchasing a ticket should always ask themselves the question ‘Why bother?’ Fortunately, the Summer offering from the Royal Exchange provides the answer, giving a fresh, funny and resolutely modern take on this classic which should serve to please both new audiences and Wildean purists equally. Director Josh Roche and Designer Eleanor Bull initially present us with a stunning visual treat, the set taking its inspiration from the floral displays in a plethora of shops and coffee houses that infest our modern world. Suspended from the ceiling an enormous imitation flower display acts to illustrate the fake nature of the world ...

28Oct

By Alison BainesNo Comments

North West

Let The Right One In – Royal Exchange

Is there anything better than settling in to watch a horror film around Halloween time? Well, how about heading to the theatre to see a spine-tingling horror right in front of your eyes… even better right? The Royal Exchange have done it again, bringing to life a stage adaptation of a novel with great flair, vibrancy and talent. The horror fans out there might recognise the title: Let The Right One In from the Swedish novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist, a vampire horror/romantic tale with blood, guts, gore and heart. What more could you want? Oskar is a shy boy, suffering due to the reign of terror from school bully’s Jonny and Micke. He meets Eli, a mysterious girl who just moved in next door. Oskar is taken by her enigmatic presence; they quickly become friends and begin to fa...

The Glass Menagerie – Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

8Sep

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

The Glass Menagerie – Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Thomas 'Tennessee' Williams is widely regarded as one of the great American playwrights, the quality and extent of his output in the middle of the last century ensuring that his work still continues to form a staple diet for professional and amateur theatre all over the world. The Royal Exchange have chosen his first (and most autobiographical) play to kickstart its Autumn/Winter season, and after recent upheavals and some very odd programming decisions by this Mancunian institution, it is a welcome and sparkling return to form. 'The Glass Menagerie' is famously a 'memory play' told from the flawed perspective of the narrator Tom (Joshua James), unpacking his tense relationship with Mother Amanda Wingfield (Geraldine Somerville) and sister Laura (Rhiannon Clements) as they struggle to m...