WALK AND TALK

DID YOU eat chip suppers at Laps? Drink coffee at the Kardomah? Play table tennis at a Jewish youth club? An exhibition at the Royal Exchange Theatre accompanying the play of The

Mighty Walzer is designed to bring back memories.

Alex Cropper, curator of the Manchester Jewish Museum (MJM) co-curated the exhibition with Howard Jacobson, who wrote the book on which the play is based. She said: “Howard Jacobson wrote a wonderful piece about what table tennis meant for Jewish boys in Manchester in the 1950s, so that text is wrapped around the walls and then we looked for exhibits from our collection to illustrate his words.” She aimed for a 1950s feel: “Think of your mother’s book case, with trophies and photographs on display.”

Jews first settled in Manchester in the late eighteenth century, and the oldest roots of the community are traced in a series of walks which run from the MJM to the theatre in time for Sunday and Thursday matinee performances on July 17, 22, 24, and 28. Starting at the museum at 10.30am, the walk takes in now defunct schools, synagogues and communal institutions. The MJM itself is housed in a former synagogue on Cheetham Hill Road set up in 1874 by cotton merchants who would have traded at the Royal Exchange long before it became a theatre.

Howard Jacobson will be discussing the novel and the play with writer and lecturer Sherry Ashworth at the theatre on July 11 at 7pm. All these events can be booked through the theatre’s website

www.royalexchange.co.uk.