Blend of old and new bring seasonal treats
●»SPRING/SUMMER SEASON 2024 AT THE ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE
THE season is one to look forward to with plays from awardwinning writers and contemporary directors.
These classic plays are retold with fresh perspectives, examining the continuing relevance of these important pieces of writing for audiences today, while original new drama highlights how powerful playwriting can be in exploring our world today.
Shed: Exploded View, February 9 - March 2
This stunning new play was the 2019 winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.
A delicately woven tapestry about violence, love and loss, brought to the stage by award-winning director Atri Banerjee. Three couples.
Thirty years.
Mothers and daughters. Lovers, partners, husbands and wives. Babies, teenagers, birthdays, holidays, honeymoons, terrorist attacks, fireworks, nearmisses, rain. This is a play about all of it.
The smallest tremble. A smashed glass. The ripping apart of space and time.
An explosion.
Phoebe Eclair-powell’s stunning new play was the 2019 winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.
A Taste Of Honey, 14-plus, March 15 - April 13
This sharply observed portrait of working-class life in Salford in the late 1950s was a daring piece of theatre, not only for its gritty realism and honesty, but also for placing two resilient women at the centre of the drama.
A stunning portrayal of the complex bond between a mother and daughter who, despite their sharp bickering, are both holding on for that Taste of Honey.
Helen has done it again, another fly-by-night flit dragging Jo from one Salford flat to another, only this time she has outdone herself, giving her daughter panoramic views of the slaughterhouse.
But Jo can feel her mum’s restlessness, another man will appear and lure her away and Jo will be left to fend for herself, so when Jimmie offers to stay for Christmas Jo is swept up in his charm and the promise of escape - no matter how precarious that may be.
Shelagh Delaney’s iconic play is directed by Emma Baggott.
Emma said: “I am delighted to be directing the RET forthcoming production of A Taste of Honey. It was one of the first texts I studied as a teenager and has long lived in my head and heart.
“I have always been inspired by Delaney’s radical and courageous decision to centre working class women at the centre of her drama and not as subordinate to the interests of male characters.
“Delaney makes all of her characters in her play extraordinary by placing them centre stage.
“It is a real privilege to be directing this play at the RET, a stone’s throw away from Salford where Delaney was born.”
Sweat, 12-plus, April 26 - May 25
Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer-prize, Sweat is a sweeping state-of-thenation play that embraces huge political and economic ideas in a magnificent gritty social drama and is a perfect match for Manchester’s industrial, unionised roots.
Lynn Nottage’s stunning writing pits friend against friend as social and racial tensions, once buried by a sense of solidarity, soon rise to the surface in this breath-taking drama.
Tracey and Cynthia are best friends and, after 20 years on the factory floor, their friendship is ingrained with the sweat of shared manual labour.
Together, in this small Pennsylvanian town, they have celebrated birthdays, stood firm for each other and laughed until they cried.
But as fat-cat factory owners look for cheaper options, where unions are no trouble and employees will work for less, these women are about to have the rug pulled out from under everything they know.
This 2017 Pulitzer-prize winning drama, directed by Jade Lewis, is destined to be an American classic.
Director Jade Lewis said: “Sweat gives a voice to the people, highlighting lives, dreams and experiences of the ordinary person with such nuance and complexity.”
The Importance Of Being Earnest, 12-plus, June 14 - July 20
This timeless tale of identity, opulence and sharp-tongued wit follows the lives of the rich and ridiculous, all looking for something to do, someone to love and somewhere to belong.
This brilliantly fun, agedefying comedy is perfect for summer.
For Jack and Algernon, being young and rich isn’t easy. In fact, being swathed in luxury is, well... depressing.
Tired of the never-ending soirees and penthouse shindigs, they escape their anxious existence (and Lady Bracknell) in the pursuit of love, real love, like, proper adult, IRL love, all under the guise of the ever-enigmatic Ernest.
But love isn’t as easy as it seems.
After all, Cecily and Gwendolyn have standards, not to mention a peculiar passion for the name of Ernest...
Oscar Wilde’s legendary, quintessential comedy, directed by Josh Roche, receives a dazzling makeover.
Josh said: “Bringing any of Oscar Wilde’s plays to the Royal Exchange in 2023 is a privilege. He is a writer who constantly balances empathy with satire, reminding us how ridiculous we are, while also understanding our need to feel profound.
“I also think his plays are finding relevance at the moment. Wilde’s society of 1893 is disturbingly similar to our own in 2023.
“However, what’s particularly exciting about bringing Earnest into the Royal Exchange is how well this modern space suits this classic play - a uniquely social, free and dynamic theatre for a timeless comedy of profound triviality.”