The first season of theatre commissioned by Home, Manchester’s new centre for visual arts, theatre and film, is being overseen by Walter Meierjohann, the venue’s new artistic director for theatre.
The site-specific season will also introduce new production partners to the Manchester theatre scene, whilst making temporary homes in different parts of the city.
Angel Meadow, opening June 10, explores the predominantly Irish, Victorian slum that occupied Ancoats, “a sordid hell on earth at the centre of the industrial world, populated by red-eyed scuttling gangs and girl rippers”.
It is brought into a contemporary context by Dublin’s multi-award-winning ANU Productions hailed by the Irish Times as making the “most searing work of the past decade.”
In September, Meierjohann directs his own promenade production of Romeo and Juliet in Manchester’s Victoria Baths. The three atmospheric empty swimming pools will be transformed, designed by Ti Green, who was responsible for the recent Orlando at the Royal Exchange. The drama is retold as a contemporary fairytale set in a criminal underworld of Eastern Europe and is inspired by its stories, music and film.
From October, the theatre team’s temporary home will be on the second floor of Number One First Street, the office building overlooking the new Home site. The space was used in 2012 with the Library Theatre Company’s production of Jackie Kay’s Manchester Lines.
In October, The Actors Touring Company production, The Events, will be staged in this space. Featuring local choirs from Manchester, David Greig’s new play asks how far forgiveness can go in the face of atrocity.
October will also feature Best of BE Festival, three highlights from this year’s Birmingham European Festival.
Later in the season, the re:play Festival will continue the tradition set by the Library Theatre Company, bringing the best of Manchester’s fringe theatre to a wider audience.