On Sunday February 24, The Rivals Bar at The Royal Exchange will be hosting actress Julie Hesmondhalgh reading excerpts from her new book, A Working Diary, followed by a Q&A.
It begins in November 2016 at the end of a full year of theatre-making with her company Take Back, which fell between starring in the award-winning play Wit at The Royal Exchange and filming a third series of ITV's Broadchurch.
The diary begins as Julie prepares to rehearse with Mike Leigh for Peterloo and takes in her experiences of working in film, TV and radio drama against a backdrop of huge political changes—as well as the terrible events at Manchester Arena—and balancing her family life.
She explained, “it was a huge honour to be asked to write a diary of my working life as part of the Theatre Makers series for Methuen Drama at Bloomsbury. I couldn’t have anticipated what a full and varied year of work it would be, and how many huge changes would take place in the world at that time. I hope that there’s a bit of something for everyone in the book."