A co-production of a landmark play by Arthur Miller, a major revival of a Stephen Sondheim classic (in partnership with West Yorkshire Playhouse), a new production of a Victoria Wood play with songs and the world première of the latest Simon Stephens play are among the highlights of the newly-announced Manchester Royal Exchange 2013 / 14 Season.
The season kicks off with Miller’s masterpiece All My Sons—a co-production with Talawa Theatre Company—September 25 to October 26.
Set in 1947, the play centres on Joe and Kate Keller, an all-American couple who have the ghosts of World War II living in their own backyard.
The season continues with the Exchange joining forces with West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds to present a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical theatre classic Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (November 1 to November 30).
This is followed by That Day We Sang by Victoria Wood, which premièred as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2011 but is now reinvented and re-orchestrated for the Exchange’s unique space.
It’s wrapped around a 1929 recording by a Manchester children’s choir (December 5 to January 18).
The season concludes with the world première of Blindsided by Simon Stephens, which runs from January 23 to February 15.
The drama centres on a girl growing up in a battered part of Stockport at the end of the 70s.
The cast includes Julie Hesmondhalgh, best known for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street and who last appeared at the Exchange in Black Roses: The Killing Of Sophie Lancaster (for which she recently won a Manchester Theatre Award).
Full details of the new season in The Studio at the Exchange are still to be announced but highlights include There Has Possibly Been An Incident by Chris Thorpe, and the world première of Edmund The Learned Pig by Mike Kenny.