Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre is staging Matthew Dunster‘s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, designed by Paul Wills. The show is running from 24 February to 27 March. The RET tells us “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Winston Smith rewrites history for the Ministry of Truth, but when he’s handed a note that says simply ‘I love you’ by a woman he hardly knows, he decides to risk everything in a search for the real truth. In a world where cheap entertainment keeps the proles ignorant but content, where a war without end is always fought and the government is always watching, can Winston possibly hold onto what he feels inside? Or will he renounce everything, accept the Party’s reality and learn to love Big Brother? This is a world premiere of Matthew Dunster’s sensual and sinister adaptation of George Orwell’s classic.” Dunster is also directing.
Show times are 7:30PM Monday through Friday, 8PM on Saturdays, with matinees on Wednesdays at 2:30PM and Saturdays at 4PM. There will also be an after-show discussion on 18 March. Ticket prices range from £8.50 to £29.50. For more information, see this page.
The theatre itself is “one of the most exciting architectural achievements in the country, built within one of the Manchester’s most prestigious historic buildings—the former Cotton Exchange and once the largest room for commerce in the world. The theatre is a seven-sided steel and glass module that squats within the Great Hall of the Manchester Royal Exchange. It is a pure theatre in the round in which the stage area is surrounded on all sides, and above, by seating. The theatre can seat up to 700 people on three levels, making it the largest theatre in the round in Britain. There are 400 seats at ground level in a raked configuration, above which lie two galleries, each with 150 seats set in two rows. As the floor of the Exchange would not be able to take the great weight of the theatre and its audience, the module is suspended from four massive columns that also carry the hall’s central dome. Only the stage area and ground-level seating rest on the floor of the hall itself.”