CityLife

Preview: Royal Exchange Theatre - 2011 season

Directors Braham Murray, Sarah Frankcom and Greg Hersov

The Royal Exchange’s next season, running from February to August next year, boasts work by Noel Coward, Brad Fraser, Arthur Miller and Shakespeare.

“I suppose you could say what links them is that they are four of the Exchange’s best-loved writers, who we’ve championed in quite different ways over the years,” believes artistic director Greg Hersov, whose own take on the Bard’s As You Like It comes late on in the season, running from June 29 to August 6.

The season opens on February 16 with Noel Coward’s Private Lives, directed by Michael Buffong and running until April 9. Brad Fraser’s latest play 5@50 follows, directed by Braham Murray and running from April 13 to May 14, with Sarah Frankcom directing the Arthur Miller classic A View From The Bridge from May 18-June 25.

“It’s quite a tribute to Brad Fraser, who’s obviously the only living writer there, that we’ve done something like seven productions of his work over 15  years. I’m sure he’d be happy to find himself in the company of Noel Coward especially,” Greg grins.

“Obviously we like to do a season that has a lot of different experiences, both in terms of substance but also theatrical excitement for the audience. Basically, this is a season saying ‘we like our writers’ and we do put on great writing, whether it’s old or new.”

Noel Coward’s sparkling comedy Private Lives kicks off the season.

“We enjoy doing Noel Coward at the Exchange as someone who obviously gives great pleasure to audiences. We’ve also always thought that, in the round, his plays become far more immediate, vivid and exciting to watch. You get away from that traditional way of seeing Noel Coward and it always feels as if there’s a potential for something to be released that’s fresh and interesting,” he believes.

“Private Lives is his greatest play and we’re really pleased that Michael Buffong has said he’d like to direct it. I believe Michael’s Raisin In The Sun was one of the great productions our company has ever done and he’s done some other really remarkable productions, like Six Degrees Of Separation.

“Perhaps people will be surprised that he’s opted to direct Coward but that’s to the good. All the things we think of in Coward as almost traditional, even as tired and stuffy, were actually completely untraditional at the time he introduced them. The reason great plays endure is because they were radical at the time and the test of any new production is if you can get that freshness there.”

Which brings us on to ever-iconoclastic Canadian writer Brad Fraser.

“What’s really interesting about this play is that it’s about five women,” enthuses Greg of 5@50. “They are friends, and one of them, who’s in a relationship, is having a bit of a crisis. So it’s basically about what happens to all the friends who are trying to be friends about it. It’s fascinating because it’s Brad writing a woman’s play, in a way, and specifically about the struggles of a particular generation.

“It’s interesting how his work has broadened over the years. True Love Lies, for instance, was a play about a family and incredibly popular, in the best sense of that word. It feels that people are really enjoying the plays Brad’s writing now, with that mixture he’s got of being provocative and entertaining and and modern.

“It keeps changing, so I don’t want to say too much, but people have been saying that it’s the ‘cleanest’ play Brad has written, as regards language and nudity. But there’s quite a lot of wild behaviour and you don’t often get a play with five such thundering good parts for women so the casting for that’ll be interesting.”

Greg himself directed A View From The Bridge, along with several other Miller plays, ‘a long time ago,’ he laughs. But the new Exchange production will be directed by Sarah Frankcom, whose M.E.N Award-winning Punk Rock is currently wowing them on a national tour.

“He’s a great writer for the Exchange, particularly his big plays in our space, where you can get a real sense of their power and energy, of their drive. What’s interesting about Miller in our space is, because you can’t do any of the obvious ways of staging them, that automatically makes them into something alive and different.

“I’m pleased the theatre is getting back to them and I don’t have to sit here on my legacy.

“One of the great things Miller said about theatre is that you can go into a play and come out feeling less alone. People relate to the humanity of his plays and I think they’ve always seemed to have some sort of special connection with audiences here in the north west.”

As regards his own direction of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Greg simply observes: “We’ve always liked doing Shakespeare here and felt a bit like the Exchange is a modern Globe structure. As a director, I always feel as if you have a life-long relationship with Shakespeare. You might not think about that for quite a long time, you can have a bust-up and separate but you always want to be trying your chops out with Shakespeare.

“It’s the first one I’ve done since The Tempest and I’ve always liked it since I first read it at school when I was 15. So it’s one that feels like it has always been with me, although I do slightly distrust directors who say ‘I want to do every Shakespeare’. I don’t think you do, I think there are some you want to do because they are about things you’re interested in.

“As You Like It is about a world where things don’t work and then you go somewhere else, a rather mysterious place, and things come together. So that makes it quite a good play to do at this time.

“It’s about all kinds of serious things but it’s joyful and uplifting. So it’s good that it’ll be on during the summer and that during the Manchester International Festival we’re doing a major Shakespeare when everyone’s enjoying theatre in Manchester.”

» You can get more information about booking arrangements from 0161 833 9833.