CityLife

Royal Exchange's spring/summer season

THE Royal Exchange announces the second half of their 30th anniversary season with two world premiéres, a modern American classic, and tales of gender bending in 10th century France. There's also the return of Pete Postlethwaite to play Prospero in Shakespeare's final and most theatrical of plays, The Tempest.

The season opens with a production of Edward Albee's modern American classic, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Martha and George are a bitter, erudite couple, who invite a new college professor and his wife to their home after a faculty party. Long- buried resentment and rage is unleashed in a whirl of verbal sparring, and by the night's end, the secrets of both couples are uncovered, the lies they cling to dramatically exposed.

Sarah Frankcom will direct this production which runs from March 14 to April 21 next year.

Brainy and beautiful Leonide loves gorgeous and gullible Prince Agis. All she has to do now is to get past his uncle, the austere philosopher Hermocrates and his equally chilling aunt Leontine, who have lived their lives by one simple rule, that love is ruinous! Written in 1732 by Pierre Mariavaux, the theatrical darling of Louis XV's glittering court, The Triumph of Love has been described as "the 18th century equivalent of a Joe Orton comedy, erotic and sexually charged with cross-dressing princesses, mistaken identity and misplaced desires".

Braham Murray directs this production, which he has adapted with Katherine Sand (April 24 to May 19).

The Tempest was Shakespeare's final play and the noble magician Prospero - clever, mysterious, in charge of the elements, spirits and the fates of those around him - is often regarded as characterisation of the playwright himself.

From May 23, M.E.N. Theatre Award-winning Pete Postlethwaite will return to The Theatre to play the role. Greg Hersov, who last worked with Pete in the theatre's 25th anniversary production of The Homecoming, will direct the production, running until July 7.

As part of the Manchester International Festival, the season concludes with two new plays which were both the winners of The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition for The Royal Exchange.

In Pretend You Have Big Buildings, written by Ben Musgrave, it is 1994 and buildings are rising in the Docklands.

But marooned miles to the east, half-in and half-out of London, Romford has not been invited to the party. In a family that doesn't understand him, Leon is having trouble working out who he's meant to be, while Danny arrives from India to claim the glorious inheritance his father promised him, to be sorely disappointed.

The friendship they forge has painful implications for all around them, in a play that explores growing up, identity and loss. Jo Combes and Sarah Frankcom will co-direct this production (July 11 to August 4).

In the Studio will be Monster, by Duncan Macmillan. In an attempt to save their relationship, Tom and Jodi have left the city and begun again in a small town. Soon, Jodi is pregnant and Tom has started a new job in the local school.

But their new life is turned upside down by Darryl, a disruptive student with an obsession with violence. As Tom's struggle to get Darryl into a special unit increasingly becomes an obsession, his neglect of his wife seems to be headed towards tragic consequences. Dates of this production are to be confirmed.

More information from 0161 833 9833.