Beverley Knight plays Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing as Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre Company sets out an eight-show 2027-28 season with four world premieres, among them Simon Stephens' The First Blue Thing, and reopens its Studio.
Manchester's Royal Exchange has put its 2027-28 season on sale. Eight productions run from March 2027 to March 2028, four of them world premieres, and the theatre's 100-seat Studio reopens in April for the first time since March 2020. Priority booking is open now. General sale starts at 12 noon on Thursday 22 October, with tickets from £12.
The company is also going back to its first name. It now works as the Royal Exchange Theatre Company, and this is the second season programmed by artistic director and co-CEO Selina Cartmell. With the Studio back in use, the 750-seat in-the-round main house can start a refurbishment of its auditorium ahead of the summer.
First, the 50th anniversary year has one more show to play. Shooters, the debut play by 2025 Bruntwood Prize winner Tolu Okanlawon, closes it in February 2027, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Faith Healer opens the new season in the Theatre, 20 March - 18 April 2027, with press night on 24 March. Emma Baggott directs Brian Friel's play of faith, doubt and one disputed August night in a pub in Ballybeg. Baggott is Welsh, and she frames the production around the Celtic storytelling tradition in Friel's writing. Peter Butler designs set and costumes, with lighting by Sinéad McKenna.
Talking to Boys is the first show back in the Studio, 8 April - 8 May 2027, press night 13 April. Abbi Greenland's play was shortlisted for the 2025 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and gets its world premiere under Sam Pritchard. It follows one woman through fourteen conversations with the men in her life, from the playground to the empty nest.
R Lady's follows it into the Studio, 13 May - 5 June 2027, press night 18 May. Mancunian writer Daisy Miles won the Original New Voice award in the 2025 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting's North West strand with it. The world premiere, directed by Elin Schofield, is set among the children of Lady's Catholic Primary School in Stockport, where playground games turn into a fight for control.
RIOT gets its UK premiere in the Theatre, 27 May - 6 June 2027, press night 28 May, after ten years playing internationally. THISISPOPBABY's show mixes theatre, circus, comic acrobatics, monologues and dance into a single night out. Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon created and direct it. Panti Bliss, Emmet Kirwan, Lords of Strut and The Sirens lead the company, with a different surprise guest at every performance. Choreography is by Suzanne Cleary and Peter Harding of Up & Over It, costumes by James McGlynn Seaver and set by Niall Sweeney.
The First Blue Thing is the summer world premiere, 18 June - 25 July 2027, press night 24 June. Manchester-born Simon Stephens, also the writer of An Ark for Factory International, moves the Greek myth of Phaedra into a cluttered Edwardian family house in present-day Stockport. Cartmell directs it as part of Manchester International Festival 2027, in association with Factory International. Leslie Travers designs set and costumes, Lee Curran the lighting and Ian Dickinson the sound.
Much Ado About Nothing brings Beverley Knight to the Royal Exchange as Beatrice, 17 September - 24 October 2027, press night 23 September. The Olivier winner, whose credits include the UK tour of Sylvia, joins a co-production with Talawa Theatre Company. Michael Buffong directs and moves Shakespeare's comedy to Trinidad in the years just after the Second World War.
Guys and Dolls is the Christmas show, 19 November 2027 - 9 January 2028, press night 25 November. Natalie Abrahami directs a new production of the Frank Loesser musical, with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows based on the stories of Damon Runyon. Expect gamblers, Hot Box showgirls and missionaries in 1950s New York, plus Luck Be a Lady and Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.
Munichs closes the season, 28 January - 12 March 2028, press night 4 February 2028. Ben Power adapts David Peace's novel about the Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 and the lives it changed, from survivors and families to players, journalists and supporters. Cartmell directs the world premiere, which marks 70 years since the crash.
Cartmell said: "The Royal Exchange was built on the limitless possibilities of exchange and on the bold and ambitious spirit that defines our home city. As the world's eyes turn to Manchester, I'm thrilled to announce a season that captures the imagination, shifting perspectives, energy and originality of the North while declaring our international ambition."
The theatre is also replacing its playwriting competition with the Bruntwood Prize for North West Playwriting. From 2027 it is open to writers at any stage who were born or live in the North West. Winners and runners-up receive funding, development and dramaturgical support, and a place in the Studio community. Entry details follow in autumn 2027.
For more information, visit the official website.
