We take a look at some of the studio shows and special events coming up over the next few months:

The Lady’s Not For Walking Like An Egyptian
Thursday 9th April – Saturday 11th April
Commissioned by Ovalhouse and presented by innovative theatre makers Mar.tarrab this joyful romp of a show Written and performed by Rachel Mars and nat tarrab, crosses the words of Margaret Thatcher’s speeches with all the words of every top ten hit by a female artist from the 1980s. Audiences are invited to join a quest to understand pop culture, politics, the power of love and discover what the 80s ever did for us.

 

The Bullet And the Bass Trombone
Friday 1 May – Saturday 2 May
A fascinating new performance piece from Bristol-based Sleepdogs, written and performed by Timothy X Attack and directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya.  Tthe show is a modern hymn to people and places now lost, and has an intricate, fractured narrative and haunting soundtrack. A concert orchestra is trapped in a city during a military coup. As violence erupts, the orchestra becomes separated. The composer is left to tell the story.

 

Cuddles
Tuesday 19 May – Saturday 23 May
The stunning debut play from Capital award-winning young playwright Joseph Wilde presented by Ovalhouse and Arch 468.  The action of this gothic tale centres on 13-year-old vampire Eva. She lives in a world without sunlight. A world where Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins and the cast of Dante’s Inferno are real; where princes with adjectives instead of names seduce beautiful princesses against the odds. A world crammed full of story book characters but with just one living, breathing human being to cuddle.

 

Confirmation
Wednesday 27 May – Saturday 30 May
The critically acclaimed 2014 Fringe First winning show, written and performed by Chris Thorpe and developed and directed by Rachel Chavkin comes to The Royal Exchange Theatre Studio.  Presented by Warwick Arts Centre and China Plate, the show is about gulfs we can’t talk across and the way we choose to see only the evidence that proves we’re right. Exploring the phenomenon of confirmation bias, it is an attempt to have an honourable dialogue with political extremism – to find out why we believe what we do and how we can end up so far apart.

 

Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone
Friday 12 June – Saturday 13 June
Presented by Newcastle-based international theatre company Greyscale, and written and directed by Selma Dimitrijvic, the show is an investigation into what happens when we discover that our parents are flawed human beings, and that at some point, sooner than we think, they are suddenly going to disappear from our lives.  It is an intimate and funny exploration of the fascinating relationship between a thirty-something daughter and her ageing mother. Their honest, frank and familiar exchanges range from the everyday: tea, travel, boyfriends and more tea; to the truth of their seemingly tense relationship – a lifetime of conversations, condensed into one hour.

 

YOU, THE AUDIENCE – the Exchange’s year-long audience collaborative adventure which began this season – weaves through the programme for Spring Summer 2015. An epic conversation and a celebration of audiences, it explores the special relationship between the work that is made and the people it is made for.

 

The company is currently gathering a remarkable collection of opinions and ideas from some of the 2,000 people who helped to kick-start the project at the recent Fun Palace Open Day. The Spring Summer Season’s events will include a weekend of outdoor theatre and A NIGHT AT THE THEATRE, a giant sleepover in The Theatre and the Great Hall.

 

And launching in Spring this year, OPEN EXCHANGE will offer a series of attachments, master-classes and other development opportunities as part of the Exchange’s commitment to the next generation of artists and theatre makers.  Artists will have the chance to explore, play and collaborate with mentoring and support from professional teams and access to new rehearsal spaces.

 

You may also be interested in:

In Review: Crocodiles at the Royal Exchange Theatre
In Review: 1956 Theatre presents Sexual Perversity in Chicago
In Interview: Amy-Jane Ollies, Artistic Director of the 1956 Theatre

Royal Exchange Theatre.  image credit University of Salford Press Office/flickr under creative commons licence.