All About Manchester

The show will go on

As Manchester celebrates 100 years of repertory theatre, a plethora of forthcoming world premieres and innovative festivals point to another 100 years of glorious theatre to come.

Theatre may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think 'Manchester', but the city boasts a very proud theatrical heritage.

It all began at the turn of the 20th century, when Annie Horniman, the daughter of a wealthy tea merchant, came to Manchester to set up the UK's first repertory theatre venue.

Horniman, who had first established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, saw in liberal Manchester a cosy home for new theatre. She founded the Playgoers' Theatre in the iconic Midland Hotel in 1907 and then went on to invest significantly in the theatrical arts in the city.

In 1908, she bought the Gaiety Theatre on Peter Street, which became highly influential in the development of theatre in the 20th century. At a time when most other venues were showing traditional Victorian melodramas or Shakespeare re-runs, the Gaiety introduced audiences to grittier, realist plays that challenged the theatrical status quo.

Gaiety Theatre staged hundreds of plays, many of them debut performances of original works commissioned from local playwrights, including Stanley Houghton's 'Hindle Wakes' and Harold Brighouse's 'Hobson's Choice'.

One hundred years later, Manchester is still the same liberal city that welcomed Annie Horniman in 1907. Eager to lead the country in innovation and open to new ideas, the city is once again emerging as the home of new, original theatre.

Never Forget, which premieres at the Opera House

Manchester has more theatres than any other city outside London - the Royal Exchange, Contact Theatre, Library Theatre, Palace, the Opera House, and the Lyric and the Quays at The Lowry are some of the biggest.

This summer, our theatres are once again putting the city on the global cultural map by presenting some very exciting world premieres.

The Royal Exchange is producing two brand new plays as part of Manchester International Festival, 'Pretend You Have Big Buildings' and 'Monster', while the Opera House hosts the world premiere of the new British musical 'Never Forget'.

Manchester International Festival brings two more theatrical world premieres to Manchester: the groundbreaking circus opera 'Monkey: Journey to the West' at Palace Theatre and an exciting re-mixing of the ancient myth of Orpheus, entitled 'Dead Wedding', at Library Theatre.

But you do not have to set foot inside a theatre to see a world premiere this summer. 24:7 Theatre Festival will be presenting fresh new one-hour plays by new and established writers in non-theatre venues - from hotels to pubs - across Manchester in July.

Pretend You Have Big Buildings, by Ben Musgrave, which has its world premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

And theatre is also taking over the city's parks, with Feelgood Theatre and Heartbreak Productions launching an outdoor repertory season to celebrate repertory theatre's 100th anniversary, with plays including Cry Blue Murder, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Details on all the aforementioned shows can be found in our 'What's On' section, so go, enjoy and remember, you've seen it here first.

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The show will go on

As Manchester celebrates 100 years of repertory theatre, a plethora of forthcoming world premieres and innovative festivals point to another 100 years of glorious theatre to come.