The Royal Exchange’s 50th anniversary celebrations continue with unmissable theatre programme

This July, the Royal Exchange presents the northern premiere of Fun Home, the Tony Award-winning musical that has captivated audiences worldwide with its warm, funny and deeply affecting exploration of family, identity and memory.

Based on Alison Bechdel’s seminal graphic memoir, the acclaimed production follows the celebrated cartoonist as she revisits her childhood, reflecting on growing up in her family’s funeral home, navigating first love and piecing together the hidden truths that shaped her life.

Returning to the Exchange, Jodie McNee stars as Alison in a new production directed by Sarah Frankcom, marking the twentieth anniversary of Bechdel’s iconic graphic novel in a poignant, witty piece of theatre hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the most important musicals of the 21st century”.

In the autumn, David Threlfall returns to the Royal Exchange after twenty-seven years to take on one of Shakespeare’s most formidable and devastating roles in a powerful new staging of King Lear.

Adapted and directed by Matthew Dunster in his sixth production for the theatre, the raw, tempestuous tragedy charts the collapse of a kingdom where power corrupts, families turn against one another and prosperity gives way to violence and war, all while the titular tyrant loses his grasp on authority, truth and the very meaning of his personhood.

Billed as a distinctive and emotionally charged interpretation of Shakespeare’s masterwork, this adaptation examines the fragile boundary between wisdom and madness as Lear confronts a world in which identity and reality begin to fray beneath gathering storms.

Arriving for the festive period, artistic director Selina Cartmell presents Stephen Sondheim’s exquisite A Little Night Music, a life-affirming and gossamer-light fairy tale for adults packed with wit, longing and one of musical theatre’s best-songs, Send in the Clowns.

Set amid the elegance and romantic whirlwind of turn-of-the-century Sweden, the Tony Award-winning musical follows a cast of mismatched lovers as they waltz through misunderstandings, self-delusions and second chances in pursuit of happiness.

Set to a score brimming with charm, melancholy and humour, this enchanting production promises all the sophistication and emotional gratification that has cemented A Little Night Music as an enduring Sondheim’s masterpiece.

Opening next February, the Royal Exchange stages the world premiere of Shooters, an ambitious new drama from Bruntwood Prize winner Tolu Okanlawon inspired by real events in post-war Harlem.

Set in New York in 1948, the play follows pioneering African American photojournalist Gordon Parks as he attempts to document the lives of a teenage gang for LIFE magazine, standing on the cusp of international acclaim while confronting difficult questions around trust, authenticity and representation.

Propulsive and sweeping in scope, the Shooters explores masculinity, memory and the enduring legacy of one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists, underscored by the timelessly resonant question: who has the right to tell somebody else’s story?