A Night at the Theatre
Photo by Joel Fildes
A Night At The Theatre invited 100 Royal Exchange Theatre audience members to take to the stage for a night of bespoke entertainment, lively discussion, workshops, candle-lit stories, a midnight feast and maybe a bit of shut-eye… This was a creative opportunity to have intimate, great conversation with audiences and to share thoughts and feelings about what theatre is for and what audiences want it to be.
The evening included Me, The Audience: a puppetry workshop with a difference led by artist Johnny Woodhams, Conversation starters: What is the relationship between theatre and its audience? Discussions and provocations, with contributions from Lyn Gardner, Andrew Haydon and Sarah Frankcom. Lullaby: A brand new lullaby composed and performed by Jason Singh and the Sacred Sounds Choir. It’s Not Just Sitting In The Dark With Strangers: An onstage event in which audience members collectively shared their stories and memories about theatre, informally, by torchlight. Bedtime Story: A specially commissioned bedtime story written by Chris Thorpe and read by Maxine Peake . Ghost Tours: A ghostly prowl backstage in the dark led by members of The Ghost Train company.
“While I was in Manchester last week I went to the Royal Exchange’s A Night at the Theatre, which is part of a longer-term and imaginative audience-engagement initiative examining the invisible contract between a theatre building and its audience, kickstarting conversations around what a theatre is and might be. A Night at the Theatre was exactly what the title suggests: a dusk-to-dawn sleepover in the theatre…… It was a terrific evening, driven by the proposition that if it really is your theatre, why shouldn’t you sleep there? After all, that’s what you do at home.”
“That was all in all one of the best, most uplifting, joyous, thought-provoking, moving nights I’d had in a theatre in a bloody long time. There was something particularly special about the relationship that the Royal Exchange seemed to have with its audience and the care and respect with which it treated them. Properly remarkable, special stuff.”
Photo by Joel Fildes