Why I love the Royal Exchange
I went to see The Tempest at the Royal Exchange Theatre on Saturday after seeing it previewed on Channel M News last week. Excellent camera work by John Clarke on that package, by the way.
The play too is excellent. Especially, of course, Pete Postlethwaite.
I love the Royal Exchange. Going there on Saturday reminded me of the first time I went. I saw Robert Lindsay as Hamlet there in the mid-80s when I was doing my A-levels. The whole class travelled all the way from the Isle of Man to see it. In Manchester, we sometimes don't realise how lucky we are to have such good facilities on our doorstep.
I've enjoyed almost everything I've seen there.
After the 1996 bomb, the Exchange moved for some time to Castlefield. During its time there, a Marx Brothers play was staged. Anyway, "Groucho" went into the audience and examined the contents of the pockets of some of the audience.
Among those he chose was a friend of mine. He saw his two spliffs, made a not-too-obvious comment that we understood but the rest of the audience didn't, and returned them. Brilliantly done.