Royal Exchange celebrates 50th birthday

Actress Jade Anouka in the steel structure of the Royal Exchange "module" to model one of several costumes in the exhibition. Pic: Lucy Ridges

Manchester's iconic Royal Exchange Theatre 50th birthday celebrations will include a major costume exhibition and a series of conversations featuring major theatre figures such as Simon Stephens and David Threlfall

The costume exhibition, titled Mythic Reinvention: an exhibition celebrating 50 years of costume and craft, will run from September 16-November 15, while the conversations - Exchanging Stories - come up on September 12-13 and the birthday itself, September 15, will be marked by special gala.

The free public exhibition, curated by international award-winning designer Leslie Travers, will be preceded by the live conversations, which will look back at the venue’s design and craft expertise, explore the origins of the venue’s unique space and its key role in shaping the UK’s current theatre ecosystem.

The exhibition, in the huge foyer surrounding the still-unique steel and glass theatre, will feature pieces from past productions and provide insights into the work of the theatre’s costume department from the artists who created some of the theatre most famous shows.

Audiences will be able to discover costumes worn by Dame Helen Mirren, Don Warrington, Andrew Garfield, Sir Tom Courtenay, Maxine Peake and Suranne Jones among many more.

The conversations will explore what has contributed to making the Exchange such a stand-alone venue over five decades. Award-winning actor David Threllfall will talk to acclaimed director Matthew Dunster ahead of their star/director partnership on King Lear this autumn; Rory Mullarkey, whose Even These Things premiered at the venue in May; Simon Stephens, Daisy Miles and Tolu Okanlawon will discuss the Exchange’s legacy of new writing, which launched the careers of some of the world's most influential current playwrights, and the Exchange's crucial role in shaping the UK's theatre ecology. Victoria Turner from Levitt Bernstein, the architects behind the venue, and artistic director/co-CEO Selina Cartmell, will look back on the transformation of one of the world's largest rooms into a home for a theatre, and how the extraordinary "module" structure came about. Award-winning set and costume designer Leslie Travers and the Royal Exchange’s head of costume, Tracy Dunk, will talk about the making of the Mythic Reinvention exhibition and the stories behind the extraordinary costumes and objects from the theatre archives. 

Full dates and times here