CREATIVE company New Playhouse opened doors to its first temporary theatre earlier this month, after converting an empty shop unit at The Great Northern Warehouse into a 100-seat capacity black-box space.
"We want people to start recognising theatre as more than just going to sit down to watch a play you studied in school; it’s an immersive night out."
Commencing on Tuesday 2 October with Manchester Theatre Showcase, the aptly named Great Northern Playhouse is to host eleven varied productions over fifteen weeks until Friday 19 December.
The Great Northern Playhouse is based at the Northern Warehouse
A stand-out performance in the season will be Sherlock Homes: A Working Hypothesis, an original and interactive production written by North Yorkshire playwright Alexander Wright running from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 October.
Described as the biggest and most ambitious show to date by theatre company, The Flanagan Collective, instead of adapting an existing Holmes story, Wright has drawn on elements of Conan Doyle’s famous works and developed a new adventure.
New Playhouse is founded by Jenn Trethewey, a Manchester School of Art graduate who recognised a need for a new mid-sized theatre in the city, having previously ran comedy, theatre, film and music events in Salford.
“We are programming the stuff that we want to see, mid-scale theatres that are currently struggling to find a home in Manchester," said Trethewey.
"We have been given such a brilliant opportunity here to work within a fantastic location and with some great partners. This project is our flagship and we are going all out for it.
Sherlock Holmes: A Working Hypothesis
"We want people to start recognising theatre as more than just going to sit down to watch a play you studied in school; it’s an immersive night out that’s guaranteed to be a completely different experience each time you come in, and it doesn’t have to cost £40 a ticket.
"We’re all about shows with high production values, brilliant casts and quick scripts," Trethewey continued. "We're advocating cutting-edge work that pushes our boundaries. It’s so important that theatre is constantly finding new audiences and new places to perform."
Find tickets and information about perfomances on the New Playhouse website.
231 - 233 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN
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