That's why I love Mondays at Manchester's Royal Exchange. If you're under 26, the Royal Exchange offers tickets as part of 'Happy Mondays' (get it?) at just £5 a head and, in comparison to a lot of theatre deals, you can sit where you like (depending on availability, obviously). What's more, they also do a similar deal on Fridays where the first 50 under 26s through the door after noon can pick up tickets for the same price.
This week, I popped down with a few friends to catch one of the last few performances of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, which has been playing throughout May and has, understandably, received glowing reviews - I should add that I've never seen a bad play at the Royal Exchange!
Even if you're not incredibly taken with theatre, it's worth having a look around in the day, simply for the building's history and the pretty unique setup of the theatre. The theatre is part of a set of grade II listed buildings and sits in the great hall of the former Victorian Cotton Exchange, with grand pillars running up to the eves, where cotton prices are still dotted around.
The theatre itself looks like a space capsule which has been delivered through the dome roof. From experience, you can't really pick a bad seat as it's performance in the round and each seat is close enough to the action that you can see everything, whether you're sharing the floor level with the actors or draped over the railings of the third tier.
At £5 it's less than you'd pay to watch middle-aged men and women still desperately trying to play 25 at your local 'am dram' club and with more than enough change for a bag of chips afterwards. Next up is Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party. Maybe I'll see you there...
Bit jel. As I only have a year to take advantage and my chances are zero. Such a good deal. More of this please. xx
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