Monkeywood's Flesh returns to Northwest

The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester have joined forces with theatre company Monkeywood to bring their new play Flesh back to the North West , including a date at Ellesmere Port. This new play is written by Sarah McDonald Hughes.

Based on the real experiences of young parents in Manchester, Flesh is a love story about growing up. Set in Wythenshawe, the story follows two young people as they become parents for the first time.

In Summer 2012, Monkeywood spent hundreds of hours with young parents from across Manchester, Trafford and Salford, gathering their true stories, opinions and insights. The stories they told were surprising, moving and heart-stoppingly honest. Sarah McDonald Hughes has previously written for BBC Radio and received two Best New Play nominations at the Manchester Theatre Awards. Sarah explains why hearing the stories of young parents was so important to the development of the script, “It was hugely important to me from the very beginning to meet young parents and hear what they had to say – so that the play was grounded in truth… The response was fantastic and completely overwhelming – all the young parents we met were delighted to talk to us and their stories were moving, funny, devastating – but above all, surprising.”

The development and tour of Flesh has been funded by Arts Council England through Grants for the Arts. The tour has also been funded by The Granada Foundation and continually supported by The Royal Exchange Theatre.

Flesh plays the Hull Truck Theatre on 30 January, the Action Transport Theatre, Ellesmere Port on 5 February and Burnley Youth Centre on 6 February.