Artwork for 500 Ways To Love
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Community Groups Present 500 Ways to Love at RET Studio

Two groups from the Royal Exchange Theatre’s ground-breaking Community Programme have been brought together to create and present a new piece of theatre about falling in love.

500 Ways To Love will be staged in The Studio at the Royal Exchange on Thursday 23 and Friday 25 June by Body Positive North West - a self-help group for people living with HIV - and the Opt-in Drama Group - a Tameside group for adults who have experienced mental ill health and emotional distress.

It explores the idea of love and identity asking the all the important questions: “How does it feel to be in love?” “Will it last forever?” and “Once you’ve fallen in love – what then?”

The groups have worked with members of the Manchester theatre’s pioneering Education Department to create this new show, using themes from two shows in the current RET season - Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge and Shakespeare’s As You Like It- as a starting point.

Education Producer Chris Wright says: "500 Ways To Love is a great opportunity for both our community partners and ourselves to work together on a project that creatively responds to the repertoire of the Royal Exchange. We're looking forward to a double-bill of unique and captivating theatre in the Studio."

The Royal Exchange Theatre’s Community Programme is an exciting opportunity for organisations to forge close, developmental links with the Exchange (and in particular, its Education Department). The programme focuses on working with groups who are under-represented in theatre, who may not otherwise access the Royal Exchange and who may be at risk of social exclusion.

Since 2004, this programme has enable the Exchange to work with 112 community groups, bringing 5,120 first-time theatre-goers into the building and working with 1,051 participants on longer term projects. Recent partners have included Valuing Older People, City South Manchester Housing Trust, Stepping Stone and Salford Youth Offending Team in partnership with TIPP.

Tickets for 500 Ways To Love are £7 (£4 concessions).

- by Glenn Meads

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