Pub

Synopsis

A realistic working pub with space to showcase many of the performances which have defined The Studio over the past ten years. These include a range of Community and Education events, BLUE, new writing and work with emerging artists and trainee directors (full programme details are still to be announced).

Our Review:

17 November 2009

The 82 bus from Oldham to Manchester traverses one of the longest pub crawls in the country. Rather, it used to. The journey is now punctuated by boarded up boozers - victims of the credit crunch and urban gentrification. It makes for a sorry spectacle.

Under the auspices of producer Richard Morgan, the Royal Exchange’s Pub aims to fulfil two functions, acting as a celebration of the great British public house – with its attendant ideas of community and conviviality – and a showcase for work by new directors. With a rolling programme, audiences are guaranteed a different experience each night. The brochure teases with promises of something ‘exhilarating’ and ‘unmissable.’ Judging by tonight’s offering, it’s a claim that’s pretty wide of the mark.

The designers have done an impeccable job in transforming the Studio space; there are tacky carpets on the floor, brass p...

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Latest User Review

Peter Lincoln - 17 November 2009:

I would have given it a five as I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, but unfortunately we had a wooden sppon foisted upon us for our poor quizzing efforts which has not done my reputation any good at all! I would certainly take issue with the reviewer as I feel it was art in the truest sense as it was genuinely transformative of the public house-going experience, and I would even hazard a guess that the choice of Matchmakers themselves referenced the narrative. An allusion clearly missed by a critic busy lamenting the absence of a cash prize! ...

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