Royal Exchange awarded £1 million gift to open new pop-up theatre The Den

Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre has been awarded £1 million to open a brand new pop-up venue.

Called The Den and designed by the team at Haworth Tompkins architects, the venue will sit inside existing buildings, reimagining them as performance spaces. It can be built to three different sizes, with a flexible seating capacity ranging from 75 to 180 people.

The Den will visit different parts of the Greater Manchester area on an annual basis. It will make its first appearance in Tameside this August at the Stalybridge Civic Hall and then in 2020 it will be resident in Spinners Mill in Leigh.

The space will be built from a mixture of wood, canvas, rope and cardboard, aiming to have as minimal an impact on the environment as possible.

The construction of the theatre was made possible following a £1million gift made by the Oglesby Charitable Trust. The Den is part of the Royal Exchange's Local Exchange programme to build relationships with communities across Greater Manchester.

Programming for The Den is to be announced, with the venue aiming to house a mixture of the Royal Exchange's work and pieces created by local residents.