World’s Wife at Exchange, April

Following critical acclaim at the Trafalgar Studios, Linda Marlowe brings The World’s Wife – a one-woman-show using the acclaimed poems of Carol Ann Duffy – to Manchester’s Royal Exchange next month.

Currently touring the UK, The World’s Wife imagines the perspectives of the wives of famous men through the ages to prove that behind every great man there really is a great woman.

From Mrs. Faust and Frau Freud to Queen Kong and Mrs. Midas, this subversive, inventive and very funny verse cuts through boundaries between factual and fictional females, whilst casting an astute glance over the modern world.

Linda Marlowe is an award-winning actor and director who has enjoyed widespread acclaim for her previous solo work, from Berkoff’s Women, which toured internationally and won the Whatsonstage Theatregoer’s Choice Award for Best Actress to giving us a view of the world through the imagined perspective of The World’s Oldest Wire Walker.

Manchester-based Carol Ann Duffy is a multi-award winning poet, playwright and author of numerous award-winning poetry collections, plays and fairy tales for children. Her work has the rare virtue of being both literary and accessible, and as a result, is read and enjoyed by huge numbers of the public whilst featuring regularly on academic syllabuses.

Awarded an OBE in 1995 and a CBE in 2002 for Services to Poetry, Carol Ann was appointed the new Poet Laureate in 2009. She is currently Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The World’s Wife is at the Royal Exchange (Studio) from 7 – 10 April.