Royal Exchange Theatre celebrates 50 years in St Ann's Square

Few theatres anywhere look quite like the Royal Exchange. Since 15 September 1976, audiences in St Ann's Square have watched plays inside a seven-sided steel and glass module that sits within the great hall of Manchester's former Cotton Exchange. In 2026 the theatre is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The company behind it, the 69 Theatre Company, had previously performed in a tent before finding its extraordinary permanent home. The Exchange building itself dates from 1874, designed by Mills and Murgatroyd and extended in 1922, and is the third exchange to stand on the site.

The theatre-in-the-round module, around 21 metres across, is suspended from the piers that support the hall's central dome. Its design proved its worth in June 1996, when the IRA bomb in the city centre shifted the Cotton Exchange on its foundations and the module, mounted on shock absorbers, survived.

Today the theatre describes itself as a 759-seat architectural and democratic space, with every seat close to the action and audiences wrapped around the performers on all sides. It is led by Artistic Director and co-CEO Selina Cartmell, joined by Sheena Wrigley, who was appointed Executive Director and co-CEO and took up the role full-time in 2026.

The anniversary season has been a busy one. It included Even These Things, a new play by Rory Mullarkey, which ran from May into June, and the Northern premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home.

In September the theatre held Exchanging Stories, a 50 Year Celebration weekend with panel talks and behind-the-scenes sessions, where audiences could hear from actors, playwrights, designers and architects about how the theatre's productions come to life.

The autumn brings a new King Lear with David Threlfall in the title role, running from 2 October to 15 November 2026, a fitting production for a theatre with such a long relationship with classic drama, and a reminder of the big, ambitious work that has defined its first fifty years.

Tickets for the current season can be booked through the Royal Exchange website. Even if you are not seeing a show, the great hall is worth stepping inside to see the module for yourself.