Can it really be nearly a year since Hard Times ran at Murrays’ Mills in Ancoats to such praise? Mounting a site-specific production, such as Manchester Lines this coming June, is a far more challenging project than simply bringing in a set on to a stage where the creative team knows every nook and cranny. With Murrays’ Mills, the challenge was daunting indeed – the building didn’t even have running water until the Library Theatre Company took it over in May 2011!
Once Hard Times opened, the press loved it:
“Urgent… charged, imaginative and enjoyable”
The Guardian
“Superb… The staging, by Chris Honer, is consistently absorbing and inventive”
Daily Telegraph
“Unmissable, ambitious, imaginative… A flowing production”
Manchester Evening News
“Splendid melodrama… This dramatisation by Charles Way improves on Dickens’ caricatures”
The Independent
And theatre-goers were just as keen:
“What a superb event it was! A perfect match of material and location, adding up to a truly absorbing experience… A real treat! More, please!”
“Never mind ‘like’, it was brilliant. Loved it!”
“Just brilliant! A most wonderful and unforgettable experience”
Were you lucky enough to experience Hard Times? Want to take a brief trip down memory lane? Then you can watch BBC North’s preview of the production here.
Number One First Street has running water, so that’s one issue the Manchester Lines production team doesn’t have to worry about, but it’s still a huge task to bring a full-blown theatre production to the fifth floor of a city centre office block. Want to find out more? Manchester Lines opens on Tuesday 12 June, and runs until Saturday 7 July. Booking is now open.