Autumn season announced

Manchester School of Theatre are delighted to announce the autumn term season of performances from final year BA (Hons) Acting students.

The three innovative performances have been created under social distancing regulations and will be broadcast live on Vimeo. 

The season consists of three performances:

• The Secret Rapture by David Hare - Available to Listen to: Wed 18th Nov – Saturday 21st Nov
• Road by Jim Cartwright - Available to Watch: Wednesday 9th Dec – Saturday 12th Dec
• Image Of An Unknown Young Woman by Elinor Cook - Available to Watch: Wednesday 16th Dec – Saturday 19th Dec

David Salter, Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Acting explains how the season was created during the pandemic:

“Rehearsing three plays in the middle of the Covid pandemic was never going to be easy. Our original plan was to create three black box productions that would each be rehearsed and then filmed using a multi camera set up in our theatre, to give as close to a live performance feel as possible. With this in mind, we chose plays that would lend themselves to being filmed in this way"

Plans for the productions changed as the government advice responded to the pandemic and this pushed the staff and students to think in new ways about how the performances could be adapted.

“We were in the middle of technical rehearsals for The Secret Rapture when the University moved all teaching online. We were so close to filming our production that we felt it was too late to move to Zoom and so we took the decision to make a radio play. The Secret Rapture will be available to listen to from Wed 18th Nov – Saturday 21st Nov.”

“Road began rehearsals online and filming has just finished over Zoom, before being cut and edited into a filmed piece that will be available to be watched from Wed 9th Dec – Saturday 12th Dec.”

“At the time of writing, Image of an Unknown Young Woman had started online and has just moved to rehearsing in the theatre, where we hope it will be filmed and then available to watch from Wed 16th Dec – 19th Dec.”

The unconventional process of producing these performances has showcased the skills and adaptability of the staff and students as David explains: 

 “Despite the turbulence, our third-year actors have shown their tenacity and creativity, their passion and their talent, and have moved fluidly and confidently between a variety of media, even in the course of a single rehearsal process.”

To find out more about the upcoming season of performances including how to watch these, visit our productions page.