MANCHESTER

They’re doing fizz at the New Statesman? That’s very 1997 of them.

Manchester.jpg

Two delegates at the 2010 Labour Party Conference in Manchester meet and come up to a hotel room for a quick dirty fuck. He’s nervous; she’s less so. Their reflections on the future of the party give way to a faltering attempt at sexual role play, which takes its own strange turn.

Manchester was commissioned and performed as part of the Miniaturists event. This is a regular one-off event where a group of writers are asked to produce 10-20 minute plays. It was directed by Lucy Kerbel and performed by Charlotte Melia and Paul Westwood who gave it a lovely, sexy, ridiculous performance, truthful and melancholy. 

The play was revived as part of the Soho Poly Theatre Festival, a celebration of 40 years of the Soho Poly (now the Soho Theatre). Three recent Miniaturists plays were chosen to contribute to the festivities: Burger Burger Death Burger by Stacey Gregg, The Well-Made Life by Steve King, and Manchester. All plays were directed by Sophie Motley. Manchester is performed by Tim Pritchett and Zoe Hunn. I was pleased (and depressed?) to find that it seems, if anything, more pertinent than it did before.​

You can read the script here.​