Staging Life: The Story of The Manchester Playwrights

In 1907 middle-aged heiress Annie Horniman arrived in Manchester from Ireland intent on establishing the country’s first genuine ‘repertory’ company. She bought the run-down Gaiety Theatre in Peter Street, recruited the gifted Iden Payne as manager and challenged the people of Lancashire to produce new and exciting work to rival that of Ireland’s Celtic Twilight. The Gaiety soon became the most progressive theatre in the country, the first of its kind to create an identifiably local school of playwrighting while simultaneously attracting a new audience excited by seeing real-life characters in real-life situations presented on stage. It produced remarkable work: Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes shocked Edwardian sensibilities. Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice delighted audiences worldwide. Allan Monkhouse’s The Conquering Hero brought the horror of the trenches to the serious stage for the first time. Much of their work remains as relevant today as it was over a century. This is the first book to look what that school produced and the impact it has had on theatre history.