Royal Exchange Theatre Company

Chris Thorpe's cycle of six warm, witty new plays crosses England, from a sheep farm in Eskdale via a tourist information centre in Whitby to Manchester.

“Nothing's very far away from anything, is it, in this country? Not really?”

A fort on a hilltop, a landowner’s estate, a tourist information office, a bird sanctuary, a re-developed factory, a public square, silent and remembering. Chris Thorpe’s cycle of six new plays explores the landscapes that surround us and how we live with each other.

In this ambitious production by Sam Pritchard, each of the six parts of The Mysteries will be made and premiered in the place it was written. During its run in Manchester, two day-long performances of the whole cycle will take place in the Royal Exchange Theatre space.

Manchester
If one of our own does something terrible, how can we still claim them as one of our own?

Eskdale
On the hilltop at Hardknott and in a local pub, two sisters clash over the inheritance of their father’s house.

Staindrop
In a Teesdale tenant farm, three old friends confront how ancestry and tradition shape the way they live now.

Whitby
The roof of the former Tourist Information Office hosts a debate about how a town can use its past, without losing its sense of itself.

Boston
The accidental death of a child forces a group of Bostonians to confront what community means to them and who they’re prepared to help.

Stoke-on-Trent
In a ceramics studio and an old church bell tower, debate rages about how a city and its people might be reshaped.