The Manchester Weekly from The Mill
What really caused the Royal Exchange's cancelled show?
Published: 31 March 2025 at 14:40 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Late last year, when the Royal Exchange Theatre was forced to cancel its production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the media fallout became one long nightmare. Stef O'Driscoll, the play’s director, accused the theatre of censorship, and its chief executive Stephen Freeman eventually stood down. But there are two sides to every story - over the last month, insiders at the Royal Exchange have been telling us they've been uncomfortable with the narrative that the play's director was censored for a rap about Palestine, and that they feel the theatre was the victim of a "witch hunt". In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack take you inside our reporting and reveal what really caused the theatre to cancel the entire run of its long-anticipated autumn production.
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