Fun Home at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester Assessment — Theatre and Tonic

Some exhibits entertain, after which some quietly work their approach into your coronary heart. Fun Home on the Royal Exchange is firmly within the latter class. Beautifully staged within the theatre’s distinctive in-the-round area, this manufacturing feels splendidly intimate, inviting us into Alison Bechdel’s world with honesty, humour and extraordinary tenderness.

The solid delivers performances that by no means put a foot mistaken. Every relationship feels genuine, each emotional shift earned, and the chemistry between the three Alisons is nothing in need of outstanding. The rating is carried out with heat and readability, permitting Jeanine Tesori‘s music and Lisa Kron‘s lyrics to land with all of the emotional weight they deserve.

What makes this manufacturing so particular is its restraint. Rather than overwhelming with spectacle, it trusts the story and its characters. Sarah Frankcom‘s route offers the quieter moments room to breathe, making the moments of heartbreak all of the extra devastating. It’s a manufacturing filled with nuance, the place laughter and grief sit comfortably facet by facet.

The Royal Exchange has all the time excelled at creating theatre that feels private, and Fun Home is one other shining instance. Thoughtful, shifting and quietly magnificent, it is the type of present that lingers lengthy after you’ve got left the auditorium, prompting conversations all the best way dwelling.

A very excellent manufacturing, and one which deserves to be seen by as many individuals as potential. 

Fun Home performs on the Royal Exchange Theatre till 1 August 2026.

★★★★★