Following the success of the 2019 tour of Ian Townsend’s multi-award-winning play All The Bens, Manchester-based theatre company 1974 Productions returns with a new Ian Townsend work, My Favourite Place in the Whole Wide World, at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre (March 1-6).
Long-listed for the 2019 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition at the Royal Exchange, the new, full-length play – the company’s first full-length work – tells the story of Ruth (Claire Eden) and J (Ben Kenzie), two people in search of love in a world of confusion and loss. We watch as they grow from children to adults and see how are influenced by events.
The play, directed by James Schofield, is engaging, heartfelt and full of humour about growing up, finding a place in the world and making unexpected connections.
The company has been building a reputation in Manchester’s independent theatre scene since 2018 with its production of Jimmie Chinn’s A Different Way Home, which won Best Revival and Best Actor awards at the Greater Manchester Fringe Awards. That success was followed in 2019 with a revival of Townsend’s All the Bens that toured the North West and played a sold-out date in London, later winning the Best Drama award at the Manchester Fringe Awards and being shortlisted or nominated in three other categories.
As well as All The Bens, Ian has had success with other plays including Being Amazing (Bolton Octagon National Prize), The Lonely Walk Home (BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary Award), The House in Sofia with a Map of its Surroundings (Kings Cross Award), Turn Around and Granny Must Die.