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David Threlfall, the acclaimed actor renowned for his portrayal of Frank Gallagher in Channel 4’s “Shameless,” is set to undertake the formidable role of King Lear in a stage production marking his return to Manchester, his home city, in 2026.
Threlfall, 71, will embody Shakespeare’s tragic monarch as part of the Royal Exchange theatre’s 50th-anniversary celebrations.
A frequent performer at the venue throughout the 1980s and 90s, with roles including Macbeth, Threlfall reportedly experienced a disagreement with a former artistic director, impacting a potential appearance in “Uncle Vanya” for the theatre’s 25th anniversary.
The Royal Exchange’s landmark season will commence with Johnny Vegas, Lucy Beaumont, and Shobna Gulati starring in Jim Cartwright’s seminal 1986 play, “Road.”
That production will also feature the return of Sir Tom Courtenay, 88, another Royal Exchange veteran, in his 17th appearance, albeit in a pre-recorded on-screen segment.
Threlfall, a former leading man and associate artistic director at the venue, has not performed there since 1999.
His subsequent career highlights include a prominent role in “Shameless” from 2004 to 2013, as well as appearances in television dramas such as “What Remains,” “Code of a Killer,” and “Nightsleeper.”
On stage, Threlfall received an Olivier Award in London’s West End in 1980 and has garnered two Tony Award nominations on Broadway. Notably, he previously portrayed Edgar in a televised adaptation of “King Lear” in 1983, starring alongside Sir Laurence Olivier and filmed at Granada TV’s Manchester studio.
His return to Manchester in the titular role is scheduled for September and October 2026.
The Royal Exchange’s anniversary season will also feature the premiere of “Even These Things” by Rory Mullarkey, a play set across three pivotal periods in Manchester’s history, including the devastating IRA bombing that damaged the theatre in 1996.
Additionally, the season will include the premiere of “Shooters” by Tolu Okanlawon, the winner of this year’s Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, which chronicles the life of African-American photojournalist Gordon Parks, as well as a production of the Tony Award-winning musical “Fun Home,” and revivals of Noël Coward’s “Private Lives” and Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music.”
Artistic Director Selina Cartmell articulated that the season would “renew our commitment to being a world-class theatre here in the heart of Manchester and an artistic engine-room for talent development in the North.”
The Royal Exchange, a recipient of the highest level of Arts Council England funding after the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, aims to reclaim its former prominence after facing challenges in recent years.
The theater experienced significant setbacks during the pandemic and was embroiled in a censorship controversy last year, leading to the cancellation of a production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the subsequent resignation of the theatre’s chief executive.
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