See Manchester theatre in car showroom

A new 200-seat theatre in Manchester has been based in a former car showroom. 53Two theatre and arts centre is housed in the vacant showroom for luxury car brand Bauer Millet, which is owned by developer Ask and being rented to operator brothers Simon Naylor and Paul Norris as part of a special place-making scheme. The city's latest theatre space is a new enterprise from the pair, who are an actor and a structural engineer, who have teamed up with the owners of the building to transform the space into a cultural hub ahead of permanent redevelopment. The showroom has been empty for several years and is now being leased on a place-making deal which provides affordable facilities to entrepreneurs as a method of establishing new spaces and 'putting then on the map'. The new project was integrated immediately into the Manchester theatre scene, after providing a home for the JB Shorts festival which ran at 53Two from 1-12 November. Making up the space is a bar area and reception, and two main archway spaces: one converted into a theatre and a second currently housing a pop up bar and rehearsal rooms. The venue's first production was a series of award-winning short plays, culminating to form North South Shorts which ran in October. Ahead of this, the brothers had already hosted a food and drink weekend at the venue, as well as the latest charity banquet in aid of social enterprise 'the Real Junk Food Project'. To this end it looks as though the venue will become one of the most flexible event spaces in the city, suitable for everything from plays and exhibitions to wedding receptions. Next for 53Two is the production of an adaptation of Carol Ann Duffy's poem The Christmas Truce, which will run from 16-24 December, reflecting on the moment that soldiers on the Western Front stopped fighting to play football.