Set in 1840's Manchester, 'Mary Barton' was the first novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell. It caused a sensation because of its damning indictment of industrialisation in the mill-towns of the north, and caused outrage on its publication in 1848. It painted a grim picture of working life; mill owners growing rich on the back of the suffering of their workers. For the first time it's been adapted for the stage - and is being performed at Manchester 's Royal Exchange Theatre, a building built by mill owners from the profits of the cotton industry.
Director of 'Mary Barton', Sarah Frankcom, joins Jenni in the studio.
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