Former theatres are famed for converting their premises into bingo clubs. This most recent conversion has a bit of a twist in the sense that the Theatre will remain a Theatre whilst it is staging a play about bingo. "Everybody Loves a Winner", is play about bingo and will open at the Manchester Exchange Theatre next month as part of the Manchester International Festival to run from 1st July 2009 for a period of one month.

The playwright Neil Bartlett, found inspiration for the play when he heard about a local Bingo club in Brighton was about to close and he wanted to see the auditorium before the final session.

Bartlett was invited to become a member of the club and sat down to play bingo and this got his imagination going for a new play about bingo.

Bartlett with his crew spent weekends away in various bingo halls in the UK mainly based around Manchester. Bartlett experienced the warm nature of the community and spent a year researching the subject before putting the finishing touches to the play in readiness for the Manchester Festival and the bingo play's grand opening.

The Auditorium of the theatre has been transformed to simulate a real bingo club whilst the audiences will be given bingo tickets to take part in a real live game of bingo. The theatre had to apply for a bingo license especially for the play so audience participation could take place.

The audience will take part in the game and areal winner will be generated from the audience not only giving some unpredictability of the play, but actors will be ad-libbing some of the part as they interact with the audience. The winner of the bingo game will take home a real prize although this has not been announced. Bartlett says the play is about "hope, loneliness, it's about women and it's about laughter."

The play is an interesting concept and it will explore the psychological aspect of what drives people to play bingo. The bingo play will also question the importance of winning or the taking part.

Bingo Supermarket will be sending a correspondent, Sandra Thompson to book a visit to see the show and will do a full review in a few weeks time. Sandra has spent many years playing bingo and recently worked in a bingo club before corresponding on behalf of the Bingo Supermarket team. It will be interesting to see how Bartlett has captured a true picture of the game and look forward to discussing her findings shortly afterwards.