It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Jean Oglesby, longstanding supporter and audience member of the Royal Exchange Theatre, and respected trustee from 2008 – 2019. She will be deeply missed.
Jean was an extraordinary advocate for the power of arts and culture to make change. She was a passionate theatre goer having missed only a handful of productions at the Royal Exchange since its inception in 1976.
As a Trustee her insight and wisdom helped to shape the future of the theatre, understanding fully the transformative power of artists and the impact drama and plays can have, not only on audiences and communities, but also on individuals.
She also recognised how vital it was for the Exchange to be a centre of excellence for supporting talent development and producing new plays. This year the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting celebrated its 20th anniversary. Though spearheaded by her husband Mike Oglesby, it was championed wholeheartedly from the wings by Jean who often travelled across the country to see plays that had even the smallest connection to the Prize.
Alongside this, the Oglesby Charitable Trust have been dedicated supporters of our work in communities. In 2019 the trust made an extraordinary contribution to the development of our pioneering engagement programme – Local Exchange. Their support- and Jean’s personal commitment- secured the development of The Den, an innovative pop-up theatre for Greater Manchester communities.
The Den was inspired by the Royal Exchange Theatres unique in-the-round architecture and was created as an informal space for local residents to co-create, share, and experience theatre. This wonderful eco-friendly space has been home to extraordinary theatre on the doorsteps of communities in Wigan, Tameside, Rochdale, Cheetham Hill and Beswick. Without the support of Jean- and her trust in our vision- such an ambitious project would not have been possible.
Jean and the Oglesby family are our supporters, our advocates, our audience members and most of all our friends. We will miss Jean very much.
Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this very sad time.