The hall itself has become part of the theatrical event. It has been restored, painted and reglazed in bright 19th century colours, and given a new glass entrance foyer in place of the old open windy one. It is heated, and overlooked by galleries and a new cafe. Off at one side is the entrance to a new studio theatre, for the rebellious teenager of the 1970s has become a parent. But most significantly, the hall is now designed to play a part in the performances. Actors always rushed on and off from outside the module - this is show-the-working theatre - but now an area of the hall floor has been designed and equipped in such a way as to allow performances to spill out from one world to the other. At the same time, the roof of the module - now raised and able to fly more scenery - can also open up, like flower petals, into the reverberant acoustic of the big space. Given all this, It doesn't come as much of a surprise when Greg Hersov, joint artistic director with Braham Murray and Matthew Lloyd, casually mentions the storm scene in King Lear.

Burrough acknowledges the perceptual changes made. "When we designed the theatre, it was an alien landing. The hall outside it was just found space," he says. "Now, the hall has to be a much more welcoming environment." Even so, he says, by clearing away much of the ad-hoc clutter which had sprung up around the theatre in the intervening years, he hoped to reinvigorate the clarity of the original concept.

Personally - for all the improvements made - I preferred the "found space" environment. I liked the hall when it was cold and shabby, because the contrast between the worlds was all the sharper. This brings us to London's Roundhouse - a found space if ever there was one, which has been home in the past to touring Royal Exchange productions along with countless other pioneering theatrical and musical productions, from Peter Brook to Pink Floyd. The Roundhouse in Camden - a Robert Stephenson railway turntable shed turned gin warehouse turned perpetually-threatened arts venue - is to be done up in a £13m plan by architect John MacAslan. He and the building's owner, one-time toy magnate Torquil Norman, have come up with a scheme that has the blessing of English Heritage and which - if bids to both the Arts Council and the Heritage lottery funds succeed - will be transformed by late 2002. The Roundhouse and the Royal Exchange have been talking to each other. It is likely the two venues will resume their old alliance. But - apart from its suitability for in-the-round productions - the new Roundhouse will be very different from the new Royal Exchange.

MacAslan's Roundhouse proposal