The stage is set for super season of theatre at mif
MANCHESTER International Festival returns this year and it promises to be an absolute cracker – bringing the world’s best from art, music, theatre and performance to the city for 18 days.
The Manchester theatre scene is already a strong one – and MIF 2017 is bringing in some heavyweight shows to add to the mix.
The best part is that many of the tickets start at just £12 – a price you’re unlikely to find for shows like this outside of MIF.
We round up the theatre shows you absolutely cannot miss at this year’s festival.
Fatherland What’s it really like to be a father today?
Co-created by Scott Graham for Frantic Assembly, with Underworld’s Karl Hyde and playwright Simon Stephens, Fatherland is a bold, ambitious show about contemporary fatherhood in all its complexities and contradictions.
The Royal Exchange show is inspired by conversations with real fathers and sons from the trio’s home towns and explores identity, nationality, masculinity – and what it means to belong in a world weighed down by the expectations of others.
Returning to Reims This is unmissable for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, you’ll be in the presence of one of world theatre’s most thrilling directors, Thomas Ostermeier, the artistic director of Berlin’s revered Schaubühne.
The show is also a Factory trailblazer – a preview of the kind of world-class art you’ll find at Manchester’s groundbreaking new multi-arts venue, when it opens in 2020 under the direction of MIF at Old Granada Studios.
Returning to Reims is an urgent reflection on the new world order.
When his father dies, Eribon returns to the working-class community he had long since left behind – and is forced to re-evaluate everything he thought he understood about his life, especially when he discovers his family have switched allegiance from communism to the far-right Front National.
Party Skills for the End of the World This world premiere is a party with a difference.
As turmoil and uncertainty sweep the world, you’ll learn the essential skills you’ll need to survive and savour life when everything you’ve taken for granted has gone – from starting a fire and making balloon animals to mixing the perfect Martini and skinning a rabbit. With the collapse of civilisation close at hand, it’s time to look at all the good things in life and the fear that stops us enjoying them. This wild show will teach you how to get by when the end finally comes and it’s time to celebrate everything that’s made life worth living.
The Welcoming Party Another world premiere, this family show is an inspiring immersive piece from Theatre-Rites, one of Europe’s most imaginative theatre companies.
The Welcoming Party will take you on an exciting journey through a historic hidden warehouse at the Museum of Science and Industry. You’ll walk alongside people who have travelled here from towns and cities far beyond Manchester, all looking for a place where they can feel safe and sound.
This show is a beautiful blend of puppetry, performance, dance and live music for both children and family audiences.
Cotton Panic Cotton was once as valuable as gold in Lancashire, the engine for a thriving economy built on the Industrial Revolution. And then in 1861, reality bit: the US Civil War took root, American ports fell silent, the supply of cotton dried up and the prosperous north was brought to its knees. This was the Cotton Famine, and England has never been the same since.
Cotton Panic! tells the story of the catastrophe that befell the North and its people, all thanks to events that took place thousands of miles away.
What is the City but the People? Theatre, but not as you know it – thanks to a massive catwalk on Piccadilly Gardens.
Produced by Jeremy Deller, and directed by Richard Gregory from Manchester’s Quarantine theatre company, What Is...? will be a dramatic curtain raiser to MIF 2017.
Raised high above the pavements, a unique selection of individuals from across Manchester will walk along a runway stretching more than 100 metres through Piccadilly Gardens.
With live music from Graham Massey assisted by an unexpected mix of local musicians, this free event will celebrate Manchester as never before.
MIF 2017 runs from June 29 to July 16. For more details on events visit: mif.co.uk