WELCOME HOME AGAIN
THEATRE RE-OPENS WITH A NEW PROGRAMME OF SHOWS
MANCHESTER arts centre HOME has announced it will be resuming live theatre performances from
October.
The First Street venue has lined up a programme that includes three world premieres and the return of some critically-acclaimed artists.
Performances have been paused since March, when theatres had to close under lockdown orders.
Now they’ll be back in a new, socially-distanced format in the 500-seat Theatre One.
The auditorium will be slashed to a capacity of 120 to host the kind of shows usually seen in the smaller Theatre Two, which will remain closed for now.
Despite the capacity cut, tickets will be priced at just £10 to ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity to return to the theatre.
Dave Moutrey, HOME’s director and CEO, told the M.E.N: “We’re very excited. We’re not in this business to sit around and twiddle our thumbs. Many people are in the same boat who are desperate to get back to work and we’re lucky to be able to do that.
“Because we have two theatres, a 130-seater and a 500-seater, the stuff we were planning to do in the larger Theatre One we can’t do. But we can turn it into a 120-seat audience with social distancing and do the stuff we were going to do in the smaller theatre.”
HOME has already announced the reopening of its cinemas, bar and restaurant from September 4, and Mr Moutrey said that would allow them to fine tune health and safety procedures in time for theatre to return.
“I’m a bit more optimistic now [about the future of theatre] but it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet,” he added.
“It’s going to be really challenging in the new financial year because unless a vaccine comes along we’re going to have the same sorts of threats and it’s unlikely there’ll be bailout money available - that can’t continue forever.
“What has been made available so
far is unprecedented and very generous but it might not be enough to save everybody.”
Mr Moutrey acknowledged it would take some convincing for people to return to activities such as the theatre and hoped the £10 tickets would help - as well as addressing the widening social inequality brought about by the pandemic and its financial consequences.
“Much has changed since we closed in March, but we must do all we can to bridge the potential growth in social inequality as a result of this pandemic,” he said.
“This is why, despite limited capacity due to social distancing, we will make every ticket available for no more than £10. In addition, we will give equal weight to delivering work online, to ensure that audiences who cannot return just yet can still engage with new, relevant work.”
The autumn season will start with a special one-night performance and book launch from HOME’s resident artists, Young Identity (October 13).
From October 21, the Fringe First award-winning trio RashDash will present the world premiere of Don’t Go Back To Sleep, a crosscontinental musical collaboration about life in lockdown (October 21 to 24).
In November, Javaad Alipoor returns with The Believers Are But Brothers (November 3 to 6), which was originally co-commissioned by and performed at HOME in 2017.
Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas will also return to HOME with The End, their 2019 exploration of the end of their relationship through themes of the end of the Earth and ecological crisis (November 12 to 14).
Beats and Elements’ High Rise eState of Mind, tells difficult to swallow truths through a dystopian lens, using grime, beat boxing, hip hop, live looping and MCing (November 18 to 19).
HOME regular David Hoyle also returns to present another world premiere, A Grand Auction of My Life, where the past is examined and HOME’s theatre space becomes an auction room for the sale of memorabilia and memories.
December starts with a third world premiere, The Earth Asleep (December 4 and 5) - an original live score and feature-length film about the Oshika Peninsula earthquake and tsunami, directed by Manchester-based visual artist Clara Casian (House on the Borderland) and composer Robin Richards (Dutch Uncles).
HOME’s own Accessible Music Productions (AMP) will bring House Party, their regular inclusive club night for people with different abilities and additional needs to the Theatre 1 space for the very first time on December 11.
Ghost whispering drag queen Seayonce will take the audience to the depths of the spirit world, in Deja Voodoo (December 8 and 9).
And since Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a festive romcom, audiences can also look forward to Sh!t Theatre’s take on Richard Curtis’s festive tale of infidelity and inappropriate signwriting in Sh!t Actually (December 15 to 23).
For younger audiences, Le Gateau
Chocolat brings family-friendly cabaret and tales of not quite fitting in in Duckie, a reworked version of The Ugly Duckling with a message of tolerance and self-acceptance.
Tickets for this year’s shows will go on sale on Friday, 18 September.
HOME will also continue to present work digitally for those who do not feel ready to return to a live theatre environment just yet through its Homemakers series, which will feature autumn premieres from Stacey Makishi, Esosa Ighodaro and Hot Brown Honey.