Winchester Hat Fair (now in its 39th year) has always had its roots in street busking and performance art, from the likes of Forkbeard Fantasy to the late, great art nuisance Ian Hinchliffe. So it was good to return in 2013 to see that those traditions are still being adhered to, but that the developments […]

Ilotopie are one of France’s best funded outdoor theatre companies, and over the last fifteen years they have been working on spectacles that take place on water. Tonight they are in Salford, on Manchester Ship Canal. Their backdrop is the Lowry Centre, while on the other side, behind the audience, is the BBC’s new northern […]

The one strand of programming for children and young people in this year’s Manchester International Festival programme is a collection of four new works for different age groups from Belgian cross-disciplinary (dance / theatre / performance art) director Inne Goris. Goris’ work is experimental in form, always with a strong musical presence (from composer collaborator […]

One of the most anticipated events of this year’s Manchester International Festival, this collaboration between Adam Curtis and Massive Attack brings together the renowned documentary maker with some of the most innovative musicians of the last twenty years. As is the case with all his films, the research Curtis and his team have undertaken is […]

Walking out of the Queen Elizabeth Hall last night, a young chap in front of me looked up at his father and asked: ‘Can I fly when I’m a hundred, dad?’ Such was the wonder and joyous enthusiasm created by Cirque Alfonse with their London debut of Timber – an all-singing, all-dancing, banjo-fuelled hoedown with […]