Just as advertised, OVO had those in attendance at Manchester’s AO Arena last week and over the Easter bank holiday utterly enthralled as they watched over a “colourful ecosystem teeming with life – where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love”.
While the already pre-fascinated audience made their way to their seats, a lone giant egg occupied the stage before being soon replaced by an array of bright-coloured insect-like performers, resembling crickets, spiders and other critters.
The captivating introduction to the world of OVO was then followed by what may very be one of the most beautiful and breathtaking shows to grace the AO Arena in many, many years.
A showcase of acrobatics, skill and sheer mind-blowing talent, the production takes you on a journey of awe, shock and bewilderment. As the insects and bugs swung around the stage, being thrown through the air and contorting their limbs those watching on were left gasping. Nothing but exclaim and applause.
If we had to sum up Cirque du Soleil’s return to Manchester succinctly, mind-bending doesn’t even begin to cover it.
From stunning set to stunning set, each performer evoked emotion from those in their presence. Soloists left the stands in stunned silence as they moved oh so gracefully around the stage, telling the audience a story they may not always quite understand but are simply left with no choice but to feel every moment.
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Ethereal violins are the perfect accompaniment for the physical movement that had emotions swelling, chests tightening and eyes widening all around the AO.
Such moments were still broken up with more traditional comedic circus craft, as heads flew back in laughter in response to the rather hilarious love story of the travelling blue fly and ladybird love interest.
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They even got members of the audience up on stage to create further amusement for all the family.
But then, before you know it, things whip straight back into a world of high-risk stunts you’ll struggle to believe you’re witnessing live — we certainly did.
Performers are thrown from trapeze to trapeze, basically being caught by pinky fingers and little toes, twisting and turning through their air and even flying between the support struts of the apparatus, before the cast are then thrown into the air and dive into the netting below.
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Crickets throw themselves up walls, tumbling back down towards trampolines only to rebound right back to the top, as their counterparts tumble towards the crowd performing double and triple summersaults… and we’re still genuinely out of breath even just recounting it all.
The Manchester crowd absorbed every ounce of energy, clapping and whooping in sheer disbelief and wonder. As the story concludes the crowd are still left speechless but driven once again to fill the arena with applause.
After half a decade since the world-famous circus and entertainment group last landed in Manchester, Cirque du Soleil truly brought an experience unlike any other to the city.
We might have to wait another little while before they’re back but we sincerely recommend giving this other-worldly performance art a go if you haven’t before. Better still, they rock up to our friends over at The Hoot‘s territory for a run of shows later this week.
Lastly, if you want to find out more about every other big event coming up at the AO Arena in the first half of 2024, we’ve got a handy little list for you down below:
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 10 – 16 March 2025
Emily Sergeant
Who’s been enjoying our first taste of spring weather? Well we definitely have.
Now that March is in full swing, the temperatures have risen and the sun has been showing its face a little in recent weeks, there’s absolutely no shortage of things for the whole family to be getting up to in Greater Manchester this week – both free things, and those that’ll set you back a few pennies too.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though?
We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide, so here’s some of our recommendations.
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Manchester Irish Festival 2025
Manchester City Centre
Monday 10 – Monday 17 March
Manchester Irish Festival 2025 / Credit: Colin Home (via Supplied)
Manchester’s massive Irish Festival has returned to the city centre.
The biggest of its kind in the whole of Europe, Manchester Irish Festival is known and loved for putting on 10 whole days of Irish revelry in the heart of the city centre every year – with something for everyone of all ages to get involved with.
Taking place right through to St Patrick’s Day on Monday 17 March, you can now make the most of a jam-packed lineup of more than 100 events spanning the whole city.
Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You / Credit: Science Museum Group
You can plunge headfirst into the incredible world of our senses at a new immersive museum exhibition that’s now arrived at the Science and Industry Museum.
Back by popular demand after a successful run over these past two years, but with a fresh new adventure lined up for 2025, Operation Ouch! is giving you the chance to journey through an ear canal covered in gooey wax, squeeze past sticky snot, and delve deeper into how our brains interpret the world.
Tickets to Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You are now on sale, and visitors are being told to prepare themselves for an “epic exploration of the senses”.
This is your last chance to head to Freight Island’s Six Nations fanzone for 2025.
The iconic international tournament is finally drawing to a close this week, and so is Freight Island’s fantastic fan experience, providing an unparalleled level of excitement beyond being inside the stadium.
Having proved to be even bigger and better than last year, it’s the largest of its kind anywhere in the country, with everything from free pints and prosecco, live music, top-notch scran from Freight’s in-house vendors, and so much more.
Looking for other places to watch the Six Nations?
We’re absolutely spoiled for choice with places showing all the sporting action across Greater Manchester, so if you’re looking to get together with your mates, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to head to here.
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NEW OPENING – Oxygen Activeplay
MediaCityUK
NEW OPENING – Oxygen Activeplay / Credit: Jamie McPhilimey
A brand-new indoor activity park has now opened down at MediaCity.
Salford was chosen by Oxygen Activeplay as the location for its next venture, and the brand-new park has descended on Quayside MediaCity, just above bustling food hall Kargo MKT, following a £2.5 million investment – with state-of-the-art equipment and activities to help local families stay active whilst having fun at the same time.
The new park features more than 30 trampolines, a mega-air bag, a high ropes course, a ‘Rollglider’ aerial ride which flies over the facility, and Oxygen’s signature illuminated sensory experience ‘Excite Tunnel’, along with even more “epic” activities.
Did you see that Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025?
Taking over the reins from Bolton, which held the title in 2024. it’s now the turn of the north-eastern Greater Manchester borough of Rochdale, and the year will build on the town’s already-rich cultural history and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement.
More than 35 arts organisations will be bringing together an ambitious programme of festivals, exhibitions, events, and performances throughout the year.
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Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
In Rochdale’s case, you can expect the ‘very best local talent’, as this year is promising to put ‘people power’ centre stage, with residents helping to plan, develop, and deliver a lineup of creative activities, alongside a number of major events.
Read more about why it’s been chosen and what this means here.
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How about that Chester Zoo is giving away more than 30,000 free tickets to kids this year?
The UK’s largest charity zoo is on a mission to help nature to “survive and thrive”.
And so, in a bid to do just that, has announced that it will once again be handing out tens of thousands of tickets to schoolchildren for completely free of charge, so that they can explore the zoo up close and learn all about the inspiring work the conservation charity does.
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With the hopes of empowering as many youngsters as possible, and sparking their passion for saving species once again, the zoo has now opened the scheme back up for the 2025/26 season – with a whopping 33,000 tickets available for schools, nurseries, and colleges to claim.
Those who secure tickets will have the opportunity to visit the zoo between this November and February 2026.
Or even that one of Greater Manchester’s popular museums has been named the best free museum in the UK?
With the Easter holidays not far off, plenty of parents, carers, and guardians across Greater Manchester will likely be looking for a ways to keep the kids entertained and educated while schools are out, and without having to break the bank too.
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Luckily enough, Bolton Museum has taken the top spot in a list of the best free museums and galleries to visit in the whole of the UK.
Bolton Museum has been crowned the best free museum to visit in the UK / Credit: Bolton Council
The museum – which is on the Grade II-listed Le Mans Crescent in the town centre, and dates back to 1852 – has been a part of the leisure and education of Boltonians for over 120 years, and is home to one of the largest regional Egyptology collections in the UK, made up of over 10,000 archaeological objects.
There’s also an extensive local history section, with 38,000 objects from the 17th to 20th century relating to Bolton.
A new production of smash-hit musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang arrives in Manchester this weekend.
The truly scrumptious tale, which is centred around a magical flying car, will be taking to the stage at Manchester’s iconic Palace Theatre for a run of shows as part of its UK tour, and audiences will be whisked on a fantastical adventure to far-away lands, with inventor Caractacus Potts and his children Jemima and Jeremy, plus the beautiful Truly Scrumptious.
Famous songs by the Sherman Brothers include ‘Toot Sweets’, ‘Hushabye Mountain’, ‘Truly Scrumptious’, and the Academy Award-nominated title song, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’.
History will be rolling through Greater Manchester this weekend as loads of legendary steam trains will be showcased.
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East Lancashire Railway’s (ELR) Legends of Steam event is back again for the second year after proving so popular last spring, and this time around, there’ll be loads of iconic locomotives with ties to both film and royalty on display.
Returning from Friday 14 – Sunday 16 March, as part of the heritage railway’s ongoing 200th anniversary celebrations, well-known historic steam trains such the LNER A1 Peppercorn Class 60163 ‘Tornado ’ and the LMS Black 5 45407 ‘The Lancashire Fusilier’ will be on display, alongside a pair of ‘Bulleid’ light pacifics too.
Taking over ODEON at the Great Northern Warehouse for an annual celebration of storytelling through cinema, the city’s biggest celebration of the best new and independent film brings film lovers and filmmakers together for 10 days of screenings, Q&As, red-carpet glamour, and so much more.
Tickets and passes available now, and you can find out more about the stellar lineup of films on show this year here.
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Fancy a free slice of viral multi-layer chocolate cake? You’d be mad not to.
If you’re fed up of your friends in Leeds banging on about how good Get Baked is, then don’t worry because, the headline-grabbing independent bakery is landing in Manchester this week.
If that news wasn’t sweet enough to tempt you to the new opening as it is, they’re also giving away free slices of their viral multi-layer chocolate ‘Bertha’ cake to the first 1,000 people in the queue, so you won’t want to miss this.
Get Baked is giving out free slices of ‘Bertha’ chocolate cake / Credit: The Manc Group
Get Baked’s first ever Manchester location will be in the Northern Quarter in the heart of Stevenson Square meaning you can pair your Aperol spritz with a serving of chocolate cake this summer… can life get any better?
Find out more here.
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East Asian Food Fair
GRUB
Sunday 16 March
East Asian Food Fair / Credit: GRUB
GRUB’s much-loved East Asian Food Fair is returning for another day packed full of tasty eats this weekend.
The day-long event happening this Sunday is set to treat hungry Mancs to food from six of GRUB’s favourite street food vendors, including some newbies too, who will all be serving up delights directly from the east of Asia.
This means that, from noon right through until early evening, you can feast on Taiwanese fried chicken and Japanese Tonkatsu buns from All Fired Up, South Korean wonders from the aptly-named Korean Grub Club, and fresh noodles with a choice of toppings and drizzles from Wok Bros.
Would you like to go and see a brand-new film for free next week? Now’s your chance.
That’s right, thousands of tickets to watch the new heartwarming drama-comedy The Penguin Lessons, starring Middleton’s-own Steve Coogan, are being given away for free all across the UK this month.
It’s all part of Escapes – a project supported by the British Film Institute (BFI) and National Lottery funding giving everyone the opportunity to “enjoy the big screen experience” and “discover independent cinema”.
The Penguin Lessons / Credit: Sony Pictures Classics | Krists Luhaers (via Unsplash)
You can watch the film next Monday (17 March) before it gets its wider release to the general public later on this year.
An Edible Family in a Mobile Home – An art installation you can EAT has opened in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
People made of cake, a bathtub filled with more cake, wallpaper covered in icing – this is the newest art installation to open in Manchester, and it’s literally good enough to eat.
This is An Edible Family in a Mobile Home, a restaged piece of art that was a major feminist artwork in the 1970s.
Artist Bobby Baker has now recreated this incredible piece of work outside the Whitworth Gallery, alongside the Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990.
Step inside this prefabricated home and you’ll find different figures in each room, each one of them in some way edible.
From the father watching television in his armchair (he’s made of fruit cake) to a coconut cake baby in a crib, to a Garibaldi biscuit teenage boy lying in a bathtub of vegan chocolate cake, to a floating teenage girl made of meringue, visitors will be able to eat their way through the sculptures.
Each cake inside is made by beloved Levenshulme bakery Long Boi’s Bakehouse too, and having taken a bite of the very first slices – they’re all delicious.
The space used to stage An Edible Family in a Mobile Home is plastered floor-to-ceiling in mid-70s newspaper and magazine pages, advertising everything from secretarial jobs to cigarettes, and documenting landmark moments like the death of Elvis Presley.
These wallpaper cuttings have then been decorated with icing doodles.
There are also old radio stations playing in the kitchen, and 70s comedy on the TV.
An Edible Family in a Mobile Home at the Whitworth in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Bobby Baker’s work was first created in her prefabricated East London house in 1976, then wasn’t seen for almost 50 years until she restaged it at the Tate Britain in 2023.
And now it’s Manchester’s turn, with this impressive, playful piece in residence at the Whitworth art gallery until 20 April.
During which time, the artist’s cake ‘family’ will be steadily eaten away by the public.
This installation is possible thanks to public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Bobby Baker said: “Originally I wasn’t overtly considering the work as ‘feminist’, however over the years – and having had children and now grandchildren, I have come to realise that unpaid domestic labour is an incredibly undervalued part of life.
“It is fundamental to how the human world operates – how we look after each other and care for our children and stay healthy.
“However, domesticity and the work it requires still have words like ‘menial’ attached to it. In 1976 when people came to see Edible Family in what was my actual mobile home, they could contemplate who plays what domestic roles and why – and restaging this now, I feel that this work is still very much relevant today.”
Elsewhere in the Whitworth, ‘Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990’ features over 100 women artists and celebrates their often-unsung contribution to British culture.
An Edible Family in a Mobile Home is free to visit and is open from 7 March until 20 April,
The Manc -
2nd April 2024 
