An immersive circus show described as being “breathtakingly beautiful” is coming to Greater Manchester next week.
Set to take over a rarely-seen area of The Lowry building for what is expected to be an “unmissable event”, the all-female Chicago-based circus company, Aloft, will be bringing their critically-acclaimed Brave Spaceshow to Salford for the first time ever.
Known for being “a celebration of female strength and power”, Brave Space is now touring across Europe after it received five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year.
There’s only two UK tour dates in the calendar, and one of those is Salford.
Inspired by the idea of creating trusting communities in trying and dangerous times, Brave Space starts as a puddle of 250-yards of fabric on the floor, and then, with the help of the audience, grows into a massive blanket fort and a “world of hope” that includes everything from interdependent acts of aerial arts, and acrobatics, to juggling, balancing on eight-foot high poles, and more.
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A ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ immersive circus is taking over a rarely-seen area of The Lowry theatre / Credit: The Lowry
Audiences will get to go behind the scenes into a rarely-seen area of theatre building as they experience an innovative circus “like never before”.
Described as being a show that’s “impossible” to perform without an audience, as the audience itself becomes an active part of the show, each act in Brave Space is designed to physically draw spectators into the experience of “putting themselves on the line for the safety and wellbeing of at-risk members of a community”.
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Activities the audience is encouraged to get involved in include helping to raise the tent, holding ropes that keep trapeze artists aloft, and even sometimes standing so close to the performers that you can hear their hearts beating… apparently.
“Brave Space was created as an antidote to the horrors of daily news cycle,” explained Circus Artist and Director, Shayna Swanson.
“It’s not a “safe space,” but, an immersive performance that requires the audience and artists to show up as their best selves, encouraging them to care of themselves and those around them. I wanted to create a show that felt like the opposite of The Handmaid’s Tale – something empowering, and I wanted to create the world I want to live in, even if it only exists for an hour at a time.”
Brave Space will run at The Lowry from Thursday 18 – Saturday 20 July, and you can find out more information and grab tickets here.
Featured Image – The Lowry
Theatre
Five historic Greater Manchester theatres named as ‘at risk’ of closure
Emily Sergeant
Five historic theatres in Greater Manchester have sadly been named as being ‘at risk’ of closure on an annual list.
Each January, Theatres Trust – a charity campaigning to protect the UK’s theatres – publishes its annual Theatres at Risk Register, highlighting a number of theatres across the UK that are under threat of closure, redevelopment, or severe decay, but all of which have the potential to be revived for their local communities with the right support.
This year’s list is made up of 43 buildings – five of which are in Greater Manchester, and have all featured in the past.
Each of the buildings named by Theatres Trust this year have been noted for their architectural merit, cultural heritage, or value to the local community as a performance venue.
The five venues in Greater Manchester are the Grade II-listed Tameside Theatre in Ashton-under-Lyne, Co-op Hall in the Bury town of Ramsbottom, Victoria Theatre in Salford, the famous Hulme Hippodrome, and Manchester’s oldest surviving theatre building, the Theatre Royal.
Alongside the five venues within our region, there are also a number of other venues listed across the North West as a whole.
Several venues in Lancashire have been named, including two in Blackpool and one in Morecambe, both on the coast, as well as Epstein Theatre in Liverpool and the Garrick Theatre in Southport.
Five historic Greater Manchester theatres have been named as ‘at risk’ of closure / Credit: Flickr
Theatres Trust has added five more theatres to the list this year too, all local authority owned and located outside of major cities, one of which is the Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre in Lancashire, named at risk due to pressures on local authority budgets, leading to Councils seeking savings by closing their theatres.
Some good news, however, is that since the list began in 2006, more than 80 theatres have been restored, revived, or had a suitable replacement built.
And on a more local note, Theatre Royal Hyde has been removed from the 2025 Theatres at Risk Register, as although it has not returned to theatrical use, it is being maintained and used by its current owners, so the threat of harm to the building has been greatly reduced.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
Theatre
An unmissable Whitney Houston tribute event is returning to Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
A much-adored and cherished Whitney Houston tribute show is returning to Greater Manchester later this year for not one but two different shows, each channelling the charisma and energy of the pop legend.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the phenomenal theatre production, ‘Queen of the Night’, the show is visiting a multitude of stages and venues all across the UK.
0161 had to receive at least one date on this tour, partly due to being the music capital of the North and also due to the fact that this is a city many fans of the 80s diva will forever hold close to their hearts.
Houston played her final ever concert performance of her career here in this very city back in 2010, taking up residence in AO Arena for two nights of world-renowned ballads and mesmerising live vocals.
This tribute show is set to include some of the diva’s biggest and much-loved hits like ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘How Will I Know’ and ‘The Greatest Love of All’, the audience is sure to be singing along.
Adenike Adewale is taking on the role of the American R’n’B Pop singer and is no stranger to the stage or TV, featuring on The Voice in 2021 where she sang a Whitney classic, making it to the semi-finals.
Fast forward to 1 June and the tour returns to Greater Manchester and legendary city centre space, Bridgewater Hall: an incredible room more than fit for renditions of the powerhouse vocalist.
A pair of stunning venues, two stunning shows and one incomparable voice.
It’s not only our lovely region the Queen of the Night experience will be visiting; our friends over at The Hoot have plenty of nearby opportunities to sing along too, with Yorkshire dates in Hull, Halifax, Harrogate and Bradford to name a few.
I’m definitely saving all my love for when this show visits us later this year in March, and after I buy out the front row for all my friends I’ll certainly relate to the smash 1993 single ‘I Have Nothing’.
Tickets are on sale already now – you can grab yours HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
8th July 2024 
