A new installation at The Factory has given the public a chance to look inside the under-construction £186 million landmark arts complex for the first time.
Although still predominantly a building site and not due to open its doors fully until next year – with budget issues and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic cited as reasoning – audiences were invited inside The Factory this past weekend to experience major new sound and light installation Arcadia.
Created by theatre and opera director Deborah Warner and partly-inspired by a painting of Manchester by William Wyld, Arcadia saw a field of luminous tents emitting an original sound composition that wove together some of the greatest nature poetry ever written, by poets including Sappho, John Clare, WB Yeats, G. E. Patterson, Seamus Heaney, Jackie Kay, Simon Armitage, Alice Oswald and Sabrina Mahfouz, among many others.
It featured recorded contributions from several leading Northern actors and musicians including Jonathan Pryce, Jane Horrocks, RoxXxan, Brian Cox, Simon Russell Beale, Lioness and David Thewlis.
Arcadia was designed as a space for “thought and reflection” / Credit: MIF / Andrew BrookesAudiences were invited to wander freely through the space to connect with nature / Credit: MIF / Andrew Brookes
Arcadia was designed as a space for “thought and reflection”.
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Audiences were invited to wander freely through the space to connect with nature and consider “the relationship between the urban and the rural”.
“It has been enormously exciting to create a project for MIF inviting the public into The Factory for the very first time,” said Deborah Warner.
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“It’s been thrilling to watch this extraordinary landmark building take concrete form from the core of one lift shaft, to its present stage of well-defined auditoria, rehearsal spaces, loading docks and offices.
“The Factory will not only change the cultural face of Manchester, but that of the UK, Europe and the world.”
John McGrath – Artistic Director at & Chief Executive of MIF and The Factory – added: “We are delighted to welcome such a visionary director to this year’s festival to transform a space that will ultimately play a crucial role in the future of Manchester and the arts internationally.
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“This work has created an opportunity for audiences to encounter The Factory as it is being shaped and invites them to reflect on the juxtaposition of urban and rural.”
The Factory will be a “world-class cultural space” once it opens in 2022 / Credit: MIF / OMA
The Factory – being developed by Manchester City Council in partnership with Manchester International Festival (MIF) – will be a “world-class cultural space” in the heart of the city centre and the year-round home for MIF once it opens in 2022, with a programme of groundbreaking, and interdisciplinary work by leading artists from across the globe.
The landmark building is setting out to be one of the “largest, most ambitious, and most versatile purpose-built arts spaces in the world”.
Featured Image – MIF / Andrew Brookes
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Elbow teams up with Co-op Live to donate equipment to Manchester grassroots venues
Thomas Melia
Bury band Elbow have joined forces with Manchester’s biggest indoor arena, Co-op Live, in aid of supporting local grassroots venues.
The funds will help improve the already incredible music scene in Manchester, benefitting staples likes Night and Day Café, Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club, SOUP and more.
All of the donations will be distributed across six independent music venues and will be used for various instruments, PA equipment, backline technology and other necessities depending on the requirements of each site.
Elbow have teamed up with Co-op Live in aid of supporting Manchester grassroots venues.Credit: Supplied
This initiative has been keeping Manchester’s Northern Quarter in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to live music as well as the impressive Co-op Live.
Alongside providing vital resources for these local institutions, Elbow teaming up with Co-op Live also helps cement the North West as one of the main powerhouses in relation to live music.
The latest efforts from the largest indoor arena in Manchester fall in line with celebrating one year of bringing some of the best live music to the city, being officially open for 12 months in May.
Co-op Live have made a commitment to the people and the planet, promising to donate £1 million annually to the Co-op Foundation.
The stunning Co-op Live venue, Manchester’s largest indoor arena.Elbow performing at Co-op Live, marking history as the first act to grace the venue.Credit: Audio North/Supplied
Manchester’s latest live music venue also contributed significantly to selected charities, including Happy Doggo – chosen by Liam Gallagher and Eric Clapton’s addiction recovery centre, Crossroads.
As Elbow teams up with Co-op Live, even more money is making its way to necessary resources, this time in the likes of crucial live music establishments.
Elbow front-person Guy Garvey says: “Playing Co-op Live’s opening night will stay with us for a lifetime, not least because of how incredible the room sounded.”
“When the venue donated funds in our name to support the city we love, it made complete sense to carry that through to the Northern Quarter and to venues that have meant so much to my bandmates and I throughout our career.”
Guy Dunstan, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Co-op Live, adds: “In the past year, I have been proud to see Co-op Live become an integral part of such an incredible city.”
“Teaming up with Elbow to directly support the venues that first put Manchester on the map, and to share something so intrinsic to us as venues – proper sound – is something truly special.”
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon to kick off UK tour in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Multi award-winning musical Sunny Afternoon is set to kick off its UK tour here in Manchester later this year.
Following a sell-out run at Hampstead Theatre, the musical production featuring all the hit songs by legendary rock band The Kinks opened to critical acclaim at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, where it ran for two years ahead of its sensational UK and Ireland tour throughout 2016/17.
It also collected four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical and Outstanding Achievement in Music for Ray Davies, along the way.
Award-winning The Kinks musical Sunny Afternoon is kicking off its UK tour in Manchester / Credit: ATG Tickets
Set against the backdrop of Britain on the cusp of the rebellious 60s,Sunny Afternoon is described as being an ‘exhilarating and moving’ celebration of the music, life, and the band that changed it all, The Kinks.
Sunny Afternoon celebrates The Kinks’ raw energy, passion, and timeless sound.
Charting the ‘euphoric highs’ and ‘agonising lows’, the smash-hit production tells the band’s story through an incredible back catalogue of chart-toppers – including ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Lola’, ‘All Day and All of the Night’, and of course, ‘Sunny Afternoon’ itself.
Tickets are on sale now from just £15 each / Credit: Kevin Cummins
Producers Sonia Friedman Productions and ATG Productions announced last week that the show would be returning for another UK tour later this year, and it’ll be opening right here on one of Manchester‘s most iconic stages.
The hit musical will open at Manchester’s Palace Theatre on 10 October 2025 and it will run right through until 18 October.
Sunny Afternoon has music and lyrics, and an original story, all by the band’s frontman Ray Davies, along with a book by Joe Penhall, direction by Edward Hall, design by Miriam Buether, and choreography by Adam Cooper.
Emily Sergeant -
13th July 2021 
