Jack Rooke's GOOD GRIEF and Kieran Hurley's HEADS UP Come To HOME Manchester

Two hit shows are heading to Manchester in May as part of HOME's programme of thought-provoking and innovative theatre in the venue's Theatre 2 space for spring/summer 2017.

Writer and comedian Jack Rooke celebrates finding happiness after tragedy in Jack Rooke: Good Grief (Wed 17 - Fri 19 May 2017). Rooke's critically acclaimed debut show blends comedy, storytelling and film to explore how we treat the bereaved and the state of welfare for grieving families.

With a coffin full of sympathy snacks, Jack Rooke and his 85-year old nan, Sicely, invite you to the happiest town in Britain, where dad's dead and the only thing to eat is lasagne.

Nominated as Best Show by an Emerging Artist in the Total Theatre Awards in 2015, Jack Rooke: Good Grief was subsequently commissioned by BBC Comedy for a Radio 4 programme, and Jack will soon have his own three-part series on BBC3. Presented by Soho Theatre and Jack Rooke, Good Grief comes to HOME as part of a national tour.

For more information, see here; watch a short trailer here.

In Heads Up (Thu 18 - Sat 20 May 2017), multi award-winning (The Scotsman Fringe First Winner, 2016 Edinburgh Festival) writer and performer Kieran Hurley weaves a picture of a familiar city at its moment of destruction, asking what would we do if we found ourselves at the end of our world as we know it.

A city. Just like this. Right now. A teenage girl boils up in rage in a toilet cubicle. A finance worker preaches doom in a busy train station. An absurd coke-addled celebrity races through town on a mission. A paranoid stoner stares blankly at the endless disasters on the TV news. In just one moment, all their worlds will end.

"Heads Up is about living in a world built on disaster," explains Hurley. "It's about how we make sense of our lives in the context of global catastrophe; economic, environmental and humanitarian. It's difficult to say what the impulse behind making it is, beyond needing to deal with the feeling of incredible anxiety I sometimes have when reading the news.

"There are some jokes too, though, don't worry. It bears a clear relationship to some of my previous work if you liked that, but it's also unlike anything I've made before. I'm trying out some entirely new approaches as a performer, through a really innovative sound design by Michael John McCarthy which I'll be controlling and operating from the stage."

Heads Up is directed by Julia Taudevin and Alex Swift, with music by Michael John McCarthy.

For more information, see here; watch a short trailer here.