Manchester International Festival Announces 2023 Performance Highlights

Factory International has announced the 2023 edition of Manchester International Festival (MIF) from 29 June to 16 July. Working with partners regionally and across the globe, the wide-ranging programme of original new work by an array of International Artists will take place in venues and spaces around the city and at Factory International's much-anticipated new home, which opens its doors for the first time for the Festival, in advance of its official opening in October.

Tickets for MIF23 are on sale to Factory International members from 28 March and on general sale 30 March.

Performance Commissions For The 2023 Festival Include:

• Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight bring the dystopian world of Kay Dick's masterpiece They to life in the John Rylands Library
• The world premiere of a new interpretation of Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta's cult 1977 book The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions from Philip Venables and Ted Huffman
• Dance company L-E-V and London-based record label Young come together to present a night of dance and music hosted in Manchester's iconic New Century Hall night club with music throughout from club culture icon Ben UFO
• All Right. Good Night. - an exploration into loss from award-winning German theatre group Rimini Protokoll
• The world premiere of Kimber Lee's award winning play, untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play directed by Roy Alexander Weise in collaboration with Royal Exchange Theatre, Young Vic Theatre and Headlong
• KAGAMI - a groundbreaking mixed-reality concert event created by legendary composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in collaboration with Tin Drum
• We Cut Through Dust - A collaboration between Blast Theory and Manchester Street Poem takes audiences on a walk through the city into the future
• Combining photography, choreography and theatre choreo-photolist Benji Reid will create live photographs in front of an audience in Find Your Eyes.
• Award-winning cabaret legend Justin Vivian Bond headlines a night of trans excellence~
• Manchester Collective And Slung Low Present a vibrant new staging of Benjamin Britten's community opera, Noah's Flood featuring Lemn Sissay live as the voice of God and 180 schoolchildren as every bird and beast under the sun

Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Factory International & Manchester International Festival John McGrath said: "From the radical and agenda setting to the purest of celebrations, MIF23's programme covers a huge range of art forms and styles - from a ritual on the banks of a newly uncovered river, to mixed reality from one of Japan's greatest composers. A genuine melting pot of creativity where artists share their ideas with each other and the public, the Festival will once again take the temperature of our times, and imagine possibilities for the future."

For the full festival programme, please visit factoryinternational.org

They

Imagine a near-future where creative expression is outlawed, all art eradicated and any resistance takes enormous courage.

Would it be enough to go on quietly creating for yourself? To memorise your favourite passages before all books disappear? What is art without an audience or a debate?

For MIF23, Kay Dick's dystopian masterpiece They: A Sequence of Unease, is brought to life as a live performance created by Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight. First published in 1977, the novel went out of print for decades but was recently re-discovered and feels more relevant than ever. Step through the doors of the iconic John Rylands Library, and into a dystopian world - as Maxine performs an afterhours reading of They.

The adaptation is their latest Festival collaboration, following The Masque of Anarchy, The Skriker and The Nico Project, which celebrated radical acts and artists. They marks the trio's first production as the newly-formed company MAAT - a collective adventure to make new work in conversation with Music, Art, Activism and Theatre.

Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom, Imogen Knight said: "In a climate of escalating culture wars, the erosion of Arts in education and a continuing political disregard for the value of creativity in building a fair society, They speaks truth to power. It celebrates the importance of making art as a means of survival and resistance and rich inspiration to make something for the times we find ourselves in right now."

Creative Team

Kay Dick - Original Writer

Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight - Adaptation

Commissioned and produced by Factory International for Manchester International Festival.

The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions

Composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman present a world premiere musical adaptation of Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta's cult 1977 book The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, reimagining the history of the world through a queer lens with a cast of actors, singers and musicians. The ultimate anarchic bedtime story in which fables and myths celebrate queer community and conjure up a world on the brink of revolution with battle re-enactments, cheerleading, and all night raves mixed with lute songs and court dances.

Step into a world where fables and myths celebrate queer community, friendship and pleasure: a manifesto for survival for the marginalised everywhere. A joyful celebration of queer experience that's both vulnerable and provocative. A space where deeply personal stories are shared and soothed through community. In this musical adaptation the original text is taken on a kaleidoscopic journey by a cast of actors, singers and musicians.

Philip Venables said: "Faggots and their Friends is both a joyful and sinister bedtime story, a playful re-telling of 'how we got where we are today', with song, music, dancing, improvisation, storytelling and heaps of glorious faggotry. I've never made anything as free, as open and celebratory as this before, so I'm incredibly excited to present it to Manchester audiences."

Creative Team

Philip Venables Music

Ted Huffman Direction & Text

Yshani Perinpanayagam Music Direction

Theo Clinkard Choreography & Costume Design

Rosie Elnile Set Design

Simon Hendry Sound Design

Scottee Dramaturg

Commissioned by Factory International, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele and NYU Skirball. Produced by Factory International for Manchester International Festival.

Under exclusive licence and courtesy by Nightboat Books, New York.

R.O.S.E

L-E-V & Young with Ben UFO

Dance company L-E-V and London-based record label Young come together to present a night of dance and music hosted in Manchester's iconic New Century Hall night club. R.O.S.E brings the dark hedonism of Sharon Eyal's choreography and artistry of the L-E-V dancers off the stage and onto the dancefloor.

The evening features new music curated by Young for L-E-V. Club culture icon Ben UFO DJs throughout, playing for both the dancers during performances and the audience between.

R.O.S.E is for everyone - an invitation to watch, to dance, to come together on the floor and celebrate the freedom, energy and intimacy that run through club culture and dance.Itis a collaboration between L-E-V led by Sharon Eyal, an award-winning choreographer, and her artistic director and long-term collaborator Gai Behar, and the London-based multi-arts and record label Young, founded by Caius Pawson.

L-E-V are known the world-over for their intoxicating and boundary-blurring choreography, while Young are long-time collaborators of MIF. Young artists have provided unforgettable MIF moments over the years; from The xx performing 18 intimate shows at a secret location throughout MIF13 to FKA Twigs inviting fans behind the scenes of her MIF15 show - and from Jamie xx composing the score for MIF15's highly-acclaimed Tree of Codes and Sampha playing an intimate sell-out gig at MIF17.

L-E-V & Young with Ben UFO

Commissioned by Factory International and Sadler's Wells
Produced by Factory International for Manchester International Festival

All Right. Good Night.

One of the biggest mysteries in the history of modern travel merges with a personal story from Helgard Haug, director and co-founder of the award-winning German theatre group Rimini Protokoll in All right. Good night. In 2014, a flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members took off from Kuala Lumpur, heading towards Beijing but the plane disappeared from radar. Shortly after the disappearance, Haug's own father developed dementia. This powerful UK premiere is a meditation on disappearance, loss and how to deal with uncertainty. Performed live with a haunting contemporary score from Barbara Morgenstern and arranger Davor Vincze, this poignant production makes its UK premiere at MIF23. Expect a captivating new performance from Berlin-based Rimini Protokoll, one of Europe's leading contemporary theatre groups - and the team behind MIF19's visionary Utopolis.

Director and co-founder of Rimini Protokoll Helgard Haug said: "We started with the question: What happens to the theatre when the implicitness of human presence disappears in a performance? What remains then? Only thoughts and memory? The naked theatre apparatus? The music?"

Creative Team

Written and Directed by Helgard Haug

Music by Barbara Morgenstern

A production of Rimini Apparat in co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Volkstheater Wien, Factory International for Manchester International Festival, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, PACT Zollverein.

untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play

'Very well. I will do what I must do, Mother.'

Winner of the inaugural Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2019, International Award, the powerful world premiere of Kimber Lee's untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play is directed by Roy Alexander Weise, and designed by Moi Tran for the Royal Exchange Theatre as part of MIF23

Kim is having one of those days. A terrible, very bad, no-good kind of day, and the worst part is...it all feels so familiar. Caught up in a never-ending cycle of events, she looks for the exit but the harder she tries, the worse it gets and she begins to wonder: who's writing this story? She makes a break for it, smashing through a hundred years of bloody narratives that all end the same way. Can she find a way out before it's too late?

The anticipated production, co-produced with the Young Vic and Headlong, jumps through time - wriggling inside of and then exploding lifetimes of repeating Asian stereotypes, wrestling history for the right to control your own narrative in a world that thinks it can tell you who you are.

Kimber Lee said: "For me, this play is a way to transform the provenance of very old pain into a joyful shout, a burst of laughter, and a journey to freedom. At its core, the play celebrates the unbreakable thing at the core of a human being, this thing that comes alive through connection if we're willing to reckon with the truth, to actually see one another. These past few years have cost us all so much, not least the ability to gather together and laugh, and Roy and I are absolutely thrilled to finally be able to invite audiences into the hilarious rollercoaster ride we're constructing, to laugh out loud fully and without reserve in a room full of people -- come thru!"

Following its Manchester run, the play will transfer to the Young Vic later in the autumn.

Creative Team

Kimber Lee - Writer

Roy Alexander Weise - Director

Moi Tran - Designer

Produced by Royal Exchange Theatre, Factory International for Manchester International Festival, Young Vic Theatre and Headlong.

KAGAMI by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum

A groundbreaking mixed-reality concert event created by legendary composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in collaboration with Tin Drum

KAGAMI represents a new kind of concert, fusing dimensional moving photography with the real world to create a never-before-experienced mixed reality presentation.

Audiences are invited to wear optically transparent devices to view the virtual Sakamoto performing on piano alongside dimensional art aligned with the music. Presented in surround sound, the experience is both collective and individual, inviting observers to connect to the work - and each other - throughout.

While audiences may view the show in a seated format, they are also free to wander and explore during the hour-long event.

Sakamoto is an international sensation, with a body of work spanning from electronic to classical composition and performance, including original scores for Oscar-winning films such as The Last Emperor and The Revenant. KAGAMI brings Sakamoto into collaboration with Tin Drum - the world's premier studio producing content for mixed reality devices.

Reflecting on the collaboration, Sakamoto writes:

There is, in reality, a virtual me.
This virtual me will not age, and will continue to play the piano for years, decades, centuries.
Will there be humans then?
Will the squids that will conquer the earth after humanity listen to me?
What will pianos be to them?
What about music?
Will there be empathy there?

Empathy that spans hundreds of thousands of years.
Ah, but the batteries won't last that long.

"In my mind, Ryuichi Sakamoto may be the most complete artist of all time. His whole career has been a relentless pursuit of innovation and beauty," says KAGAMI Director Todd Eckert. "With KAGAMI, he is presented in concert through mixed reality--a recorded event presented in real time. This makes him the first immortal musician, in a way, and I cannot imagine anyone more fitting for the distinction."

Produced by Tin Drum, in association with The Shed and Factory International for Manchester International Festival.

We Cut Through Dust

A collaboration between Blast Theory and Manchester Street Poem, We Cut Through Dust takes audiences on a walk through the city into the future guided by a series of phone calls. Set in a world not too far from now, the walk starts at a location where your mobile phone triggers a giant mechanical sign to open, and the story begins. At a time when everyone has experienced their own kind of science fiction, We Cut Through Dust hovers somewhere between the real and the fantastical, where something is not quite right. Blast Theory is an artist group which makes interactive work exploring social and political questions, and Manchester Street Poem is a co-produced art collective whose work reflects the personal experiences of Manchester's marginalised communities.

Ju Row Farr, Artist and Co-Founder of Blast Theory said: "We've always been huge fans of MIF and so we're thrilled to be taking our latest project, We Cut Through Dust, to Manchester this summer. We Cut Through Dust has been made in collaboration with Manchester Street Poem who are an amazing group of people and a force of nature. Working with them is taking us to a new creative places."

Creative Team

Blast Theory and Manchester Street Poem

Commissioned by Factory International for Manchester International Festival

Produced by Blast Theory

Find Your Eyes

Known for award-winning Afro-futurist images that seem to defy gravity, Benji Reid invites us to watch him at play as he creates live photography in this genre-bending show, Find Your Eyes.

A choreo-photolist, Benji combines photography, choreography and theatre to make striking and surreal images which speak to his experiences as a Black man in the UK today. The world premiere of his new show at MIF23 exposes the making of this work - a behind-the-scenes look at Benji's life and practice where the stage becomes a studio.

Choreographing three performers, Benji will create live photographs in front of an audience, interlacing the action with recollection of resonant moments from his life. Using photography as a lifeline and anchor point to explore personal struggles, this is a show about the artistic process. Bold and vulnerable, full of light and shade, Find Your Eyes is an ode to reinvention.

Benji Reid said: "This performance is a culmination of all my practices, from popping to contemporary to physical theatre to directing to photography. This work is a dance between all forms framed as a meditation in the artist's studio."

Creative Team

Benji Reid - Concept, Direction, Photography and Text

Andrew Wong - Creative Associate & Sound Designer

Ti Green - Set Designer

Liam Hopkins - 3D Designer & Maker

Saskia Lenaerts - Costume Designer

Benji Reid & Performers - Choreography

Tupac Martir - Lighting Designer

Keisha Thompson - Dramaturg

Cast

Benji Reid

Slate Hemedi, Salomé Pressac and Yvonne Smink - Performers

Andrew Wong - DJ

Lee Grey - Stage Manager & Camera Assistant

Commissioned by Factory International, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and Black Achievement Month and Taipe Performing Arts Center

Produced by Factory International for Manchester International Festival.

Justin Vivian Bond: One Night in Trans Vegas

A living legend of cabaret headlines a night of trans excellence.

Trans pioneer and icon of the cabaret scene, Justin Vivian Bond (or Viv to friends) has toured worldwide - headlining the likes of Sydney Opera House and New York's Carnegie Hall. For one night only, Viv touches down in Manchester with a raucous and seductive evening of songs and stories - along with some very special guests. A true master of their craft, expect wit, warmth and gorgeous vocals, dotted with backstage anecdotes and tall tales straight from the streets of New York - and anywhere else Viv has whipped up a storm.

One Night In Trans Vegas sees MIF partner with Trans Creative, the UK's leading trans arts festival for the grand finale of their 2023 edition. Culminating in a trans-led takeover of Festival Square, Viv's appearance is the jewel in the crown of a night of trans joy and excellence.

As a performer, both on and Off-Broadway, Viv has received some of the highest accolades in theatre - winning an Obie and a Bessie, as well as being nominated for a Tony Award. The New Yorker didn't call them 'the greatest cabaret artist of their generation' for nothing. A tireless campaigner for trans rights, they also pioneered the use of the pronoun Mx.

Produced by TransCreative and Factory International for Manchester International Festival

Noah's Flood

In this vibrant staging of Benjamin Britten's community opera, director Alan Lane tells a story of hope and survival, featuring Lemn Sissay live as the voice of God and 180 schoolchildren as every bird and beast under the sun.

When Britten wrote this show, he was determined to create parts for as many performers as possible - no matter their musical experience. True to this vision, a cast of world-class musicians will join forces with an army of performers from communities in Holbeck and Manchester to bring this ancient story to life.

Alongside the orchestra of Manchester Collective, the score features a motley crew of recorders, wind machines, mugs that you hit with sticks, bugles, an organ and a trio of belting hymns for everyone to join in with.

Family-friendly and open to all, this is a show about the joys of working together and using the tools you have around you to get creative - your voice included.

Adam Szabo, Artistic Director & Chief Executive, Manchester Collective said: "Noah's Flood is a totally unique work - it's part of a rich operatic tradition, but with sharing, inclusion and community at its beating heart. A joyful spirit of collaboration runs through the piece, making it the ideal debut for Manchester Collective and Slung Low to perform at MIF 2023. This production will showcase British opera at its very finest, made in the north, for the people, by the people."

Alan Lane, Artistic Director, Slung Low said: "It's rare to get the chance to work with so many partners who share your values but with Noah's Flood we are so lucky. All of us working on this project, in our own ways, believe passionately in the need for the arts to reach every part of our communities, of our cities and of our nation. And so from Holbeck, an amazing place in South Leeds full of creativity and magic but with the worst health outcomes of the any ward in England and facing so many of the challenges that blight too much of Britain, 180 of the most creative primary schoolchildren will don animal costumes and make their way to perform with the amazing Manchester Collective and Lemn Sissay in the most impressive, newest theatre in the UK. And if that isn't living your best values through the work that you make then I don't know what is."

Noah's Flood is a Slung Low and Manchester Collective co-production in association with Leeds People's Theatre, Ingram Road Primary School, LEEDS 2023 and Factory International for Manchester International Festival. The production will also play in Leeds on 7 July.