Contact: Spring season 2010
THIS spring, Contact launches itself into a new decade with a fresh programme of dance, drama, poetry and music, that finds three of their key partner companies presenting productions.
Hip-hop theatre specialists Pen-ultimate will be debuting A Night On The Tiles, a spoken-word story of high-stakes gangster Scrabble; Liverpool-based 20 Stories High will be exploring the topical issue of knife crime in Ghost Boy; and Fink On will be bringing back their incisive look at the Strangeways riots, Crying In The Chapel, 10 years after it was originally staged.
Other highlights include Lemn Sissay’s autobiographical tour of his life Why I Don’t Hate White People; Fittings Multimedia Arts look at the life of Ian Dury in Raspberry; and the return of David Hoyle for his anti-Valentine’s Day spectacular, Forward Into Battle In The Name Of Love.
The season opens on January 22 when Hercules Productions presents a preview of the show Space Dread. A taster of the full show to come in 2011 by Shameless star Marcus Hercules, this is the futuristic story of a young rebel who is sent to the end of time; and the ticket price includes a post-show talk and music in the foyer.
On January 30, there’s another sneak peak ahead with Uprising, showcasing the forthcoming shows and regular events from Eggs Collective, Gathered Earth, Shot In The Dark, Contact Playback, Mixed Movement and Young Identity.
On Wednesday and Thursday February 3 and 4, Julie McNamara’s “modern-day fable with a big heart” Crossings tells the tale of Shelley. Fifteen and pregnant, she wants out of the gang. But you don’t do that, do you? Seeking shelter on an old ferry boat, she is challenged by two voices from the distant past questioning everything she holds dear. Are they for or against her and will she ever get out of this alive?
Previewing on February 4, then running until February 13, A Night On The Tiles lifts the veil on the seedy world of underground gangster Scrabble. It is directed by Montserrat Gili (Dende Collective) with help from US hip-hop pioneer Will Power.
From Tuesday, February 9, Queer Cabaret is a celebration of queer cabaret, film, music, spoken word and performance including HBO Def Poetry Jam favourite, Regie Cabico; the new film version of Rikki Beadle-Blair’s FIT; Switchflicker Records; and Dominic Berry.
It runs until February 13, the date for David Hoyle’s Forward Into Battle In The Name Of Love, a unique take on unconventional, unconditional love and its trappings.
2Faced Dance Company’s Still Breathing (February 16) is an all-male piece set to a specially-commissioned score, while the estimable Wylie Longmore directs Conor McKee’s Burnt from
February 17 to 19. It is a drama that tests the limits of love and friendship.
Saturday, February 20, is the date for a special Mixed Movement launch event featuring renowned Indian classical dancer Kanchan Maradan, with a Carnival Brazil after-party, while Thursday, February 25, sees Playback Contact, with improvisational theatre, music, movement and freestyle hip hop, hosted by Baba Israel.
March kicks off with a bang as 20 Stories High, Contact and The Birmingham Repertory Company present Ghost Boy (March 3 to-16), fusing grime, dubstep, ska, puppetry, hip-hop theatre, street art and dance.
On March 11, Play Space – The Beta Test is an evening exploring the collision of live performance and video games, hosted by Baba Israel. There will be a call for proposals and a prize of £500 to develop new work.
A week later brings Why I Don’t Hate White People, a whirlwind tour of one man’s life written and performed by Lemn Sissay. The child of an unlikely liaison between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Wigan social services, Lemn grew up in the small villages of Lancashire. Now he presents the most serious of subjects through “a journey of mental gymnastics and laughter.” (March 18-20).
From March 22 to 26, the theatre’s near neighbour the University of Manchester presents its Palavar Festival, featuring productions from several of their departments and societies, while Community Arts North West curate Tower Of Babel, a three-day celebration of multilingual performance by the many voices of Greater Manchester from March 24-26.
It includes Film Jam, a showcase of short films by aspiring film-makers and Manchester’s most talented video and sound artists; Exodus Cabaret, with Latin American beats, African rhythms, Asian sounds and cutting edge rap in Arabic, French, Bangla and more; and A Celebration Of Kurdish Culture, including the first performance by Kurdish vocal group Sulemanya alongside new theatre exploring the lives of Kurdish women and home an in exile.
Comedy duo Ashley J (EastEnders) & Tee-J (CBBC’s Kerching) host Acting Up, a live improvised comedy game show, where the audience are in the judges’ seat on April 1. Umpired by DJ Joe Grime, two teams of performers go head-to-head creating comical versions of songs, adverts and well known films from audience suggestions.
The Contact Young Actors Company’s Spring Show, directed by Kully Thiari, runs from April 8-10 and celebrates the life of playwright and Contacting The World founder Noel Grieg.
Described as “8 Mile meets 1984” the multi-award winning, The Rebel Cell (April 15-17) is also an experimental new form of hip-hop performance starring rappers Baba Brinkman and Dizraeli.
Inspired by the life and songs of Ian Dury, Fittings Multimedia Arts’ Raspberry is a piece of music theatre that muses on the idea of perfection and perfectability.
It runs from April 23 to 24, before Why Me?, by Ben Moores, “brings back our childish inquisitiveness and sense of wonder, exploring the pressure to conform and the difficulty of choice” from April 28 to 29.
The season comes to a powerful close with the return of Fink On’s Crying In The Chapel: Strangeways – An Inside Account from April 26 to May 8. Ten years after it was first performed at Contact, Fink On return with theatre that pulls no punches in highlighting the treatment of the inmates before, during and after the Strangeways riots of 1990.
Published: Fri, 08 January, 2010
Comment on this article
You need to be logged in to comment. Login | Register