Manchester International Festival’s wide-ranging plan for MIF 2025 this summer again brings world premieres to the city, including performances by members of the Royal Ballet from Covent Garden; Lancashire-born musician and choreographer Blackhaine, and the Royal Exchange Theatre Company.
The new play at the Royal Exchange is Liberation, by writer Ntombizodwa Nyoni, and is directed by Monique Touko. Commissioned and staged by the Royal Exchange Theatre 80 years after the Fifth Pan African Congress in Manchester in 1945, it explores the private lives of activists who fought to end colonial rule in Africa. It runs from June 27-July 26.
At Aviva Studios, the festival’s base, the Royal Ballet and MIF will collaborate to create A Single Man, with Edward Watson in the central role, based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood. Its creator is Jonathan Watkins, with an original score by composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman, including multi-instrumentalist Fiona Brice and songs from singer-songwriter John Grant (who will perform live). Isherwood’s portrait of queer love and loss is reimagined as a contemporary ballet and performed by Royal Ballet dancers and guest artists.
Watson recently retired as a Royal Ballet principal after a long and distinguished career, and will celebrate his 50th birthday next year. He won an Olivier award in 2012 for his performance as Gregor Samsa in Arthur Pita’s interpretation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and the Prix Benois de la Danse in 2015 for his performance in Christopher Wheeldon's The Winter’s Tale at the Royal Ballet, and was awarded the MBE in the same year. A Single Man runs from July 2-6.
Rapper and choreographer Blackhaine (real name Tom Heyes) will take over event space Diecast in Ducie Street, Manchester, for And Now I Know What Love Is (July 9-19), with a company of dancers. Taking inspiration from the urban landscapes of North West England, it is described as an immersive performance blending choreography and sound.
The 2025 festival, now under creative director Low Kee Hong, will be the first within a fully-operational Aviva Studios, and will partner with HOME, the Royal Exchange, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Halle, as well as using city streets and presenting works in Rochdale and Wigan. The hope is for around 800 local people and 600 children to take part, with 160 young people in a schools showcase in its Festival Square and schoolchildren from all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs working alongside artists to create The Inheritance - a collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories and objects at Manchester Art Gallery.
There will also be three weekends of community activities, curated by MIF’s “neighbourhood organisers”, who will be hosts at afternoons of cabaret, performance and comedy.
More info and tickets here
Fiona Brice (A Single Man); Blackhain (And Now I Know What Love Is); Jonathan Watkins (A Single Man)