Cruel Tales Of Youth coming to Contact

The lives of teenagers on the streets of three European cities take centre stage in Cruel Tales Of Youth, a new show produced by acclaimed Italian multi-media company Motus and jointly presented by Contact, Manchester and Queer Up North International Festival.

Marking Motus’s first performance in the UK,  Cruel Tales Of Youth appears at Contact on May 22nd and 23rd.

Inspired by Europe’s vibrant youth culture the production was developed through an intensive period of research and rehearsal. Visiting Ravenna (Italy), Valencia (Spain) and Berlin (Germany) Motus filmed, interviewed and auditioned the teenagers they met on the streets, drawing on their experiences to craft a performance exploring issues of identity, consumerism and loneliness in post-industrial Western society. Interweaving art forms and theatrical techniques the result is a truly original composition that moves beyond the boundaries of genre. A self-styled ‘show-experiment’ Cruel Tales Of Youth is part gig, part film, part dance, part performance art.

Founded in 1991 by Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Niccoló Motus are pioneers in their field. Fusing traditional movement with epic-scale computer animation, cutting-edge music and documentary film their work is characteristically bold, brash and visually ravishing. Multiple winners of Italy’s acclaimed Ubu Prize for dance their repertoire has toured extensively across the US and Europe.

Queer Up North is Manchester's international queer festival. The first of its type in Europe, Queer Up North commissions, produces and presents a diverse, annual programme of live performance, art and ideas. Since its inception in 1992 the festival has commission over 30 new performances, many of which have gone on to seen throughout the world.

-Glenn Meads

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