Theatre News

Contact Theatre announces autumn season

The theatre hosts Belarus Free Theatre, Spymonkey and Candoco dance company

Contact Theatre, Manchester
Contact Theatre, Manchester
© Luke and Kate Bosman/Flickr

Manchester's Contact Theatre has announced its autumn season, with highlights including the Black Gold Arts Festival in October and Spymonkey's The Complete Deaths.

Tim Crouch's acclaimed new show with clown company Spymonkey The Complete Deaths stages every single one of Shakespeare's deaths onstage. The show opens on 4 October ahead of the Black Gold Arts Festival on 6 October which brings together emerging black, Asian and minority ethnic artists.

Elsewhere, Belarus Free Theatre stage Burning Doors, a collaboration with Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokina, which tells stories of persecuted artists living under a dictatorship.

The UK premiere of Peaches Christ and Jinkx Monsoon's Return to Grey Gardens also runs from 14 October. The piece is a comedy spoof which riffs on the documentary film Grey Gardens which was also recently made into a musical. The show is set forty years in the future and features Chedda Gordeous, Anna Phylactic, the Ultra Violets and more guest stars to be announced.

In November, theatre maker Andy Field stages Lookout in an off-site location. The show has been created with local primary school children and is a one-to-one encounter between one audience member and one child.

Candoco Dance Company stage a double bill in November with Set and Reset/Reset and Let's Talk About Dis. Greg Wohead's Comeback Special visits the theatre on 22 November and over Christmas Slung Low stage The Seige of Christmas. The show is an adventure for younger audiences that takes place throughout the Contact building.