Theatre News

New Jane Horrocks piece to feature in Manchester International Festival

The full line-up for this year’s festival has been released

Cotton Panic
Cotton Panic
© Heather Birnie

The full line-up for this year's Manchester International Festival has been released.

Adding to the previous announcements of Simon Stephens' Fatherland, Vicky Featherstone directing What if Women Ruled the World?, Boris Charmatz' 10,000 Gestures and Jeremy Deller's What Is the City but the People?, is a new industrial music drama from Jane Horrocks.

Horrocks' Cotton Panic tells the story of north England's role in the American Civil War and has been created by Horrocks, Nick Vivian and Wrangler. The world premiere will be directed by Wils Wilson and performed by Horrocks and Wrangler. It will be staged in Upper Campfield Market Hall and it runs from 8 to 15 July.

Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari's new piece Party Skills for the End of the World will also run as part of the festival. The show is a subversive, immersive experience where audience members learn the skills needed to survive in a world where everything they take for granted has gone. The show takes place in a secret venue from 27 June to 16 July and an interactive dinner experience Dinner Party at the End of the World runs alongside the piece.

There will also be the world premiere of German director Thomas Ostermier's production of Returning to Reims. The artistic director of the Schaubuhne will stage the piece, adapted from Didier Eribon's book, at Home in Manchester. Returning to Reims is set in a recording studio and follows Eribon who is forced to re-evaluate his life when his father dies. The show stars Nina Hoss and runs from 5 to 14 July.

Also part of the line-up is Theatre-Rites' The Welcoming Party, a mix of puppetry, dance and live music for families and children.

The already announced Stephens' piece Fatherland is a collaboration between the playwright, Frantic Assembly and Underworld's Karl Hyde.

The Manchester International Festival runs from 29 June to 16 July and includes music, theatre, visual art and more in its programme. Festival director John McGrath said: "I am thrilled to share the remarkable list of artists who are working with us to create this year’s Festival. These names, drawn from the United States, Egypt, Austria, China, France, Pakistan, Germany, and Iceland underscore how truly international MIF is."