Running throughout the year and into 2026, Lowry presents another blockbuster schedule of stunning dance productions featuring heavy metal ballet, Matthew Bourne masterpieces and magnificent choreographic interpretations of 17th century literature.
On Tue 15 Jul, the thrillingly inventive mod ballet Quadrophenia rides into Salford on a gleaming Vespa with a vibrant celebration of Britain’s pivotal mid-century subculture.
Inspired by The Who’s iconic namesake album, the exhilarating adaptation of the 1979 cult classic feature film brings the soulful, sharp-suited mythology of the mod scene to life with a cast of decorated dancers, as the whirlwind dance extravaganza recounts a tale of rebellion, lost youth and social empowerment against a backdrop of refined psychedelia and urban defiance.
Set to Rachel Fuller’s orchestral reimagining of Pete Townshend’s seminal work, choreographer Paul Roberts and director Rob Ashford unite the best of the UK’s theatre, film and dance talent to bring a raw, emotionally charged new dimension to one of the greatest rock opera records of all time.
Britain’s oldest dance troupe unites with pioneering French dance and visual arts collective (LA)HORDE for a gritty, epic triple-bill led by an assemblage of internationally acclaimed dancers.
Audiences are invited into the stark chaos of Bring Your Own, a carnal maelstrom from within which unburdened physicality bursts forth in an visceral sensory release.
In Weather is Sweet, Rambert and (LA)Horde take over the neon-flecked streets of LA’s club scene with an absorbing meditation on urgent questions over intimacy, consent and sex-positivity, while A Room with a View challenges the audience, holding a mirror to contemporary society with profound and frequently unsettling insights about our shared priorities.
Led by acclaimed choreographer Pontus Lidberg and composer Chris Austin alongside award-winning writer Richard Thomas, Carlos Acosta’s Black Sabbath ballet showcases Birmingham’s musical pedigree with a heavy metal masterpiece this October.
Staged in three acts, the wondrously unique production features fresh new orchestrations of iconic Sabbath tunes like Paranoid and Iron Man, alongside new works inspired by their inimitable oeuvre, in a ‘ballsy, full-blooded celebration of heavy metal and classical ballet (The Stage).
On Fri 24 and Sat 25 Oct, Hofesh Schecter’s latest production sees the jaw-dropping complexity of his choreography on full display, as his peerlessly talented dancers welcome theatre-goers into the wild and wonderful Theatre of Dreams.
Schecter’s latest work plunges into the world of fantasy and the subconscious, revealing the vast array of fears, hopes, desires and emotions that germinate in dreams and penetrate our waking thoughts, as the dancers bring thrilling new dimensions to the interplay between poetry and reality, backed by live musicians and Schecter’s sweeping, cinematic composition.
As autumn gives way to the blustery Mancunian winter, Lowry stages another soaring Matthew Bourne stage play – the double Olivier-winning adaptation of the legendary Powell and Pressburger film, The Red Shoes.
Hailed as ‘a gorgeous swirl of storytelling and style’ by The Independent, offers a heady, heartbreaking dramatic account of obsession, possession and ambition where life imitates art with tragic consequences, as Victoria Page strives to become the world’s greatest dancer before her dreams collapse into a fatal struggle between her male muses.
Returning to Lowry with a brand-new circus spectacular, Motionhouse kick off Lowry’s 2026 dance season with Hidden, a powerful exploration of hope and redemption in a world sinking deeper into division and darkness.
Oscillating between the narrative and the abstract, Hidden blends gravity-defying choreography, shifting sets and pulsating soundscape to create a cutting-edge ‘living film’ which intermingles with the company’s distinctive movement language, where dazzling dance melts osmotically into electrifying circus stunts.
Next March, BRB Director Carlos Acosta returns to Lowry with a breathtaking revival of Cervantes’ definitive 17th century novel.
Perfect for the whole family, Don Quixote brings a welcome shot of Spanish sunshine to the early Salford spring with two nights of mesmerising music from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and captivating pas de deux sequences.
From Thu 4 to Sat 6 Jun 2026, Dance-based storytelling masters Northern Ballet present a vivid and soul-stirring account of the extraordinary life of Anne Lister, better known as Gentleman Jack.
Choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and performed to new live music by Claire Cowan, the brand new production honours the inspirational, unapologetic 19th century Yorkshire woman whose secret diaries uncovered a journey of liberation, heartache and triumphant social resistance following her death.
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 3AZ, Tel: 0161 876 2000
thelowry.com
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Fri 6 Jun 2025
Matthew Bourne’s award-winning The Midnight Bell comes to Lowry for the first time this July.
Inspired by the work of English literary luminary Patrick Hamilton, the ‘gloriously atmospheric’ (Evening Standard) period piece transforms the stage into the smoky streets of 1930s London, where a melange of miscreants, vagabonds and locals pour out of boarding houses to drown their sorrows and wallow in their pipedreams inside the titular Soho tavern.