The biennial Manchester International Festival has made its first announcements for 2017. Now headed by John McGrath, who replaced Alex Poots as Artistic Director and CEO last year, the festival will welcome back MIF regular Jeremy Deller for What Is the City but the People? Produced in associate with Islington Mill, this opening event (29 Jun) will feature a selection of local residents parading on a specially designed walkway through Piccadilly Gardens to a musical accompaniment. Elsewhere, Fatherland (1-5 Jul) is a collage of words, music and movement about contemporary fatherhood, co-created by Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham, Karl Hyde from Underworld and playwright Simon Stephens, and performed by a 13-strong cast at the Royal Exchange. Yael Bartana’s film and theatre project What if Women Ruled the World? (dates TBA), meanwhile, will see 10 women and one man joined each night by scientists, politicians, artists and thinkers to be confronted by an urgent crisis of our time. Also on the programme is the pre-premiere of choreographer Boris Charmatz’s new work 10000 Gestures (13-15 Jul) – featuring a 25-strong ensemble at an ‘atmospheric space’ to be announced. This week’s announcement also includes a prompt to sign up for MIF’s My Festival, which invites creative citizens to get involved in new public projects, through workshops and other special events. One strand of the programme is Festival in My House, whereby members of the public organise micro-international festivals in their own homes. For more information, visit the MIF website below.
Thu 29 Jun – Sun 16 Jul 2017, Various venues and ticket prices, mif.co.uk
- Words:
- Chris Horkan
- Published on:
- Fri 1 Jan 2016
