The Lowry turned 18 this year, and their annual theatre festival Week 53 returns to challenge convention and celebrate the ‘coming of age’. After a hugely successful first week of powerful performances, events and immersive screenings, The Lowry are kicking off week 2 of their festival.
The festival includes 100 artists and 70 performances that span 12 extraordinary days. Completely owned and ran by The Lowry, they aim to celebrate everything they’re passionate about. It’s 12 days where they can be experimental with their programming as they invite a range of different productions, from fringe to immersive performances.
Check out my guide on how to cover the second week of Week 53…
Wednesday 23 May
MADHOUSE re:exit
1:30pm, 2pm, 2:30pm, 7pm, 7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm (1hr45)
Be taken on a journey underground as five learning disabled artists will tear back the walls to their lives in a powerful expression of what it feels like to have a learning disability in today’s world.
Starting at the Barton Arcade, you’re taken on the underground journey leading back to The Lowry.
2:30pm, 7:30pm (2hr35)
As two seventeen-year-olds, Pinkie and Rose get embroiled in a vicious gang war in Brighton, one brutal murder leads to the next. The police are impassive – but the courageous and life-embracing Ida Arnold wants the truth. Nothing scares her. Whatever the cost, she’ll see justice is done.
Check out my full review of Brighton Rock here, and an interview with the cast here.
Talk 53 – Brighton Rock post show talk
5pm
A post show talk exploring the making of this new adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock.
7:30pm (2hr30)
Based on the British Book Awards Biography of the Year, ‘Toast’ is the story of Nigel Slater’s childhood, told through the tastes and smells he grew up with. From making the perfect sherry trifle to waging a war over cakes and from the pressured playground politics of sweets to the rigid rules of restaurant dining, this is a story of love, loss and…toast.
Late night in The Dock – The Chuggernauts
10pm-12pm
Every evening at Week 53 there will be live music, live DJs and live bands, as well as a specially designed bar, serving their very own specially brewed Week 53 IPA. On Wednesday, Manchester DJ duo The Chuggernauts will be playing a mix of chuggy house and disco.
Thursday 24 May
6pm (50 minutes)
Using aerial circus, theatre and the ancient Japanese art of shibari, ‘Everything I See I Swallow’ is an aerial examination of a mother and daughter’s sexuality as they ask some of life’s biggest questions.
8:30pm (60 mins)
Surrounded by a set built entirely from cartoons, Fat Roland’s one-man show is a hilarious and touching spoken word comedy about music, loneliness and not-quite-teenage kicks.
Late Night in The Dock – Uke Punk
Composed of neon, lasers, balloons and confetti, this sickly sweet, excessive and dramatic design invites you to enter a world of youthful energy, play and party. Music from Uke Punk as well as a specially designed bar, serving our very own specially brewed Week 53 IPA.
Also on / Nigel Slater’s Toast 2:30pm & 7:30pm and Brighton Rock 7:30pm
Friday 25 May
MADHOUSE re:exit
1:30pm, 2pm, 2:30pm, 7pm, 7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm (1hr45)
Be taken on a journey underground as five learning disabled artists will tear back the walls to their lives in a powerful expression of what it feels like to have a learning disability in today’s world.
Starting at the Barton Arcade, you’re taken on the underground journey leading back to The Lowry.
6pm (50 minutes)
Using aerial circus, theatre and the ancient Japanese art of shibari, ‘Everything I See I Swallow’ is an aerial examination of a mother and daughter’s sexuality as they ask some of life’s biggest questions.
2:30pm & 7:30pm (2hr35)
As two seventeen-year-olds, Pinkie and Rose get embroiled in a vicious gang war in Brighton, one brutal murder leads to the next. The police are impassive – but the courageous and life-embracing Ida Arnold wants the truth. Nothing scares her. Whatever the cost, she’ll see justice is done.
Check out my full review of Brighton Rock here, and an interview with the cast here.
Saturday 26 May
2:30pm (2hr30)
Based on the British Book Awards Biography of the Year, ‘Toast’ is the story of Nigel Slater’s childhood, told through the tastes and smells he grew up with. From making the perfect sherry trifle to waging a war over cakes and from the pressured playground politics of sweets to the rigid rules of restaurant dining, this is a story of love, loss and…toast.
Talk 53 – Nigel Slater’s Toast post-show talk
5pm
Dancing robots. Dancing children, Dancing adults. Children and a grown-up couple engage in a zero gravity slow-moving dance on a luminous stage, by their side, robots that look like skeletons join the dance.
8:30pm (2hrs)
The Lowry’s Teentalitarianism project are a series of ‘social-specific’ performances that invite an adult audience to enter a very different world, where the tables are turned and the teens are in charge. Mammalian Diving Reflex will workw with a group of teenagers to create a series of performances, events and interventions that will take over an area of Salford.
Conjured up by Nerupa Somasale, Mammalian Diving Reflex and teens from Salford, Dare Night will challenge you to commit the unthinkable: breach the unspoken laws of public etiquette and execute a series of hilarious, exhilarating and shocking dares. ‘Dare Night’ transforms the foreign to the familiar by exploring the power of risk and trust. It encourages all of us to open up to each other, even if it’s only for one night. Be brave! Be fearless! And be there! We dare you.
10pm-12am
Composed of neon, lasers, balloons and confetti, this sickly sweet, excessive and dramatic design invites you to enter a world of youthful energy, play and party. Music from Massimo Centi as well as a specially designed bar, serving our very own specially brewed Week 53 IPA.
Also on / Brighton Rock 7:30pm
Sunday 27 May
8pm (60mins)
Dökk’ is a journey through the subconscious mind, where reality is represented by worlds and universes that take form and dissolve within the mind, as it constantly seeks a balance between light and darkness.
Kiri Pritchard McClean: Appropriate Adult
8pm (60 mins)
Chortle Award nominee Kiri thinks the world revolves around her, but she didn’t let that stop her wishing to mentor vulnerable kids. Consequently, she’s going to be extremely careful what she wishes for in future. An immoral comedian’s morality tale about other people’s lack of morals.
10pm-12am
The Lowry’s late night festival hub. Composed of neon, lasers, balloons and confetti, this sickly sweet, excessive and dramatic design invites you to enter a world of youthful energy, play and party. Each night will include music, live DJs and live bands as well as a specially designed bar, serving our very own specially brewed Week 53 IPA.
Also on // Nigel Slater’s Toast 2:30pm & 7:30pm
Monday 28 May
3pm, 7pm
10pm-12am
The Lowry’s late night festival hub kicking off their final party of the festival. Composed of neon, lasers, balloons and confetti, this sickly sweet, excessive and dramatic design invites you to enter a world of youthful energy, play and party.
Also on // Nigel Slater’s Toast 2:30pm & 7:30pm
All tickets for Week 53 are either free, £10 or £20. Also, at least 53 ‘Pay What You Decide’ tickets have been released for all Week 53 shows!
Find all information on the festival and tickets on The Lowry’s website here.
