Danny Boyle kicks off our HOMEwarming celebrations

The Manchester-born 2012 Opening Ceremony supremo will launch our funfair-themed Bank Holiday weekend celebration on Thu 21 May 2015.

We’re excited to announce the details of our HOMEwarming weekend (Thu 21- Sun 25 May), which will welcome you to our landmark building and the surrounding area of First Street.

Taking inspiration from our opening activity across art, theatre and film, the weekend will have a celebratory funfair theme. Interactive film screenings, chat show-style discussions, live musical performances and events will light up the Bank Holiday weekend, mixing family-friendly activities, musical performances and entertainment with internationally-significant commissions in a truly Mancunian celebration.

Tickets for selected events including The Funfair, Lonesome and Celluloid History Songs are on sale now, and remaining events will be available to book via our website from the week commencing 20 April.

On Thu 21 May, patron Danny Boyle will lead a Funfair Fanfare culminating in a climactic volley of percussive ‘mascletà’ pyrotechnics that will ring the building. Music and performances from carnival troupe Juba do Leao will build the party atmosphere as you’re welcomed in to explore our new spaces.

Highlights of our celebrations include:

  • UK premiere of Slow West, John Maclean’s ‘European Western’ starring Michael Fassbender
  • World premiere of The Funfair by Simon Stephens, our inaugural theatre production in the new 450-seat main theatre
  • Heartbreak and the dark side of the funfair explored in opening group exhibition The heart is deceitful above all things
  • Music & Film commissions with live performances of original film scores by leading Manchester musicians Josephine, Dutch Uncles songwriter and bassist Robin Richards with the Royal Northern College of Music
  • Storytelling, performance and interactive family film screenings
  • A chance to get behind the scenes and the screens with free talks, tours and a look backstage
  • A celebration of the best of the UK’s most vibrant city with screenings of great Mancunian films, plus a season of funfair inspired classic titles, previews and major new releases

Theatre

Thursday night will see the world premiere of Stockport-born Simon Stephens’ The Funfair in the main 450-seat theatre, directed by our Artistic Director: Theatre, Walter Meierjohann. Set against the dizzying backdrop of the funfair, the darkly funny play charts crises both personal and economic with a live rock and roll soundtrack and dazzling set design by Manchester Theatre Award-winner Ti Green.

Throughout the weekend, our theatre’s team will lead a series of behind the scenes tours, talks and discussions will introduce audience to the spaces and distinctive vision of the UK’s new international theatre company.  

Visual Art

Inspired by the themes of The Funfair, our inaugural group exhibition The heart is deceitful above all things tackles heartbreak, loss and the dark side of the fairground and will preview on Fri 22 May. Featuring work by Douglas Coupland, Wu-Tsang, Ragnar Kjartansson, Rosa Barba and Declan Clarke amongst others, it has been curated by our Artistic Director: Visual Art, Sarah Perks and Omar Kholeif, curator at Whitechapel and senior visiting curator at HOME.

Film

Saturday night’s film premiere, Slow West is the breathtaking first feature from John Maclean; a stately, psychedelic western in the mould of Dead Man and Peter Fonda’s majestic The Hired Hand. Fassbender features as a lone outlaw leading young rich kid to safety across dangerous terrain.

Further funfair inspired film screenings across our five cinema spaces include Tod Browning’s uncompromising and macabre 1932 circus masterpiece Freaks; and afternoon with nouvelle vague legend Eric Rohmer as his My night with Maud is presented back-to-back with Richard Misek’s biographical tribute Rohmer in Paris, classic The Lady of Shanghai, plus a preview of the Salt of the Earth Wim Wender’s (Pina, The Buena Vista Social Club) hypnotic and transformative biopic of Sebastião Salgado, and Manchester favourites 24 Hour Party People and East is East

Music & Film commissions will see live performances by leading Manchester musicians, Josephine, Robin Richards and GoGo Penguin set to new original scores to archive, artists’ and silent film. Contemporary classical minimalist Richards, perhaps best known as the songwriter for Dutch Uncles picks up the funfair theme with his composition for Lonesome, Pal Fejos’ 1928 film set at Coney Island, NYC. The film, noted for its innovative cinematography and storytelling, is given a new contemporary interpretation through Richards’s minimalist score.

Sunday Fun

First Street’s First Street Party will take over the public square outside of our building on Sun 24 May. Bring along picnics, family and friends for a day of art, music, food and theatre produced with CityCo supported by ASK and First Street tenants. Manchester’s newest neighbourhood will be transformed as picnic tables snake through Tony Wilson Place, and Talking Bird’s The Whale, a gleaming silver whale-on-wheels that swallows five at a time for a one-of-a-kind children’s show, arrives in the public square.

Our building itself will be filled with storytelling, workshops and family-focussed tours, and a chance to meet Meggie, the lead character from our family Christmas show Inkheart. A playful and immersive screening of Tom Hanks’ 80s comedy Big from performance trio Eggs Collective will take over Cinema 1, followed by a creative workshop for families. Bootworks Theatre present The Incredible Book Eating Boy, and invite you in pairs to watch the show unfold.

Manchester Monday

A Manchester Monday will celebrate our place within our city. Manchester film favourites East is East and 24 Hour Party People screen, and singer songwriter Josephine performs Celluloid History Songs, set against a backdrop of footage from the North West Film Archive. With a performance from Manchester’s Pale Waves, we also launch HOME Young Creatives, our programme for 15-25 year olds, a chance for young people to get involved and become the next generation of artists to shape Manchester’s rich cultural scene.

Dave Moutrey, our Chief Executive, says: ‘We want everyone to feel welcome in our new HOME, and that’s what this weekend is all about. In addition to the bold international contemporary art, theatre and film for which we’re known, the HOME warming will see a whole host of activities for all the family take over our new spaces and the surrounding streets of the First Street development. It’ll be five day celebration that’s fun, informal and friendly. Welcome to HOME.’