On the face of it, there’s not a great deal to link the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 to the acid house and rave culture explosion of 1989, the subjects of Manchester Sound: The Massacre, other than that they both took place in Manchester.
But an invited audience of musicians, promoters, journalists, bloggers, DJs, broadcasters, graphic designers, historians and academics, not to mention the eight-strong cast, heard from director Paul Jepson, writer Polly Wiseman, and researchers Sarah Haughey and Robert Poole, that the lineage linking the two events is very clear.
Following a welcome from our Artistic Director Chris Honer, legendary Manchester DJ and writer Dave Haslam asked the panellists a series of questions about how the project came about before the discussion was thrown open to the floor.
Amongst the topics which cropped up was the role of women in Peterloo, how safe the rave scene in general and the Hacienda in particular was for women, whether both events could have taken place only in Manchester, how well known Peterloo is to the general public and whether it’s taught in Manchester schools, the role of drugs in the rave scene, whether ravers and clubbers were performing a political act in the way their forebears were 170 years previously, and, following on from that, how engaged today’s young people are in politics.
With so much to talk about we took the opportunity to capture some of the thoughts of the crowd…
And managed to grab Dave Haslam after he kindly led our panel discussion to get his views on the production…
Panellists agreed that to give too much away would spoil the production, and the secret venue, which Paul says is “wonderful.” He’s spot on – but our lips are very firmly sealed!
Manchester Sound: The Massacre runs from Sat 8 Jun – Sat 6 Jul 2013. You can book tickets online or from Cornerhouse Box Office on 0161 200 1500.
Photography by Paul Greenwood