Contact's new season now on sale

09 Dec 2015

Contact, Manchester’s vibrant contemporary performance venue, today announces its exciting and provocative spring/summer programme of outstanding theatre, dance, spoken word, cabaret, music and live art

This season, running from January to July, features Contact festivals Queer Contact and Flying Solo.

Highlights of the new season include:

Avant Garde Dance, who, returning to the UK after a sold-out international tour present the Black Album, a triple bill of effortlessly stylish dance.
Contact alumna Yusra Warsama returns with a one-woman show The Clows Plucked Your Sinews; based on real events, it is a timely and unique exploration of the violence of empire.

The eighth year of Contact’s annual celebration of the best LGBT art and culture, Queer Contact, explores sexuality, gender, religion and belief. Artists include Erasure’s Andy Bell, and US transgender performers and activists Kate Bornstein and Our Lady J.
20 Stories High and Theatre-Rites present The Broke ‘N’ Beat Collective; raw and gritty yet funny and moving, this show uniquely explores the hardships faced by young people in the UK.

Contemporary theatre pioneers Reckless Sleepers smash walls and convention to present Negative Space.
Renowned Manchester based Quarantine present Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring., an extraordinary quartet of work in a major co-production with Contact and Home. A piece of mass portraiture, this epic event will take place at Old Granada Studios, and can be seen in four parts or as a day-long event.
Contact and SICK! Festival present SICK! Lab, a four-day programme of events, discussions and shows exploring what makes us who we are. Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburn bring their international hit show about clinical depression and men, Fake it ‘til you Make it. Universally acclaimed, this warm and honest show explores the wonders and pitfalls of the human brain. Then, renowned performance and video artist Kim Noble (The Mighty Boosh, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) presents You’re Not Alone, a provocative, moving and darkly comic performance.

Flying Solo, a well-established annual event, showcases the art of the solo performer. It features Contact commissioned performances Faslane by Jenna Watt, a timely insight into the current nuclear debate, and Untouchable by Ria Hartley, a tender, personal look at recovery for a family dealing with the repercussions of a violent history. The 10-day festival features a great variety of topics and performance styles from artists including Ben Mellor, Cheryl Martin, Contact Young Company, Kate O’Donnell, Louise Wallwein, Matt Miller and Stuart Bowden.

For full details of the new season, visit:

The new season is now on sale, with tickets available as follows: