PUSH Festival 2017: Top five picks
The five theatre shows at PUSH 2017 we're most looking forward to, from an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial to a performance predicting what will happen to the UK between now and the next general election in 2020
PUSH festival (14-28 Jan) comes to HOME’s stages, screens and arts spaces this month to showcase some of the North’s most exciting film, theatre and visual art from around the region – we choose our pick of the theatre works on offer
The Trial
People Zoo Productions
Evelyn Roberts and Matt Holt adapt Franz Kafka’s deeply disturbing tale of Josef K, a man who wakes up one day to find himself arrested and at the mercy of a faceless and bureaucratic law court, which fails to tell him of what crime he’s been accused.
This is the most ambitious work yet from the fledgling Manchester theatre company, whose production reportedly maximises on the dark humour of Kafka’s grotesque tale. In the post-truth world of Brexit and Trump, The Trial is more relevant than ever.
Mon 16 Jan – Wed 18 Jan
You/Me/Tomorrow
1121 Collective
A highlight from last year’s inaugural PUSH festival was 1121's dystopian performance A-Bomb on Broadway, which imagined, in an inventive and lyrical fashion, the aftermath of a nuclear attack. The prolific company are back again with what’s described as “a fiery and insulting production” concerned with “how facts and fictions are intertwined when a decade long riot starts to encroach into the living room.”
The play centres on a couple preparing dinner for a guest and during the performance “truths/lies/irrelevant details/riots are to be uncovered/suppressed/encouraged in the search for just exactly how this (man) and/or (woman) first met.”
Mon 23 Jan – Wed 25 Jan
Betty
Fly in Your Soup Theatre
This one looks fascinating. Using masks which look like they’ve been borrowed from Leigh Francis, as well as mime, puppetry and gesture, this one woman show from Fly in Your Soup Theatre promises to take us on “a journey of love, life and loss.” The life in question is that of Betty, a widow who lives in memories – “she finds warmth and solace there, away from her widowed existence and empty house that was once full of life."
With her faculties ailing, Betty finds that her memories begin to unravel and she becomes increasingly detached from the real world around her. The production asks, "With no real grasp on reality and a memory that is slipping away, what has she got left?” Telling Betty’s story is Tracie Robbo.
Fri 20 Jan – Sun 22 Jan
Morale is High (Since we gave up Hope)
Powder Keg
If any title from the PUSH lineup jumps out at us as speaking to the mood of the nation – scratch that, the world – it’s this one. The debut from this Hodgkiss Award-winning theatre group, Morale is High... is a performance that seeks to predict what will happen between now and the next general election in 2020.
The show, which Powder Keg describe as “pop and politics smashed together in some space age Hadron-collider for abstract thoughts,” is presented in the variety hall style and headed up by two MCs who will interact with the audience to create a unique vision of our near future.
Mon 16 Jan – Wed 18 Jan
Who Wants to Live Forever
Cheryl Martin
Described as “a jazz fantasy about loss, love and hope set among the stars,” Cheryl Martin’s piece takes the form of a non-linear, impressionistic monologue told using heightened language. Expect to see science fact combined with real-world psychological observation and autobiography to create a heady performance which asks, Why do some stars shine more brightly than others, and why do people love to watch them fall?
Thu 26 Jan – Sat 28 Jan
PUSH taked place 14-28 Jan at HOME, Manchester. For tickets and more information, head to homemcr.org/event/push-festival-2017
Read more about the PUSH programme here