HOME announce new art, film & theatre season

Manchester’s HOME today announced its new season of theatre, film and visual art coming to the multi-arts venue over the next six months.

Rachel Maclean and HOME’s visual art programme

Certainly the most eye-catching new work coming to HOME this season looks to be the major solo exhibition by video artist extraordinaire Rachel Maclean, who’s due to represent Scotland at next year’s Venice Biennale. The exhibition, titled Wot u :-) about?, runs 29 Oct to 9 Jan and will feature at its centre new film installation It’s What’s Inside that Counts. If it’s true to Maclean’s former form, it will be a hallucinatory fantasia with Maclean playing all the roles.

As well as the films, there’ll be a large-format prints series, We Want Data!, and a set of larger-than-life figurative sculptures relating directly to the props, costumes and aesthetic found within Maclean’s films. In addition, a feature film programme chosen by Maclean will run alongside the exhibition.

The other main exhibition announced is John Hyatt’s Rock Art (4 Feb - 29 Mar). Hyatt is described as “an artist, musician, scientist and irrepressible explorer”, and his show will be the result of a year of solo and collaborative work that “blends disciplines as diverse as music, magic and mathematics.” Popup music club and performance space Club BIG is the heart of the exhibition, at which a range of special gigs, performances and events will take place. The key to the show is that it isn't static: John Hyatt’s various alternate personas – who include Sir Stuart Farquar, The Pilot of Bee Patrol, and Gerry Windrimeach – will take turns each week to give the show’s curation their own flavour.

Other art highlights include Bearded Brutes (11 Nov - 22 Jan), an exhibition of vivid photographic portraits bursting with colour, sparkle and, perhaps unsurprisingly, beards, from Mark Leeming;  Lay of the land (and other such myths) (27 Jan - 2 Apr), Victoria Lucas's photographic work looking at the connections between gender and geographical place; and the ever popular Artist Film Weekender (30 Sep-2 Oct), the highlights of which will be the special guest appearance by artist Luther Price and Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat, a film collabaration between filmmaker Clara Casian and Dutch Uncles' Robin Richards that captures the haunting atmosphere of a never-opened amusement park near Chernobyl.

Ibsen, City of Glass and HOME’s theatre programme

The new season of theatre at HOME boasts two major commissions. First up, from 18 Nov, is a new version of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts by David Watson, directed by Polly Findlay (19 Nov - 3 Dec). “Polly has a talent for breathing new life into classic texts,” notes Walter Meierjohann, HOME’s artistic director of theatre.

The other is the world premiere of a play based on Paul Auster’s seminal American novel City of Glass (The New York Trilogy), presented by HOME, Lyric Hammersmith, Tony Award-winning 59 Productions – the company behind Edinburgh International Festival spectacular Deep Time – and writer Duncan Macmillan (4 - 18 Mar).

Also announced was The Emperor (28 Sep-8 Oct), with Meierjohann directing Colin Teevan's play based on legendary journalist Ryszard Kapuściński’s book. Fans of HOME hit Kafka’s Monkey will be glad to hear the same creative team will be behind this production, including “master of transformation” Kathryn Hunter.

More exciting news was that the redesigned Theatre 2 space will open, featuring new flexible seating, staging and lighting, funded by a recent grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation. This more intimate space will host HOME’s first Orbit Festival (29 Sep-15 Oct), which will showcase 11 of the most exciting and critically acclaimed productions from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and beyond. Along with PUSH (16-28 Jan), which returns in the New Year, that makes two lively fringe festivals in HOME’s lineup.

“We’re also turning up the volume of our artist development programme,” says Meierjohann, “putting the artist first by enabling theatre makers from the region but also nationally and internationally to make work, explore ideas and connect. Our exciting pilot residency, which will be launched at our inaugural Orbit Festival in September, provides an unrivalled opportunity for mid-career theatre makers to make work for the T1 [HOME’s 500-seater theatre] stage. We’re also extending our work with associate partners, and I’m thrilled to work on undoubtedly extraordinary projects with Katie West, 1927 and Mighty Heart.”

Neville Smith retrospective, Fear Four, and other Film highlights

Following the brilliant Jim Allen retrospective from earlier in the year, HOME will once again pay tribute to an overlooked British screenwriter: in this case, Neville Smith (Jan 2017). The Liverpudlian is probably most well known for Gumshoe, about a Liverpool bingo caller (Albert Finney) who dreams of becoming a Sam Spade-like private-eye. Stephen Frears, who directed Gumshoe and worked with Smith on several TV plays, called him "the best writer I've ever come across." When the season comes around, expect sharp humor and a hefty dose of left-wing politics.

We also love the sound of season Film Fear (29 Oct - 8 Jan). A collaboration between HOME and Film4, the Halloween special will include “preview screenings, special guests, live music, new shorts and a crypt-full of classics.” Expect the glorious 1931 Spanish version of Dracula, a screening of Nosferatu with live musical score presented by HarmonieBand, and more to be announced. If scary movies aren’t your thing, there’s always HOME’s A Very 80s Christmas (Dec), which dregs up some great (Scrooged, Little Shop of Horrors, The Thing, The Princess Bride) and not so great (Santa Claus the Movie) 80s movies to ease us into the festive period.

Another great-looking film season coming up is Not Just Bollywood: ‘Hindies’ & the Indian Film Industry (spring 2017). Curated by Omar Ahmed, it’ll look beyond the all-singing extravaganzas of Bollywood to look at India’s indie film scene. Other highlight include Berlin Now (3 - 5 Nov), a season celebrating the vibrant German capital; the return of Manchester Animation Festival (15-17 Nov), which includes an Aardman Animation retrospective; and Chinese Cinema: Celebrations and Reflections (date TBC), a series on contemporary Chinese cinema.

To read more about HOME's new season, go to home.org