SICK! Festival to take centre stage in Manchester
An award-winning festival is set to return to Manchester this month, with events taking place across the city centre.
SICK! Festival, which is taking place from March 8 to 25, will feature some of the most hard-hitting theatre, dance, film and public art from around the world, alongside debates, talks and other events.
The festival explores the most turbulent experiences of living in the world today; the challenges we face living in a troubled society with others facing their own problems. The festival’s aim is to embrace the identities, histories and social conditions that shape us and to ask us how we are coping with the world we live in.
Since launching in 2013, the festival has presented over 200 events featuring over 300 artists, at 25 locations in Manchester and Brighton. The festival arrived in Manchester in 2015. This year will see the festival grow further across Manchester in 26 venues with 82 speakers, 116 artists, 66 performances, 18 public installations and 14 UK premieres.
Tim Harrison, Creative Director of SICK! Festival, who moved to Manchester in 2016 following the launch of the festival in the city in 2015, believes that the city is the perfect location for the festival. He said: “There are so many great art organisations here, as well as the universities and the city has a strong history of art. We were hosting the festival in Brighton, which is a very nice and safe area. But with the issues we discuss in the festival, we wanted to engage with a different area with different social issues. Manchester was a no brainer.”
“There is no other festival in the country who are doing what we do. The festival aims to deal with the physical and mental challenges of life through art and discussion. Art has a way of dealing with issues and we were interested in bringing it to life and working with charities and make it into a conversation, from mental health to ageing, illness and disability, the things that affect us all profoundly.”
Tim believes that the festival offers people the opportunity to discuss experiences with others. He said: “We want to raise awareness of difficult subjects. We want people to have a fantastic artistic experience, so it is really important for us to show the very best work, but we mostly want it to allow people to reflect on experiences and for them to share their perspectives with others.”
SICK! 2017 highlights are set to include:
Michael Essien I want to play as you…by Ahilan Ratnamohan
A powerful and explosive football-dance-theatre performance exploring the line between hope and desperation for young African footballers who migrate to Europe in search of a life out of poverty. In a football loving city, this performance offers fans to see the behind the scenes struggles for young hopefuls as they tackle training, politics and contracts.
Five Easy Pieces by Milo Rau
Milo Rau worked with seven children to explore the emotional and political absurdities and bottomless pits of the adult world. The piece asks how children can understand the significance of narrative, empathy, loss, subjection, old age, and the horrors sometimes inflicted on them by adults.
Before I die by Candy Chang
A participatory public art project that invites people to contemplate death, reflect on life, and share their personal aspirations in public.
The Game by THEATREclub
Devised from the testimony of women who are currently, or who have been, sex workers, The Game reveals the subculture of prostitution with its rules, its language and its power structures.
