City festival hailed 'a revelation'

Published: 28 July 2013
Reporter: David Upton

Festival Square (Albert Square) at MIF 2013 Credit: Robert Martin
Hadley Fraser as Garry Kasparov in The Machine Credit: Helen Maybanks
Kenneth Branagh as Macbeth Credit: Johan Persson
Maxine Peake in The Masque of Anarchy Credit: Kevin Cummins
Eric Owens and Cameron Carpenter in Michelangelo Sonnets Credit: Duncan Elliott
Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Old Woman Credit: Lucie Jansch

The fourth Manchester International Festival, billed as the world’s first and only festival of new work, has concluded with more than 300 performances of more than 30 new commissions and special events.

Audiences are estimated at around 250,000, an increase of 10% on the 2011 event, and included visitors from more than 45 countries were welcomed to the 2013 Festival.

Alex Poots, artistic director and CEO, said: “Sincere thanks go to all of our artists. We are thrilled with the response we've received from Manchester and beyond—we never take that for granted and I have been so pleased by the generous reactions from reviews to tweets to emails and chats with audiences on Festival Square.

“For MIF13 we’ve explored some of the city's hidden places. It's been a revelation to see crowds in Mayfield Depot and the Albert Hall and a joy to welcome artists like Maxine Peake, Kenneth Branagh, The xx, Massive Attack and Tino Sehgal to bring these amazing spaces back to life.”

The closing weekend saw an audience of more than 5000 gather for an outdoor relay of Kenneth Branagh’s electrifying Macbeth, while cinema-goers around the country also got the chance to see the production as part of NT Live.

Many shows took place in new or found spaces; venues included the Albert Hall, a former Wesleyan chapel, which was the scene for Maxine Peake’s recitation of Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy, plus performances from Mogwai and Goldfrapp and Peter Sellars’s staging of Michelangelo Sonnets.

Mayfield Depot, a former railway station, became a new centre for live art from Tino Sehgal, Mårten Spångberg, Dan Graham and more, as well as the venue for the film/gig hybrid Massive Attack v Adam Curtis.

The xx performed in a secret space under Victoria Station and Indian artist Nikhil Chopra occupied the Whitworth’s new and as yet unfinished Landscape Gallery for 65 continuous hours, while the groundbreaking Biospheric Project saw an old industrial space in Salford transformed into an experimental space for urban growing and design.

For The Machine, Campfield Market Hall became an arena for the dramatised contest between chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and the computer Deep Blue.

Some of the city’s existing venues and galleries were also part of the Festival. Participative group show do it 20 13 took over Manchester Art Gallery and Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov performed at the Palace.

The Bridgewater Hall was the setting for a concert celebrating the career of John Tavener, as well as performances from Martha Argerich and sufi superstar Abida Parveen.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The fourth Manchester International Festival has built on the success of previous events and once again proved a remarkable showcase for the city. It attracted a great many visitors and stimulated imaginations and debate.”

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