NEWS: Manchester's annual festival of contemporary local talent, PUSH, returns to HOME in January.

HOME ANNOUNCES PUSH 2020, THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION  OF THE NORTH WEST’S MOST CREATIVE CULTURAL TALENT SATURDAY 18 JANUARY - SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY 2020

HOME’S annual PUSH Festival, presented in association with the Edwin Fox Foundation, is firmly established as one of the region’s key arts festivals, showcasing the wealth and breadth of creative talent in north west England across theatre, film, and visual art.

As well as presenting exciting new performances - including two specially commissioned theatre productions and a digital commission - the festival this year incorporates The Manchester Open, a major open-entry art exhibition comprising artworks created by people across Greater Manchester, as well as the regular workshops and events for creatives working across all levels of the cultural industries.

PUSH 2020 kicks off on Sat 18 Jan with an all-day creative takeover from Manchester-based theatre company Box of Tricks featuring the work of the next generation of Manchester playwrights. The day comprises a Writers’ Breakfast, three rehearsed readings, and a workshop looking at how to steer a play from the page to stage successfully, and the return the same day of Platform Manchester, a night showcasing choreographers and dancers from across Greater Manchester.

The festival’s two theatre commissions are Sound Cistern from Plaster Cast Theatre (Mon 20 - Wed 22 Jan), in which two transgender performers invite audiences to their radical dance party; and Tania Camara’s Oreo, an open and interactive show, named after the racial term, looking at micro-aggressions in higher education and employment (Fri 24/Sat 25 Jan).  

Other highlights include What Happened to Agnes presented by Nishla Smith, a personal account of the extraordinary life of her Malaysian grandmother (Fri 24/Sat 25 Jan); A Political History of Smack and Crack from Most Wanted

Theatre, which was a script-in-hand performance in PUSH 2018 (Mon 27/Tue 28 Jan); and 2 Clowns, 1 Cup, Ugly Bucket Theatre’s riotous show about everything unsexy in sex (Thu 30 Jan - Sat 1 Feb); and following the show’s explosive debut at HOME during Incoming Festival earlier this year, Ugly Bucket are bringing back Bost Uni Plues, their affectionate and hilarious homage to student life and what happens when it’s all over (Wed 29/Thu 30 Jan); and Nina at the NIA from Untold Orchestra, which recalls the time when legendary soul singer Nina Simone played at the old NIA Centre in Hulme in 1991 (Sat 25 Jan).

As well as The Manchester Open, visual art is represented in PUSH by Bubbling Pitch, Mike S. Redmond and Faye Coral Johnson’s new HOME Projects exhibition of cartoons and illustrations in HOME’s Granada Foundation Galleries (Fri 24 Jan - Sun 22 Mar).

On the big screen, HOME’s Artist Film strand is represented by film-maker Paul

Daly’s commission I, Dismantled, a series of vignettes exploring working-class

Britain; a programme of films shortlisted for the Film Hub North Polaris Award at Aesthetica Film Festival 2019; and a series of films from the New Creatives North scheme, an exciting talent development partnership scheme run between the BBC and Arts Council England.

PUSH IS PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE EDWIN FOX FOUNDATION

For full details of the full PUSH 2020 programme, click here.

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