Despite being in lockdown, Contact Theatre have been working hard to continue delivering fantastic events directly into your home. 

United We Stream – Our City Speaks

Sunday 31 May 7pm

Contact are delighted to announce a new event ‘Our City Speaks,’ featuring the city’s best poets and spoken word artists.

Headlined by poets Tony Walsh and Keisha Thompson, the event is a collaboration with Manchester City of Literature, spoken word collective Young Identity and is part of Greater Manchester’s United We Stream.

United We Stream is an online showcase of the city’s best performers, musicians and DJs, and has already hosted performances from Mancunian cultural icons including New Order and Maxine Peake, as well as digital editions of some of Manchester’s biggest club nights.

Our City Speaks will be hosted by Contact Board member, City of Literature Community Engagement Manager and regular artist Reece Williams, and will feature a mix of sets specially pre-recorded for the night, and solo artists appearing live at United We Stream’s streaming studio located at The Met, Bury, which has been specially constructed for socially distanced live broadcasting.

Poets and artists confirmed so far include Mandla Rae, Roma Havers, Isaiah Hull, Saf Elsenossi, Damani Dennisur, Jardel Rodrigues, Dave Viney, Nadia Begum, and Argh Kid, with more yet to be announced.

The performances will be live from 7pm on United We Stream’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. United We Stream is free to watch, and donations are welcomed towards their fundraiser, which provides aid to Manchester-based entertainment venues, bars and restaurants and artists struggling from closures and revenue loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.


A Week’s Notice

For seven weeks, seven different artists associated with Contact came up with a daily series of prompts, designed to make you take notice of the world around you. Curated especially for the current lockdown, there’s all manner of content to make you sit up, take notice and creatively respond to the current situation. Explore the prompts here, many of them are suitable for families to do together.

https://contactmcr.com/development/a-weeks-notice/


Homeskool Beatbox Adventures with Shlomo

Every Thursday, 2pm on facebook.com/contactmcr.

Photo credit: Nathan Gallagher

Contact have partnered with world renowned beatbox champion SK Shlomo to bring the art of beatboxing into your living room, every Thursday at 2pm.

Homeskool Beatbox Adventures is a weekly, livestreamed interactive show for kids and their families to find their true voices and create their own music.

The episodes will be streamed live from the Contact Facebook page at 2pm every Thursday.
Each week you can learn new vocal skills from SK Shlomo, the critically acclaimed world-champion beatboxer who has previously collaborated with Bjork, Ed Sheeran and Lily Allen, played at Glastonbury and broken world records.

Inspired by the success of his critically acclaimed tour show, Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventures For Kids,  we’ll be teaching kids how to become Superstar Beatboxers. The lessons are free, but Shlomo is aiming to raise £2500 for NHS Charities Together.