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jaydarcy
27th February 2022

Contact Theatre is Breaking Bread this Women’s History Month

Contact Theatre is marking Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day with a trio of female-led shows
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Contact Theatre is Breaking Bread this Women’s History Month
Photo: Contact Theatre.

As LGBT+ history Month comes to an end, so too does Contact Theatre’s annual Queer Contact. But all is not lost, for March is going to be an incredible month for the recently reopened theatre.

Alongside pieces from the Celebrating Syria festival, Contact is marking Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day with a trio of female-led shows.

News News News

News News News is a television news show made by children for adults, recorded in front of a studio audience and broadcast live on the internet. Working with artists Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, children will present bulletins from the city, offering a distinctive look at what’s going on right here and right now.

“In frightening times we are here to reassure you, through the good news and the bad, a friendly face at the end of the day, a voice in which you can trust. Coming live and uninterrupted from the theatre to an audience of potentially billions.

At a time when there is more news than there has ever been and yet our trust in journalists is at an all-time low, what is the purpose of news and how does it shape the way we see the world around us? And how might children teach us to look again at the places we live and the stories that we tell about them.”

News News News plays at Contact Theatre on 5th March.

Photo: Contact Theatre.

The Glad Game

The Glad Game is the story of finding herself in the bleakest of times, of discovering gladness in the saddest of moments and about how who and what you love can pull you through.

“You don’t have to do much to be an actor; just to be able speak and remember lines. Two very basic things”.

The Glad Game is written and performed by Phoebe Frances Brown. From her childhood impressions of Dolly Parton to grown-up roles at The National Theatre, The Donmar Warehouse and New York Theatre Workshop, acting has defined who and what she is.

In November 2018, Phoebe was diagnosed with an incurable cancer in the area of her brain that controls speech, language and memory. In her own words, she made sense of her cancer by creating art – and that’s exactly what she’s doing with this show.

The Glad Game plays at Contact Theatre on 16th and 17th March.

Photo: Contact Theatre.

The Bread We Break

The Bread We Break attempts to piece together fragments from an untold history.

“This is a story about bread. Except it’s not really a story, it’s a mixture of accidents, discoveries and movements, fermented over time. And bread is just the beginning…”

Miray Sidhom draws on her Egyptian heritage to explore Egypt’s suppressed history of political uprising. Weaving together memories of a childhood in Cairo, frank conversations with her mother, and archive footage, she questions bread’s cultural symbolism and fermentation as a metaphor for social change. A decade on from the Arab Spring, Miray traces the origins of uprisings to the first workers strike in the Pharonic era.

The Bread We Break is, essentially, an attempt to piece together fragments from an untold history, to knead the past into the preset, and to fee the future.

“Oscillating between personal and political, Miray reconciles and celebrates her Middle Eastern heritage; exposing the way everyday aspects of our lives can be politicised and controlled, and asks what are we driven to do when our fundamental rights are threatened?”

The Bread We Break plays at Contact Theatre from 24th until 31st March.

Contact Manchester
Photo: Contact Theatre.

Head to Contact’s website to see what else they have on offer – including the pieces from the Celebrating Syria festival.

Jay Darcy

Jay Darcy

Theatre Editor. Instagram & Twitter: @jaydarcy7. Email: [email protected].

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