Lily Wallen spends one evening with 70 animals and a grief stricken man
THE HERDS
Totally subjective rating: 8/10 – because when else do you get to see an elephant wander past TK Maxx?
Who: 70 life-sized animal puppets, operated by local volunteers and crafted by The Walk Productions (of Little Amal fame) under artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi.
Where: From Cathedral Gardens to Corporation Street (interrupting Manchester Camerata), through Exchange Square, the Arndale and Market Street. Soon to roam Heywood and Pennington Country Park.
When: 3 July (Manchester City Centre), 4 July (Heywood), 5 July (Pennington Flash)
What MIF says: 'Public art meets climate action in THE HERDS – a monumental migration of puppet animals on a 20,000km journey from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle. Encounter THE HERDS as they scatter through the city, sweeping the music into their frenzy.'
What we say: A fitting opener for a festival determined to engage the art-curious and art-agnostic alike. THE HERDS is equal parts spectacle and statement. Seventy puppet animals, each moving with uncanny realism, roamed through Manchester’s centre in a display that was both joyful and unnerving.
They’ve already paraded through Kinshasa, Dakar, Venice and Paris, so seeing them pass Market Street’s JD Sports felt like a strange kind of culture clash, and oddly thrilling. Perhaps more captivating than the puppets themselves were the volunteers — a devoted circle of Mancunians mastering the animals’ gait, breathing rhythm and swish. Their hums, stretches and whispers added a lovely layer of intimacy to the scale of the piece.
And then there was the moment they swept through Manchester Camerata’s orchestral performance outside the National Football Museum. High art, meet street theatre. The message? Climate crisis may trample everything we think is stable. It was symbolic, yes — but also just plain fun. Especially with the sun out.
A Single Man
Totally subjective rating: 9/10 – a quietly devastating piece of dance theatre, best experienced with a tissue and a gin.
Who: Directed and choreographed by Jonathan Watkins, adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s novel. Ed Watson as George (external), John Grant as George’s inner voice, with new music by Jasmin Kent Rodgman and design by Chiara Stephenson, Holly Waddington and Simisola Majekodunmi.
Where: The Hall, Aviva Studios
When: 2-6 July
What MIF says: 'Award-winning director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins transforms Christopher Isherwood’s masterpiece into an original contemporary ballet in collaboration with singer-songwriter John Grant and composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman. A healing meditation on sexuality, grief and midlife.'
What we say: This seems to be, quite simply, the jewel in the crown of MIF25. For a festival that prides itself on experimentation and access, A Single Man managed to be both daring and disarmingly clear. Based on Isherwood’s seminal novel, the production unspooled like a memory, split between an external George (a transfixing Ed Watson) and an internal one (John Grant, all rasp and soul).
Watson dances George’s day of grief with masterful restraint. His pas de deux with Jim, Charley, and Kenny – who appear as both his lovers and tormentors – are serpentine and sorrowful. The staging cleverly bisects George’s inner and outer worlds. Grant's vocals, performed live with an original score by Jasmin Kent Rodgman and the Manchester Collective, provide emotional shorthand even when you don’t quite catch the plot. Though the stock-market-like running ticker of Grant’s lyrics felt a touch on the nose, the score's emotive crescendos more than made up for it.
The ballet leaves you with a pressure on your chest that lifts just enough to feel like healing. It focuses on solitude without ever becoming sterile, and it offers a version of grief that isn’t tidy, but truthful. It’s one of the most emotionally articulate pieces this festival has staged, and proof that contemporary dance can be both accessible and gutting.
For tickets to upcoming MIF events, head to factoryinternational.org.
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