Library Theatre Company in association with Ask Property Developments present
Manchester Lines
12 June - 7 July
For Sale
- By Jackie Kay, Music composed by Errollyn Wallen, Directed by Wils Wilson
- Presented at Number One First Street
In a lost property room in central Manchester, en route somewhere, six people relate their own personal journeys. Manchester Lines tells stories, reveals fragments of lifelines. It asks: is there an instant when your life changes forever? How consciously do we choose the path our lives take? Do we choose at all? What happens to all the lives we do not live? Welcome to the Lost Property Office of the Soul.
Directed by Wils Wilson and written by the award winning Jackie Kay (Red Dust Road, Trumpet), with music specially composed by Errollyn Wallen (Cautionary Tales, Opera North; One Night, BBC 1), Manchester Lines is created in Manchester, for Manchester. Staged high on the fifth floor of Number One, First Street, Manchester Lines is the most recent of the Library Theatre Company’s intimate and dynamic ‘one chance to see’ theatre experiences. All performances feature community choir specially formed from Manchester residents.
Manchester Lines contains strong language.
Still not sure if Manchester Lines is for you? Take a look at the impressive biographies of the creative team and cast.
Listen to what some of you thought of the show…
And here we look back at our journey and all the lovely things you said about the production…
Manchester Lines Performances |
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| Tue 12 Jun | 7:15pm | Preview | SOLD OUT | |
| Wed 13 Jun | 7:15pm | Preview | £15 | |
| Thu 14 Jun | 7:15pm | Press Night | £22/18 | |
| Fri 15 Jun | 5:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Fri 15 Jun | 8:15pm | £24 | ||
| Sat 16 Jun | 2:15pm | Weekend Matinee | £22/18 | |
| Sat 16 Jun | 7:15pm | £24 | ||
| Mon 18 Jun | 7:15pm | £22/18 | ||
| Tue 19 Jun | 7:15pm | £22/18 | ||
| Wed 20 Jun | 7:15pm | £22/18 | ||
| Thu 21 Jun | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Fri 22 Jun | 5:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Fri 22 Jun | 8:15pm | £24 | ||
| Sat 23 Jun | 2:15pm | Weekend Matinee | £22/18 | |
| Sat 23 Jun | 7:15pm | £24 | ||
| Mon 25 Jun | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Tue 26 Jun | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Wed 27 Jun | 7:15pm | Signed Performance | £22/18 | |
| Thu 28 Jun | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Fri 29 Jun | 5:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Fri 29 Jun | 8:15pm | £24 | ||
| Sat 30 Jun | 2:15pm | Weekend Matinee, Signed Performance | £22/18 | |
| Sat 30 Jun | 7:15pm | £24 | ||
| Mon 2 Jul | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Tue 3 Jul | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Wed 4 Jul | 7:15pm | SOLD OUT | ||
| Thu 5 Jul | 7:15pm | CALL BOX OFFICE | ||
| Fri 6 Jul | 5:15pm | CALL BOX OFFICE | ||
| Fri 6 Jul | 8:15pm | CALL BOX OFFICE | ||
| Sat 7 Jul | 2:15pm | Weekend Matinee | CALL BOX OFFICE | |
| Sat 7 Jul | 7:15pm | CALL BOX OFFICE | ||
Number One First Street
- 1 First Street, Manchester, Manchester, M15 4FN
The home of Manchester City Council – and the venue for Manchester Lines…
Poet Jackie Kay’s tale, despite its heightened quality, has the lightest of lyrical touches… It’s the downbeat, low-key quality of the show that makes it so moving, as it traces the maps of the heart and lexicons of loss, not just of the characters, but – in a wonderful, final coup de theatre – of the audience, too.
The imaginative direction by Wils Wilson creates an anarchic atmosphere in which anything can happen… Not so much a play, more of a celebration… One of the Library Theatre Company’s best.
Highly enjoyable… Jackie Kay was an inspired choice to write the script. I hope she writes more plays soon.
Inventive… All credit to the Library Theatre Company for turning their temporary homelessness into a positive experiment.
‘The company couldn’t be boring if it tried, it just isn’t part of their DNA… An intelligent, grown-up drama.
Sometimes it is not the destination but the journey that counts.
Director Wils Wilson makes magical use of the space, characters and connecting lines… The ending is stunning: It’s a wonderful, uplifting end to the unique Manchester Lines experience.
Full of pathos… Jackie Kay is a wonderful writer, and Manchester Lines is a marvellous celebration of the humanity of ordinary people.
A final alphabetical choral item sweeps you off your fifth-storey feet.
Poetic and quietly miraculous… A show with enough heart and soul.
By the time we leave the [set], the script and the production’s detail and precision, with the skilled performance, have made the experience communal and enlivening.”
Library Theatre Company
The Cast
- Bettrys Jones
- Anna
- John Branwell
- Eugene
- Marcquelle Ward
- Louis
- Dominic Harlan
- Arnold
- Anne Kidd
- Jessie
- Tachia Newall
- Omar
- Amelia Donkor
- Shanti
- Claire Brown
- Pauline
Production Crew
- Jackie Kay
- Writer
- Errollyn Wallen
- Composer
- Wils Wilson
- Director
- Amanda Stoodley
- Designer
- Anna Barrett
- Lighting Designer
- Dominic Harlan
- Musical Director
- Lesley Hutchison
- Movement Director
- Peter Rice
- Sound Designer
- Joshua Azouz
- Assistant Director
Related News & Blog Posts
Blog: Director Wils Wilson shares her thoughts on Manchester Lines
Manchester Lines director, Wils Wilson tells us about the experience as the production comes to an end this weekend… Read more
Blog: Audiences praise Manchester Lines
Manchester Lines opened to fantastic audience reactions. Have a look at what people are saying about it.… Read more
Blog: Watch the Manchester Lines Trailer
Manchester Lines is now on at Number One First Street. Watch the trailer here.… Read more
Blog: Best Stage Management Team for Library Theatre Company
Our Company Stage Manager Jamie Byron tells us about the team’s latest achievement.… Read more
Blog: Meet the Creative Team for Manchester Lines
With Manchester Lines opening this week, we thought it was time to introduce you to the creative team behind the production.… Read more
Blog: Behind the scenes of Manchester Lines
Take a look behind the scenes of Manchester Lines in this short film… Read more
Blog: Update from the Manchester Lines cast
Actress Ameila Donkor plays Shanti in Manchester Lines. She shares her cast experience…… Read more
Blog: Manchester Lines - the cast
Want to know where you might have seen the cast of Manchester Lines elsewhere on stage, film, and television? Take a look at their biographies...… Read more
Blog: Transforming the Manchester Lines set
Designer Amanda Stoodley takes us behind the scenes of the Manchester Lines set and you get a sneak peek on how it's all taking shape in our short timelapse video.… Read more
Blog: Manchester Lines rehearsals underway
Assistant Director Josh Azouz reports back from Zion Arts Centre and the first week of Manchester Lines rehearsals…… Read more
Blog: Lost property for Manchester Lines
Our Stage Manager is on the search for lost property for our next production. Can you help him?… Read more
Blog: This time last year...
Can it really be nearly a year since Hard Times ran at Murrays’ Mills in Ancoats to such praise? Mounting a site-specific production, such as Manchester Lines is...… Read more
Comments on Manchester Lines
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Hi Charlotte the best metro stop for Number One, First Street is Deansgate - Castlefield, one stop from St Peter's Square. The building is a five minute walk away. Alternatively there are parking facilities near the building:
• Plenty of on-street parking meters (free from 8pm) close by.
• Two on-site parks, operated by Q-Parks Ltd, as follows:
1. Car park next to the building (gravel surface, entrances on Hulme Street and Medlock Street) £5 all day; £1.50 up to two hours.
2.Other car park (Tarmac surface, entrance on Whitworth Street West): Up to one hour £2, up to two hours £4, up to three hours £5, up to four hours £6, up to eight hours £8. Saturday up to four hours £2, up to 12midnight £5.
Hope this helps! -
Will this be a promenade performance or seated? Thanks
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Hi Ann the performance is a promenade style - but for the majority of the performance you will be seated. There won't be as much walking around as in Hard Times last year. We don't want to give too much away though!
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My friend and I want to come to this as we are both massive Jackie Kay fans but as we are old and infirm and need to sit. I still work by the way so we are not housebound or anything we just need to be mostly seated. We are worried that the performance will be too strenuous for us. Can you advise please?
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What is a BSL performance?
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Hi Maggie - the majority of the show will be seated. Don't want to give too much away but there isn't too much walking about.
Joe - a BSL performance is a signed performance (British Sign Language). -
Hi, would you say the production is uplifting or sad? I was thinking of buying tickets as a gift for my friend who is coming back from travelling but I don't want to make her feel worse!
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Hi Caroline - we couldn't really say, but we're sure it'll make her think!
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what is the duration of the performance?
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Hi Emma - approx 90 mins (no interval)
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Hi all,
Just a message to inform people who are attending the event that the coffee shop in the atrium will be open as a bar for 45 minutes prior to each event.
So if you wanted a beer or bottle of wine get down and enjoy one with Brodericks.
Many Thanks
Adam Martin
Coffee Bar Manager
Number One First Street
Manchester
M15 4FN -
Hi all,
Just a message to inform people who are attending the event that the coffee shop in the atrium will be open as a bar for 45 minutes prior to each event.
So if you wanted a beer or bottle of wine get down and enjoy one with Brodericks.
Many Thanks
Adam Martin
Coffee Bar Manager
Number One First Street
Manchester
M15 4FN -
I am trying to book tickets for Manchester Lines via your website, and it is not working. There does not appear to be a phone number for ticket booking on the website either. Please advise how I can get tickets. Thanks
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Saw Manchester Lines last night and loved every minute. Superb writing and wonderful actors. Strong performances from everyone. It was a wonderful evening. Thank you all.
James -
Hi all,
Just a message to inform people who are attending the event that the coffee shop in the atrium will be open as a bar for 45 minutes prior to each event.
So if you wanted a beer or bottle of wine get down and enjoy one with Brodericks.
Many Thanks
Adam Martin
Coffee Bar Manager
Number One First Street
Manchester
M15 4FN -
I saw this production on Tuesday and found it a joyful experience. The writing was served brilliantly by the totally impressive production.Whilst the set was a wonder of invention my particular favourites of the evening were the novel muscial numbers. I loved the movement/dance together with the singing. Altogether a lovely evening - many thanks to all involved.
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We attended the performance on Wednesday evening (13th June). We'd certainly recommend it - sad, humorous, poignant, thought-provoking and entertaining and very, very different to anything that we've seen before.
More practical points: we parked on the £5/day car park accessed from Medlock Street (there's a pedestrian exit taking you into the grounds of No One First Street at the opposite side to the entrance).
Maggie - I don't think that you'll have any problems - as has been said above, the majority of the performance is seated in the same place - there are a few seats in the final location - but no-one used these last night.
It did last significantly longer than 90 mins (nearer to 2 hours).
If you have the chance to buy tickest - do! -
Saw this performance last week - it was amazing! Totally not what I expected but even BETTER! It's a MUST see! The cast do an excellent job of putting together a truly believable show.
Go see if you don't believe me! -
2 hours is a long time for those of us ( me) with weak bladder. Is there opportunity for emergency loo visit?
William, the performance is 90 minutes. -
Saw this on Friday evening, an amazing performance and a very unique experience.
Cast were fantastic, set was brilliant. I've never had a theatrical experience like this.
Unmissable. -
Loved everything about the production. Great set of characters, brilliantly performed by all. Totally sucked into the whole thing from the minute you enter the fantastic set. Lots of food for serious thought but lots of humour as well. Loved the music, the dance and loved the choir at the end - they're great.
Lots of references to Manchester, which are enjoyable, but you certainly don't need to be a resident to enjoy this fantastic show. Go and see this if you get the chance. -
I really enjoyed Manchester Lines. The set was so interesting from the start of arriving on 5th Floor to Lost and Found and writing what we had lost (some of which were read out by the cast later). The actors were all superb and the writing and production also.
The concept of a play set in a lost property office was not all that attractive and did not really appeal. However as we had been to see Hard Time last year I thought we should try it.
So moving the concept of loss among the characters a must see. -
wonderful and moving play and excellent cast and production
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Don't miss this. An innovative and refreshing concept, realised through some quite outstanding performances. It had last night's audience enthralled, moved, amused.....Well done library Theatre.
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GO - or next month you will have missed the best piece of theatre of the year. Saw the NT's Frankenstein, and Kinnear in Hamlet - both brilliant - but I cared much more about the characters in this wonderful, innovative and exciting piece of theatre. Jackie Kay has a got a real hit here. Music could do with some work before it makes its West End debut though - music lovers, you have been warned.
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We went to see this last night. It was briliant, funny, moving thought provokingly excellant. I would recommend whole heartedly. Well worth the ticket price.
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Saw Manchester Lines on Monday night and thought it amazing! Congratulations to the producers and the entire cast on their superb performance. I was stunned by the thought-provoking and enjoyable experience. What quality! Thank you.
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A good piece of imaginative theatre. The set designers and makers deserve special congratulations. It all works a treat and makes the best of a slightly disjointed script which creates good characters but doesn't quite manage to weave them all together. The ending in particular is well done and makes the best of the site of this pop-up theatre in an office block.
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Brilliant, moving, witty and sad and so well written and true of life. Full of interlocking patterns and very believable characters. Daring use of street-dance moves in such a tight space and very skillful umbrella action - a health and safety potential nightmare. Even the initial lift experience had its own lines. Initial introduction to the event reminiscent of a family therapy workshop but we thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. Thank you.
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What a fantastic production with a brilliant set and extremely Multi-talented cast.The script was also good. The venue- perfect, we loved it. See it if you can it's a cracker!
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Looks and sounds ace. Shame it is so costly even the concessions price does not make it very accessible..
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Wonderful warm production. We (I) had inadvertently booked for next Friday but the exchange of tickets was handled without fuss - our thanks to the young woman at the front desk.
Do make use of the time at the start to peruse the lost items and make the connection to your own experiences - oh and you will never leave a theatre in quite the style you leave this production. -
Really enjoyed the production - definitely recommend it !
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An unexpected fabulous performance.Loved the interactive parts.First heard of Jackie Kay some years ago when I read her book Trumpet which has stuck in my mind eversince,so I knew it would be different.All the characters were stong and the setting was great,something not to be missed.Thanks a lot for a brilliant performance.
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I loved this play - in fact the total experience from beginning to end. I came with high hopes, knowing how good the Library Theatre is, and in particular what a brilliant actor John Banham is. These hopes were fully realised. When I wasn't laughing, I was wiping away an empathetic tear, and very often both simultaneously. If there are any tickets left, I hope people will ignore the lukewarm review from the MEN and take heed of the excellent ones here and elsewhere. I think Lyn Gardner in the Guardian summed it up perfectly - that it was the understatement that made it all the more moving.
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The theatrical experience of the year. The whole experience was innovative, thought-provoking and just so imaginative. Loved the lost property office and the way we were all herded into it it - lost in this oddly named office building, trapped, in a kind of way, unable to get out, powerless, as were some of the characters. This is real theatre. Everyone should see it.
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Superb experience. The performance space was brilliantly created and exploited. Great writing, tight direction and wonderful performances all round. The play began strongly and then, from Anne Kidd's first appearance, started to take on unsettling resonances that deepened with each accumulating narrative layer. Sincere thanks to all concerned.
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Original performance, innovative venue.
Well directed & well acted - the narrative of
the different lives portrayed is strong and will
stay with you. The Library theatre at it's best.
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I thoroughly enjoyed last night's production of Manchester Lines. All the performers were excellent and the venue was extremely well prepared. The play was unique and well written. Definitely ten out of ten.
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Sorry folks but I seem to be the only person who didn't like it. Started well but never really came together. Too random and disjointed for me and I thought the music out of place and too discordant. I usually love the Library Theatre production, but not this time.
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We came out of this show with huge smiles on our faces. It had blown us away with its originality, humour, humanity, acting, directing, writing ....how much more do you want in under 2 hours ? SO pleased we decided to go. Well don e to everyone involved in its production.
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It was always going to be difficult to follow on from Hard Times, which was fantastic, but Manchester Lines formed a really interesting evening's entertainment. The unexpected
admixture of song and dance worked well. John Branwell is a joy. -
We came to the Friday night performance and thought it was splendid. great cast and thought-provoking script. loved the staging and interaction between actors and audience. the Library Theatre has built on last year's success with Hard Times and has provided another memorable Manchester moment. Please continue to search for unusual locations to stage your productions, it really brings theatre out into the city and engages in orignal formats. well done to all!
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So raging i won't get to see this, but we're going profile it on our monthly newsletter in our site-specific section. Sounds brilliant. Bring it to Belfast!
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Excellent! Unlike anything I've ever seen!!!
Poignant, moving and funny. -
Some years ago I had a conversation with Chris Honer about theatre in the round and promenade theatre theatre versus the proscenium arch. At the time all LT productions were on stage with the fourth wall removed, but I had been working- possibly with Dave Moutrey!- with community plays, where there are no holds barred between actors and audience, 'poor theatre' reigns and technical improvisation is often the name of the game. Last Monday's performance of Manchester Lines was for me like a gemlike distillation of all that is best about theatre in non-theatre spaces. The poetry and poignancy of the script, the creative and stunningly appropriate use of the space and its wrap-around feel, the seeming simplicity of the lighting, the authenticity of the acting,the way the actors emerged and dissolved back into the set,singing, dancing, soliloquising, weaving the broken pieces of story together, subtly relating its themes of love and loss and coincidence to all who watched, added up to one of the most memorable pieces of theatre I've ever had the privilege to experience. Congratulations to everyone involved. When you are back on your new stage, Chris, don't forget your extra-theatre building triumphs!
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What a fabulous evening! Everything about it was magical, from our entry to the Lost Property Office to the finale looking over the wonderful Manchester skyline. Impossible to single out any one person for congratulations as all the actors were superb, the music / dance / community choir involvement all excellent, the concept, script, setting and production representative of all that is best about creative theatre. An absolute joy, entirely absorbing from beginning to end. Congratulations to everyone concerned, particularly those who had the vision to put such a wonderfully tender, poignant, sad yet hopeful piece together for our delight.
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A joyful afternoon spent in the lost property office. The actors were very believable and there were tears of both pain and joy in the audience. Innovative and thought provoking.
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This was a really unique experience - so glad I got the opportunity - felt like a privilege and made me proud to be a Mancunian - I also now feel much more positive about the plans for the new home for the Library Theatre Company in this area of the city - its looking really smart around there now and not how I remember it from many years ago - cant wait for the next "site specific" production
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Like the idea of going to different locations but lost my concerntration of the play due to bad seating I was so uncomfortable and hot. Shame really
where is there any parking for first Street, please? It seems quite a way from the metro in St peters Square..