HOME 2015 opening programme launched
HOME, Manchester’s new centre for contemporary visual art, theatre and film, yesterday presented its extensive opening programme for 2015. The launch took place in HOME’s temporary theatre space in First Street (where Re:play Festival is currently in full swing), adjacent to the near-completed £25m art centre, and opened on an ominous note from HOME chief executive Dave Moutrey, saying “in the current austere times it’s amazing that this project is even happening.”
Those times, however, seem to have been a major inspiration for HOME’s artistic team. The theatre programme opens in May with the world premiere of The Funfair, Simon Stephens’ new adaptation of Ödön von Horváth’s European classic Kasimir and Karoline. Horváth’s play, written in 1932 and set against the backdrop of the world economic crisis, certainly chimes with the concerns of a modern Britain. “It’s a very dark, a very political and a very funny piece,” says HOME’s artistic director of theatre Walter Meierjohann, who’ll direct the production.
Meierjohann went on to present an eclectic theatre programme of new writing, new translations and adaptations. In June there’s the revival of his 2009 Old Vic production Kafka’s Monkey (based on Kafka’s A Report to an Academy), which centres on a physical performance by Kathryn Hunter that Meierjohann calls “phenomenal”. Inventive Cornwall company Kneehigh present their eccentric take on The Beggar's Opera, entitled Dead Dog in a Suitcase (And Other Love Songs), in September. The next month sees the UK premiere of La Mélancolie des Dragons from Philippe Quesne, HOME’s 2015 international guest artist. Also in October comes Golem, from pioneering company 1927, who Meierjohann tantalisingly describes as “merging cinema, the cabaret of the 1920s and animation in a perfect way.”
Next is what Meierjohann calls “the Mount Everest of theatre literature”, The Oresteia, one of the first plays ever written. “Uncut it would last about 12 to 15 hours,” says Meierjohann; thankfully for your posteriors, this version will be closer to two and a half hours. The year will come to a close with Christmas production Inkheart, a new stage adaptation of Cornelia Funke’s bestselling coming of age story. Meierjohann also mentions a – for now – top secret collaboration with Manchester International Festival that will be revealed in the coming months.
This theatre programme is rounded off by a brace of dance productions; the world premiere of The Bad (April), from Hofesh Shechter (“one of the most exciting choreographers in the world,” says Meierjohann) and site-specific piece 5 Soldiers (May), which takes an intimate look at the training that prepares a soldier for combat.
Visual art, film, music
In visual arts, the opening group show will be The heart is deceitful above all things (May-Jul), which riffs on The Funfair's themes. “It’ll be a mixture of new commissions and existing work responding to these themes and feelings of love in uncertain times,” says Perks. These new commissions include a 16mm film by Declan Clarke called The Most Cruel of All Goddesses, which Perks describes as “an espionage reimagining of Kasimir and Karoline featuring the ghost of Friedrich Engels,” and Lively from Toronto-based media artist Jeremy Bailey, which Perks reveals is a device that “will rescue you from heartbreak and depression, avoid the pitfalls of a turbulent economy or the whims of a fickle lover.”
Other exhibitions throughout the year include Safe (Nov-Jan), another group commission, which takes Todd Haynes’ eponymous 1995 masterpiece as its starting point; I must first apologise… (Sep-Nov) the first major solo exhibition of established Lebanese artists and filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige; and The Demiurge, the concluding part of AL and AL’s epic sci-fi odyssey.
There were also a couple of exciting film announcements: Music & Film 1 will unite silent films with some of Manchester’s finest musicians – it kicks off in May with a new score for 1928 film Lonesome by award-winning composer Robin Richards (bassist with The Dutch Uncles) and Cornerhouse’s much-loved Spanish language cinema season ¡Viva! will become a cross-platform festival at HOME in 2016, but until then some ¡Viva! weekenders have been organised, including a celebration of new Mexican cinema in June.
Already it’s clear that bringing the three art forms of visual arts, theatre and film under one roof will foster exciting new collaborations. Perks describes HOME as “a place where artists will create the type of contemporary work that interrogates and illuminates our existence and experiences to date; we’re not just multi-artform, we’re cross-artform.” Meierjohann is also excited about creative cross-pollination at HOME: “Sitting close to cinema and the visual arts from a theatre point of view really excites me. It means that our work is, I hope, going to be very visual.”