Electric Dreams Online

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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Electric Dreams Online

24 July-16 August 2020

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Electric Dreams Online
Image courtesy of Nichon Glerum
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Going some way to give back the magic of being part of an audience, Electric Dreams Online is really worth checking out. Happening across various digital platforms and devices, the festival runs for three weeks this summer.

During the lockdown period and the temporary closure of cinemas, galleries and theatres, artists have been driven to find new ways to interact with their audiences. Interesting new forms of arts and entertainment have emerged as people have been driven to find new ways to connect, create and stay cultured.

Online platforms have become the space for artists to express and engage with their audiences. Cue… Electric Dreams Online…celebrating the best of cyberspace storytelling.

When we need to be apart but want to be together, technologies provide a solution.

Presented by the award-winning Crossover labs, international producers of immersive and interactive work, Electric Dreams Online offers fresh and exciting ways to channel creativity and connect. Featuring some of the best examples of web-native theatre, music and experiences, the digital festival brings work from some of the most visionary and innovative artists in the world today.

Bringing work from some of the most visionary and innovative artists in the world today.

Many of the festival’s shows were well received at Edinburgh Fringe and have been now been adapted to reach audiences digitally. Live and social, festival highlights include Darkfield’s Double, Twelve Thousand Years in Fragments by composer Jamie Perera and artist-filmmaker Katharine Round and Javaad Alipoor’s WhatApp augmented The Believers are but Brothers.

Feel part of an audience again. Dive in.

Where to go near Electric Dreams Online

Tangerine
Chapel Street
Restaurant
Tangerine

Manchester’s latest must-visit multipurpose venue, offering top-level food, drinks and live shows.

Bar Posie
City Centre
Bar or Pub
Posie

A new cocktail bar from the crack team behind 10 Tib Lane and Henry C.

Manchester
Food hall
Kargo MKT

Mighty food hall in Salford Quays, with around twenty street food vendors, serving a huge range of cuisines.

Asap Coffee Interior/ Counter
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
ASAP Coffee

If you’re looking for quality coffee and a decadent brunch in a setting that nails the Northern Quarter brief, you’d struggle to do better than ASAP Coffee.

Interior of George St Chapel
Manchester
Event venue
George Street Chapel

This beautifully restored former Independent Methodist Chapel in the heart of Oldham is as much a creative hub as a heritage landmark.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Pho Cue

Family-run Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. Prepare to queue for Pho Cue.

Come to Swithens Farm for a great family day out in Leeds. Our farm has plenty to offer whatever age you are!Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around. We now have a farm shop, café, playbarn and petting farm. When we first opened we only had the usual farm animals – cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and it was free entry. We now have llamas, alpacas, meerkats, rabbits, guinea pigs, donkeys and a pony.On the working farm, we breed our own cows, pigs and sheep and we sell the meat through the farm shop and the café. If you buy a sausage sandwich from the café the sausage will be from the butcher who has made the sausage by hand using our own pork. We also produce our own free-range eggs.
Leeds
Swithens Farm

Swithens Farm is a working farm. For many years now Ian and his wife Angela have built a following that they welcome in all year around.

Peak District
Restaurant
The Chequers Inn

The Chequers Inn is a 16th century, family-run, traditional country inn with an impressive dining space. The Peak District at its best.

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