Factory International Spring Season 2025

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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Factory International Spring Season 2025

Aviva Studios, Manchester
Until 29 May 2025

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

Cycles at Aviva Studios: Boy Blue in dynamic poses, wearing coordinated streetwear outfits, performing against a dark background.
Image courtesy of Camilla Greenwell.
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Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, has firmly asserted itself as a global destination for art lovers and culture since it officially opened in autumn 2023. Now, another electrifying spring season is brewing for 2025.

From playable art installations to frenetic Shakespearean adaptations via contemporary cabaret, hip hop and live photography, Factory International bring another wonderfully wild programme, bolstered by bold collaborations.

The season will welcome audiences with a free immersive exhibition for all ages. Those Who Hold Up The Sky is an interactive installation co-created by artists BRiGHTBLACK and Fusion Factory, a community collective of creative Mancunians. Gaming meets live performance as visitors (or ‘players’) are invited to remodel and remix the city of Manchester. Set to an evocative soundscape, you’ll find gaming stations and hands-on making spaces, where you can unleash your imagination on a future Manchester. Whatever your age, and whether you like to make digitally or by hand, Those Who Hold Up The Sky is a great place to get creative with friends and family.

Next up, the celebrated hip hop theatre company, Boy Blue return to Aviva Studios with their latest dance production, Cycles. Following the success of Aviva Studios’ opening show, Free Your Mind, Factory International are thrilled to welcome back Boy Blue founders, Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy. Joyous and celebratory, Cycles explores the shared pleasures of dance; it went down a treat during its world premiere at the Barbican last year – we can’t wait to see it in Manchester.

In exciting contrast, Irish sensation THISISPOPBABY bring Wake, a high-octane variety show packed with wild acrobatics and outrageous cabaret. Taking its name from Ireland’s traditional funeral rite, this is a live performance that reminds us to live fully. Expect musicians, aerialists, slam poets and Irish dancers in this acclaimed party-performance spectacular.

April sees the much-anticipated production, Hamlet Hail to the Thief open at Aviva Studios. Blending Shakespeare’s great tragedy with Radiohead’s seminal album, this performance brings an intoxicating fusion of theatre, music and movement. Co-created by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, Frantic Assembly’s Steven Hoggett and Theater for One’s Christine Jones, this is an unmissable world premiere.

Finally, we’re thrilled that Benji Reid’s acclaimed MIF23 show, Find Your Eyes returns to Aviva Studios in May. Weaving theatre, choreography and photography, this genre-bending live photography show is a must-see this spring.

Our top picks

Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes at Aviva Studios

Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes at Aviva Studios, Manchester, 25–29 May 2025, From £27.50 - Book now

It was a huge hit at MIF23 and went on to tour the world. We’re thrilled that Benji Reid’s acclaimed live photography show returns to Manchester this spring.

Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes at Aviva Studios: A chroreographed image a person kneeling on a pedestal in a sea green outfit, looking to the left with a bowl covering their face in front of a white light on a bluebackground
Benji Reid

What's on at Aviva Studios

FestivalsCity Centre
MIF25: Festival Square

Festival Square is the beating heart of Manchester International Festival 2025, returning to its riverside location once again.

Free entry
Free Activity at Aviva Studios
Until
ComedyManchester
Free Activity at Aviva Studios

From comedy nights to drop-in family craft sessions, Factory International bring an accessible and inclusive programme of events this spring – the best thing, it’s all free.

Free entry

Where to go near Factory International Spring Season 2025

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The Loft Manchester

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Manchester Opera House by Phil Tragen
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Manchester Opera House

A commercial touring theatre, the Manchester Opera House is reopening in August 2021, all set to host the city’s finest mainstream theatrical productions, music gigs, opera and ballet.

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Low Four Studio

Old Granada Studios has announced Low Four: a new studio and music project that will stream and archive live music performance as part of a new generation of music TV programming. The inclusion of a viewing balcony also means that these recordings, along with special events and concerts, will be made open to a few […]

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20 Stories

High-end restaurant and cocktail bar, with stunning views of the Manchester skyline.

Manchester
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Smolensky Gallery

This appointment-only gallery is a hidden gem in Manchester. Art lovers and collectors can browse many high quality pieces.

What's on: Visual Arts

The Same Deep Water as You at PINK
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The Same Deep Water as You at PINK

Get involved in this artistic and ambitious takeover of PINK’s three-storey venue, weaving together live performance, video, sculpture and sound.

Free entry

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Laura Ellen Bacon, Into Being, 2025. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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Sextile
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Open air clubs, new festivals and long-awaited gigs. The North West's live music scene is heating up this spring. 

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Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.