Flying Solo Festival 2017 at Contact

Andrew Anderson

Book now

Flying Solo Festival 2017

Contact Theatre, Manchester
27 October-11 November 2017

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

© Lee Baxter
Book now

Flying Solo Festival, Contact’s festival of solo performance, is back with a bumper programme that features some of the North West’s best comic talent – Kate O’Donnell and Jackie Hagan – as well as international acts like American comedian Desiree Burch and Dutch spoken word artist Sheyda Darab.

Let’s start with Hagan, whose breakout show Some People Have Too Many Legs was a big success in 2015. Hagan’s humour reminds you of the kid at the back of the class who always comes up with a clever comment, while her subject matter – in this case, “skint disabled people” in a new work titled Jumble Soul – is deeply human.

As for O’Donnell, it’s now 14 years since she transitioned. In You’ve Changed she wonders whether the world has moved on in that time, or whether we are still stuck with our old ideas. Expect her to explore these big concepts in between many wardrobe changes – all of which will be fabulous.

Elsewhere, Burch’s show This is Evolution is acerbic comedy at its finest as the American explores the plight of the over 30s; those living with the expectation that they should have a ‘real life’ while dealing with the actuality that they don’t.

Finally, Sheyda Darab’s Treasuries of Mysteries mixes spoken word with hip hop and theatre in a show that invites audiences to “look for treasure”. Where else could you see a show that is influenced by both Iranian writer Nizami Ganjavi and krumping?

Full line-up announced soon.

What's on at Contact Theatre

Where to go near Flying Solo Festival 2017 at Contact

Manchester
Music venue
The Deaf Institute

The Deaf Institute is a vibrant gig venue and nightclub for which it is well worth taking a jaunt out of the Northern Quarter.

Manchester
Catalog Bookshop

Find Peter and his Christiania cargo bike around All Saints Park, a hop, skip and a bunnyhop from Manchester Poetry Library.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Sandbar

Sandbar, just off Oxford Road in Manchester, is a well-loved watering hole, with a great selection of ales and some eccentric seating.

Johnny Roadhouse store
Manchester
Shop
Johnny Roadhouse

Buffeted by fried chicken outlets, legendary musical instrument emporium Johnny Roadhouse has been serving the local music community for over 50 years.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Eighth Day

Eighth Day is a co-operative shop that sells ethically-sourced food, wine and cosmetics. There’s also café that serves hearty, healthy meals in the basement.

Manchester
Event venue
The Proud Place

Based in the heart of Manchester on Sidney Street, The Proud Place houses The Proud Trust and serves as a community hub for the wider LGBT+ population across Greater Manchester and beyond.

What's on: Festivals

Open Air Theatre at Grosvenor Park
Until
FestivalsChester
Open Air Theatre at Grosvenor Park

Expect another fabulous season of open-air theatre when Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland play Grosvenor Park this summer.

From £10.80
A girl lies down in a field of daisies.
Until
CinemaManchester
The Worlds of Mamoru Hosoda at HOME

This summer, HOME presents a short season of films from celebrated Japanese animator Mamoru Hosoda, screening on the big screen in stunning 4K for the first time.

From £4.70
Until
FestivalsCity Centre
Independents Biennial 2025

You’ll find Independents Biennial exhibitions pretty much everywhere in Merseyside, with more art, performances and events than ever before.

Free entry
Image of a performer dressed as a creepy moon, wearing a beige suit jacket, grinning in front of a lamp
EducationCity Centre
British Science Festival

Enjoy comedy shows to art installations, dynamic performances and more at this amazing celebration of all things science.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.
Exhibitions in the North

Chocolate fountains, beautiful batiks and medieval marginalia - this month's supersized Exhibitions Guide has it all.

Literature Events in the North

The autumn leaves might be falling already, but the harvest is plentiful as the live literature scene gets back into the swing of things after a summer break...

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.