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Forced Entertainment: End Meeting For All

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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End meeting for All

15 May-30 June 2020

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

Free
Forced Entertainment: End Meeting For All
Image courtesy of Forced Entertainment.
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Created in April during the Coronavirus lockdown, Forced Entertainment’s End Meeting For All is a fragmentary online work in three short episodes.

Each episode runs for 25 minutes and has been recorded in a single live take across six screens of a Zoom meeting with the performers improvising, reacting and interacting from distant locations in Sheffield, London and Berlin. These completed episodes are now available to view on YouTube.

We’ve all become more familiar with Zoom during the lockdown…and whether you love or hate the video conferencing platform, End Meeting For All is probably the most entertaining Zoom call you will have during the pandemic. The grid of screens lends itself perfectly to this perceptive and comically unsettling performance. Brilliantly reflective of current times, the performers are plagued by technical difficulties and artistic misunderstandings.

Excavating comic chaos from complete isolation despair – Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor, Robin Arthur, Richard Lowdon and Tim Etchells – are stuck in a world where the lockdown appears to have been going on for a very very very very long time. Cue bad wigs, skeletons, fake tears, frozen screens, smeared make-up, interruptions by dogs…and lots of gin.

Forced Entertainment have been at the forefront of new developments in theatre and performance for 35 years, and are renowned internationally for pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatre, this project sees the company turn their eye for collage, fragmented narrative and innovation towards video. Multi-layered improvisation, gradual repetitions and breakdowns all provide a reflection on the strange state of lockdown, and the wider anxieties that have surfaced during the pandemic.

Bringing absurd wit and brilliant humour, despite each performers’ infinite state of isolation, End Meeting For All is compelling viewing. If only all Zoom meetings were this entertaining…

Looking for more unmissable culture during the lockdown? Be sure to check out our guide to the top online things to do in Manchester and the North.

Where to go near Forced Entertainment: End Meeting For All

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Restaurant Örme

A hidden gem in the suburbs of Greater Manchester, serving high-level British small plates to a soundtrack of indie rock and roll.

The Abbey
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The Abbey

Historic Hulme pub with a very good live gig space, brought to you by the very capable team behind YES, Gorilla, Now Wave and Manchester Psych Fest.

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Pigeon Beer Wanderer

Pigeon Beer Wanderer brings wine-level ceremony to Manchester’s new “Beermuda Triangle”, courtesy of Joshua Lightfoot and his crack team of booze experts.

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UNITOM Projects

The exhibition arm of Manchester indie bookshop UNITOM is a dedicated space for contemporary visual culture in the St John’s neighbourhood.

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Portfolio

Portfolio is a Champagne boutique on Manchester’s Bridge Street, offering a set menu of fine-dining small bites.

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Bridge 5 Mill

Bridge 5 Mill is a sustainable event space and community hub on Beswick Street in Ancoats, hosting independent cultural projects and ethical supper clubs.

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1853 Studios

1853 Studios and Gallery is a Creative Studios and community of creative professionals occupying the 3rd floors of Osborne Mill, Oldham.

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Podium

Podium delivers high-end, seasonal dishes, largely geared around produce and ideas from the British Isles, but with a few deft twists and turns.

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Long-standing, trend-swerving Chinese restaurant on Manchester’s Upper Brook Street, with a reputation for authentic dim sum and traditional Cantonese cuisine.

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