If You Fall at HOME

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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If You Fall

HOME Manchester, Manchester
3-13 May 2023

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

Image courtesy of Ad Infinitum/ HOME
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This May, Ad Infinitum return to HOME Manchester with If You Fall, a beautiful and tender production inspired by real-life personal testimonies of older people.

A beautiful and tender production inspired by real-life personal testimonies of older people.

With joyful acapella choral singing and Ad Infinitum’s signature style of physical storytelling, If You Fall shares intergenerational stories of life in care homes – the residents that live there, their relatives and the people that work there.

If You Fall at HOME Manchester
Image courtesy of Ad Infinitum/ HOME

Shining a light on the stories of real people trying to navigate a system that is breaking at the seams.

We are all very aware of the problems surrounding the care system in the UK today. Chronic underfunding and staffing shortages mean that older people and their families and carers often feel unsupported and unable to access end-of-life care with dignity; this new performance seeks to shine a light on the stories of real people trying to navigate a system that is breaking at the seams.

The production focuses on two characters – Margaret and Norson – and builds a vivid and richly comical vignette of the lives they have lived. Margaret is a green-fingered beacon in her local community, who loves singing, while Norson is cracking in the kitchen and enjoys cricket and fishing. Both are surrounded by their loving families. However, what happens when you lose your independence and all of those things that you enjoy?

If You Fall at HOME Manchester
Image courtesy of Ad Infinitum/ HOME

If You Fall asks how we can better support and look after older people in society.

Before and during the Covid pandemic, Ad Infinitum conducted extensive research and interviews with care providers and care users in Bristol and the UK and produced a two-season podcast, Home from Home: Journey’s into Care for Older Adults, as a result. If You Fall is a performative continuation of this exploration and asks how we can better support and look after older people in society.

There will be two performances with integrated BSL and captions on Saturday 6 May (matinee) and the evening of Wednesday 10 May.

Ad Infinitum are a multi-award-winning, internationally acclaimed theatre company. We’re thrilled that they return to HOME following their sold-out run of Extraordinary Wall of Silence in 2020 and A Small Gathering, a digital film made as part of HOME’s Homemakers programme during the period of lockdown.

What's on at HOME Manchester

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Where to go near If You Fall at HOME

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Indian Tiffin Room is a restaurant specialising in Indian street food, with branches in Cheadle and Manchester. This is the information for the Manchester venue.

The Ritz Manchester live music venue
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The Ritz

The Ritz was originally a dance hall, built in 1928, has hosted The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and The Smiths and is still going strong as a gig venue now.

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Homeground is HOME’s brand new outdoor venue, providing an open-air space for theatre, food, film, music, comedy and more.

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Small but perfectly-formed café – which also serves as the in-house bookstore, stocking all manner of Burgess-related works, along with recordings of his music. It’s a welcoming space, with huge glass windows making for a bright, welcoming atmosphere.

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This huge three-floor pub, formerly a Victorian warehouse, then an umbrella factory (hence the name), has one of the city centre’s largest beer gardens. The two-tier terrace overlooks the Rochdale canal and what used to be the back of the Hacienda, providing an unusual, historic view of the city.

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