Things to Do in Manchester

Creative Tourist

Last Updated 4 April 2018

Spend a day in the city and it rapidly becomes apparent just how much it has reinvented its industrial past into a new, trendsetting present – and an ambitious future. There’s plenty of things to do in Manchester too, from award-winning theatre and exhibitions to an exciting food and drink offer and thriving literature and music scenes.

Discover our top picks

Theatre 13–23 February 2019, from £12.50

SparkPlug at HOME

Inspired by autobiographical events, SparkPlug is a punchy and poetic monologue which explores family, race, identity and love.

Theatre 8 February–2 March 2019, from £10.00

Mother Courage and her Children at the Royal Exchange

A sharp new adaptation of Brecht’s classic – Mother Courage and her Children – written by Anna Jordan and headed up by Julie Hesmondhalgh in the title role.

Activity 23–24 February 2019, from £3

Manchester Vocal Weekend at The Stoller Hall

Over the final weekend of February, award winning baritone Marcus Farnsworth will lead the very first Manchester Vocal Weekend.

Craig Easton (Maizi, Runcorn). Sixteen photography exhibition, Manchester

Exhibitions 15 February–15 April 2019, FREE

Sixteen – around Manchester

Presented at venues across Manchester, ‘Sixteen’ is a nationwide photographic project that gives voice to the next generation of young people across Great Britain, who will live in a politically reshaped country divorced from the European Union.

Music 23 February 2019, from £12.5

Schumann | Robin Holloway | Valentin Silvestrov at The Bridgewater Hall

The BBC Philharmonic celebrates Robin Holloway’s 75th birthday with a brand new work by the treasured English composer, given its world premiere by guest soloist Håkan Hardenberger. Also tonight, a rare performance of Valentin Silvestrov’s transcendent Fifth Symphony, one of the best-kept secrets in contemporary music.

Chinternet Ugly at Chinese Centre for Contemporary Art

Exhibitions 8 February–12 May 2019, FREE

Chinternet Ugly at Centre for ChineseContemporary Art

CFCCA presents Chinternet Ugly – a group exhibition that offers a rare glimpse behind the biggest digital boundary in the world: the Great Firewall of China.

Music 23 February 2019, from £17.50

Actress at Gorilla

For the second night in the Marcus Intalex Music Foundation’s WK:END series, the inimitable Actress will play at Gorilla, alongside Martyn and dBridge.

Exhibitions 8 February–29 March 2019, FREE

Simeon Barclay: Life Room at The Holden Gallery

The Holden Gallery presents ‘Simeon Barclay: Life Room’, featuring new work by an artist from Huddersfield who discovered glamour, theatricality and a sense of aspiration between the pages of ‘Vogue’, and a love for industrial fabricating techniques during 16 years spent on the factory floor.

Cinema 7–28 February 2019, FREE

Bigger Than Life/ Four Films by Stephen Cone at Number 70, Oxford Street

Bigger Than Life and Research in Arts and Humanities at Manchester Met present the first UK retrospective of the films of American independent film director Stephen Cone, at No. 70, Oxford Road this February.