The exhibition, which takes inspiration from the hit musical SIX, celebrates ‘everyday’ queens of every description.

“With Queens we want to celebrate not only SIX and its huge personality and sense of fun, but also its glorious inclusivity, attitude and creativity,” says The Lowry’s Director of Visual Arts Michael Simpson. “We know it’s going to be an exhibition like no other and is for everyone who loves SIX, but also for everyone who likes to have a good time.”

In SIX each of Henry VIII’s wives are turned into a pop star on stage and take to the mic to tell their own personal tales, remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power.

Since its early days as a student production in a 100-seat room at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the show has fast become a global musical phenomenon.

In the exhibition the history of these Tudor Queens, as well as their contemporary music influences – from Adele to Beyoncé, blend with lots of opportunities for visitors to sing, dance, play games and quizzes and even take suitably regal selfies.

Queens starts with a celebration of the hit musical SIX featuring two of Gabriella Slade’s iconic costumes from the show: those of Catherine of Aragon and Katherine Howard – a first for the North West.

The costumes are displayed alongside a newly-commissioned model of the SIX stage set, designed by Emma Bailey, as well as scripts, film and memorabilia from Toby and Lucy.

“We are so, so excited that this SIX-inspired exhibition is being curated by The Lowry,” says Lucy Moss. “It has been such a wonderful home for our show for so many years, and it’s just so cool that it will be inviting the Queendom to engage with it, its history, and theatre in a different way”.

Toby agrees: “We can’t wait for everyone to come along and experience the magic the team have been cooking up – we hope it’ll be super inspiring!”

SIX first came to The Lowry at Christmas 2018, at the end of the show’s first ever UK tour, and the production has returned regularly ever since, with sold-out audiences every time. The free exhibition coincides with the shows next visit to the venue’s Lyric Theatre from Tuesday 13 August to Sunday 1 September.

Queens: The Exhibition is at The Lowry from 20 July to 3 November. Entry is free but time slots are required, which can be booked in advance on The Lowry website .

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We are what we eat. In age of financial strife, child hunger and queues at food banks, not everyone can afford to be fussy. Fast food producers resort to cheap and desperate gimmicks – meat in amusing shapes! free plastic toys! – in order to attract young consumers, and make sure they remain loyal. Consumption is the ultimate goal of every marketing team, even if that means selling your soul to get there.

Which brings us to Sweet Dreams, a co production between Factory International, and the art collective MLF (Marshmallow Lazer Quest). Billed as a ‘new immersive experience’, Sweet Dreams takes audiences on a surreal and satirical journey through food, appetite and desire, seen mostly from the point of a naïve food mascot, Chicky Ricky (smartly voiced by actor and comedian Munya Chawawa). As the audience moves through a series of themed rooms, other characters are introduced including Penny Peckish and the sinister ‘Boss’, who has a Rolodex instead of a face (voiced by Reggie Watts). Chicky Ricky thinks he’s living his best life but the company he works for is in commercial decline. For Ricky, it’s a painful road to fast food Damascus.

Says MLF director Robin McNicholas: ‘Sweet Dreams holds a cartoon mirror on our world. We’re serving up a story where audiences can deepen their connection to the food they eat. We aim to spark further conversations about our place in the food chain, via chirpy cartoon faces that are often the gatekeepers to the things we consume.’

The age range for the show is 12 plus. A responsible move because very young children would be freaked out by some scenes. At times, it feels like this is collaboration between satirist Chris Morris and horror director Ti West, with additional input from kitsch artist Jeff Koons. The factory conveyer belt is the stuff of nightmares, with workers encouraged to have regular ‘despair breaks’ and scream into the abyss via a metal funnel (an idea stolen from Unnovations, another blackly comic Charlie Brooker publication).

On a purely visual level, this show is a knockout, a jaw dropping blend of motion graphics, gaming, illustration, and bespoke objects. The scene of a dozen chewing mouths is something David Lynch would kill to have in his next movie. The vocal presence of gifted comic actress Morgana Robinson (who many will know from the sitcom Stuck), is a plus as are the character illustrations from French artists McBess.

But it’s the satirical script from former chef Simon Wroe which is the secret weapon. Wroe’s sly corporate speak is chilling and hilarious; in fact, I’m tempted to watch Sweet Dreams a second time, just to hear the rich, playful language. It’s a pleasure to see a show where a writer is given carte blanche to let his imagination run wild.

It’s unlikely anyone will emerge from Sweet Dreams eager to eat white meat. Some people may feel nauseous. Others may become vegetarian. What’s that loud whirring sound? It’s Bernard Matthews, spinning in his grave. Bootiful.

Sweet Dreams is at Aviva Studios until 1 September 2024.

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Now, a year later than intended, as we all know 2020 had other plans! I couldn’t wait to visit a special exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum telling the story of Factory Records’ formative years from 1978 to 1982 and I was certainly not disappointed!

Use Hearing Protection: The Early Years of Factory Records, at the Science and Industry Museum, reveals the lesser-known stories of one of Manchester’s most influential record labels and celebrates its place at the heart of the city and the UK’s music and creative industries and how their innovative work in music, technology and design gave Manchester an authentic voice and distinctive identity. Founded by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, the label played an influential part in the city’s transformation from an industrial powerhouse to a beacon of art and culture.

The exhibition celebrates Manchester’s place at the heart of Britain’s music and creative industries and shines a light on the little-revealed early period of the label and trace new outlines of its famous history; exploring how contemporary post-industrial Manchester allowed the label to spearhead innovation in the fields of music, technology and design, giving the city an authentic voice and distinctive identity.

Visitors are guided through the lesser-known story of the pre-Haçienda years, uncovering the history of the label and how it earned its status as a catalyst for innovation. The first 50 numbered Factory artefacts on display, include the iconic FAC 1 poster, designed by Peter Saville, as well as items relating to Joy Division, New Order and The Durutti Column. A series of amplified stories shed light on individuals who played an important but lesser-acknowledged role in Factory’s early years.

I was particularly struck to learn about five key women involved in the Factory story at the start, namely , Lindsay Reade, Lesley Gilbert, Gillian Gilbert, Ann Quigley and artist, Linder. More information about how these and how other women were instrumental in the formation of Factory Records cane be found in the Museum’s recent blog written by Archives Manager and Use Hearing Protection lead curator Jan Hicks.

Celebrating the women of Factory Records

Jan Hicks tells Quayslife: “This is an unmissable exhibition for anyone eager to explore the origins of this influential label and its long-lasting legacy. The early years of Factory Records did so much to influence the city and the UK’s contemporary creative industries, and this exhibition explores why its unique development could only have happened in Manchester at this time and involving this group of people.

“It’s a story that the Science and Industry Museum is uniquely placed to tell. Factory Records was hugely influenced by Manchester’s industrial heritage, which we sit at the heart of, and was progressive in its use of digital and electronic technologies, which are again core focuses of the stories we tell here at the museum.

“This is a hugely exciting exhibition. Having been originally planned to take place last year, I’m delighted we’re finally able to bring the experience to our visitors. We’ve taken the additional time to expand the objects and stories available, giving audiences access to a rich collection of Factory artefacts, first-hand accounts and immersive experiences that transports them back to an era where Manchester’s contemporary identity was formed.”

Seldom-seen archive materials and objects give visitors an exclusive insight into the Factory Records story, a highlight being Ian Curtis’s Vox Phantom guitar, played live and featured in the official Love Will Tear Us Apart video, which is on public display for the first time in over 30 years.

It was interesting to discover previously untold stories about one of Britain’s most important independent record labels and I was surprised to see original letters and contracts from the then Head of Music at Granada Television offering the heady sums of £5 and £24.25.

Visitors have the opportunity to visit the ‘Gig Room’ where the music will transport audiences back in time, through large-scale projections of early live performances by bands on the Factory Records label.

I visited the exhibition around noon on a Friday in August, it was fabulous to see couples in the darkness of the ‘Gig Room’ sitting at small tables, apart from the fact that no alcohol was being imbibed it could have been midnight on a Friday night!

Audiences are immersed in music at every turn, through interactive experiences that offer the opportunity to get hands-on with technologies of the time that have gone on to change the face of popular music, including a mixing desk and synthesiser (visitors will need to bring their own headphones to enjoy these experiences).

The geography of the city and its suburbs inspired Factory’s visual agenda, and its iconic aesthetic has been reflected throughout the exhibition’s design. I particularly enjoyed crowd sourced photographs from the People’s Archive showing how the city lived and how music brought people together .

Ben Kelly, who collaborated on record sleeve designs with Peter Saville for early Factory releases before going on to design the Haçienda, led on the exhibition’s creative direction in collaboration with Manchester-based company Modern Designers, who have brought the vision to life.

Use Hearing Protection: The early years of Factory Records has been developed by the Science and Industry Museum in association with consultant curators, Jon Savage and Mat Bancroft, and partner Warner Music UK. It reinterprets and expands on the original Use Hearing Protection: FAC 1 – 50 / 40 exhibition held at Chelsea Space in London in 2019 and displays a number of items from Jon Savage’s personal collection of Joy Division artefacts (acquired by the museum in 2019), as well as objects loaned from the estates of both Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, the former manager of Joy Division and New Order.

As I left the exhibition , and ‘The Gig Room’ with the sounds of 70’s Manchester and Vox Phantom ringing in my ears, a huge poster reminded me to leave quietly.

I am sure that even if I had not left quietly, it would not have mattered as the Museum was buzzing with visitors of all ages. The Science and Industry Museum’s ‘Top Secret’ exhibition, which I reviewed some weeks ago is still a crowd drawer, the figure for visitors to that exhibition had reached over 40,000 and continues to grow weekly.

Use Hearing Protection: the early years of Factory Records is a temporary exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester. It is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and will run until Monday 3 January 2022. Tickets are priced at £8 for adults and £6 for concessions, with under-12s going free.

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