Lynch’s festival residency includes his first major UK exhibition, My Head is Disconnected, the biggest ever exhibition of visual art by David Lynch in the UK, a practice he has been developing over five decades.

Before becoming an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, Lynch trained as a painter at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and has gone on to produce a prolific body of work across painting, sculpture, photography and drawing.

The visual art of David Lynch is key to understanding his creative universe; this exhibition focuses on his impressive wall-based works, the majority of which have never been seen before in the UK.

Four (4) Heads Came Out on Wednesday features a figurative apparition with multiple floating, circling heads, wailing upon a lonely hillside, a house or home in the rear-ground, earth and sky mingling in a brewing storm of Lynchian menace.

The limited-edition print was produced in the Parisian workshop of Item éditions, where Lynch has created medium and large-format black-and-white lithographs for many decades in keeping with his typical themes: loneliness, love, eroticism, dreams, and death.

The exclusive edition of 100 prints have each been personally signed by the artist. Priced at £425 each, prints of Four (4) Heads Came Out on Wednesday go on sale to the public at noon on Thursday 4 July 2019 (with MIF and HOME Members able to purchase from noon on Wednesday 3 July 2019).

Purchasers will be invited to a private preview of exhibition My Head is Disconnected on Friday 5 July 2019. And all profits from the sales will go to HOME to help fund future exhibitions

My Head is Disconnected is at HOME Manchester from 6 July – 29 September 2019.

Read more about Lynch’s film, music and discussion events running as part of MIF19.

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Can you tell us about the show?

Släpstick is indeed a series of musical (as in “with music”, not “Musical”) sketches, with a loose to non-existent narrative. There are plenty of recurring characters and themes, and a general 1920’s/1930’s fairground feel to the whole thing.

What do you think is the timeless appeal of slapstick comedy?

I suppose the fact that many of the great slapstick acts are textless makes them instantly relatable to all, since language barriers are irrelevant. It’s also truly a craft – the greats worked on their timing and precision the way a concert pianist practices scales, or a world class athlete prepares for a competition. That level of dedication is universally appreciated. That, and a man with a tiny moustache, falling off a ladder, will never not be funny. That’s just a fact.

How do you become a slapstick comic?

If you’re like us, then you were always the one at the music school trying to balance a trombone on his chin while your peers were diligently studying their etudes. I suppose it’s a natural progression. If you have that innate silliness, the diligence to work on your craft in great detail, and the willingness to fling your body around the stage, you’re well on your way.

How does Släpstick fit with the history of clowning? Do you consider yourself to be a clown?

Two branches of the same tree, I guess? Or maybe a square and rectangle kind of thing? All slapstick artists are clowns, but not all clowns are not slapstick artists? The Swiss clown, Grok is a great example of a clown and slapstick artist in one. I don’t know if we consider ourselves to be clowns, but we use a lot of elements from clowning in our acts.

How long did it take you to learn to fall over convincingly without getting hurt?

Oh, we still get hurt! But it’s all about damage control. I’m not sure how long it took us, but we were coached by several different people from various disciplines: clowning, acrobats, dancers and stuntmen.

What makes you laugh?

Everything, just about. YouTube Cat Videos. Buster Keaton falling down a hillside. South Park. Pretentious classical musicians. The A-Team and Chuck Norris movies. The way Charlie Chaplin’s eyebrows take over an entire scene. Monty Python. Kenny G album covers from the 80’s. Groucho Marx seducing a rich blonde, etc. etc…

Which slapstick comedians inspire you?

The Marx Brothers were my father’s favourite and will always have a place on the slapstick pedestal for me. Obviously, Charlie Chaplin. His craftsmanship is second to none, an absolute master of timing and physicality, and a brilliant musician as well. Buster Keaton has to be up there too, for his moxie and absolute daring! The man must have been completely fearless!

If you could ask your hero any question about his work, what would it be?

I think I’d ask Buster Keaton how many bones he’s broken over the course of his career!

What is your favourite ever slapstick sketch?

I’d have to say it’d be the scene from the Marx Brother’s “A Night At The Opera”, where Chico Marx is playing the piano for a small crowd of children. What he’s playing is absurdly virtuosic, yet he still manages to throw in his little finger gags, silly subtle movements, and make faces at the kids. It’s perhaps a bit less “slapstick-y” than Buster Keaton jumping off the roof, or Charlie Chaplin getting tossed through the giant gears of the factory in Modern times, but it captures golden combination of silly and melancholy that makes slapstick so endearing.

Have you incorporated any of this routine into the show?

Not that one, no. If we had to incorporate something from every slapstick scene we love, the show would be about 10 hours long!

What can audiences expect from the show? Is there any audience interaction?

They can expect first and foremost top-class musicianship. Music is our background after all, and as clown-esque as we may be, the music is always at the forefront! Otherwise they’ll get a rowdy and raucous night, filled with lots of gags, nostalgia, mild stuntman-ship and original and exciting music! And yes, there’s lots of audience participation – prizes to be won, ladies to be romanced, and glory to be had! And no, you’re not safe even all the way in the last row!

Is your show suitable for all ages?

Absolutely! The gags range from erudite classical music references, to trouser-dropping, violin throwing silliness, and everything in between. There really is something for everyone here, and I don’t say that flippantly! The music genres cover everything from Balkan to Jazz to Classical to Rock to Prince to Michael Jackson to Peruvian Folk and back. There is physical humour, subtle nuances, and even some touching moments. Hope to see you there, people of Manchester!

Släpstick is at HOME from 13- 22 December 2018 visit homemcr.org for details.

Visit Jon’s website to find out more about his work. 

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Future Bodies is about the fusion of brains and technology. It’s a very interesting and complex concept. Where did the idea come from and what does it mean to you?

My company, Unlimited Theatre specialises in collaborating with scientists and in 2015 I was commissioned by the Science Museum in London to make “an interactive festival of human enhancement and biotechnology”. As a result, I got to meet some of the most brilliant researchers and cyborgs working in advanced prosthetics, smart drugs and brain implants. I’d always been into sci-fi but it was inspirationally eye-opening for me to discover how advanced some of the real, current developments are. It was also startling how little real-world thinking and policy making has been done about the implications of most of the tech being developed. So, this show and You Have Been Upgraded – the other event I’m making for Manchester Science Festival are my contribution to creating a higher quality conversation around the real world (potential) impacts of human enhancement technologies.

How did you approach the research for the show?
It was mostly conversations in offices or pubs with some of the people we met through that initial event. Professor Barbara Sahakian at Cambridge for cognition enhancing drugs; Dr Tim Constandinou at Imperial’s Centre for Biospired Technology on brain implants; Professor Paul Freemont at Imperial’s Centre for Synthetic Biology and Anders Sandberg at the Institute for the Future of Humanity were all extremely generous with their time and introductions to other specialists. We also read most of the internet! If you’re interested, we’ve distilled some of the most interesting/relevant research on a dedicated website https://unfuturebodies.com

What is the most interesting/exciting discovery you made during the research?

The show has been co-created by five of us (myself and Clare from Unlimited Theatre and Abbi, Helen and Becky from RashDash) and I’m sure we’d all have different things that blew our minds – synthetic wombs; panda meat burgers grown from scratch in a lab; brain implants to restore a sense of touch for prosthetic limbs. But the thing we we’re all most equally fascinated with (or troubled by) was the sincere and increasingly mainstream quest to cure ageing, particularly with regard to Whole Brain Emulation – “mind uploading”. Yes, most researchers dismiss this as an impossible fantasy but there are some very serious people who believe it is achievable in the not-too-distant future. If you really want to have your mind blown you should totally check out this 50minute podcast interview with neuroscientist Randal Koene.

What has been the greatest challenge of presenting this scientific research as an artistic piece?

Not just making a lecture! It’s always our biggest challenge to find ways to make these often extremely complex ideas both accessible and relatable. But it’s a good challenge and one that I think we’re increasingly good at.

What can audiences expect from the show?

You can expect to have your mind blown and for your hairs to stand on end; stunning visuals and heartbreaking new writing; outstanding performances from a brilliant cast and magnetic vocals and driving guitar riffs from a blue-skinned alien. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing then you can expect a fully accessible experience as the whole show is captioned.

Has your view of your own brain/body changed through making the show and if so how?

I started making this show excited by the possibility of becoming an internet connected, blue-skinned, 300-year-old, winged demi-god. As a result of the depth of conversation with my collaborators, particularly Abbi and Helen from RashDash, I’ve become surprisingly reinvested in exploring the full potential of the body I was born in. I’d still like wings though.

Will there be any opportunities to see the show again after the Science Festival?

We hope so! It goes on a short tour to Northern Stage in Newcastle and the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield – details on our website. We’re hoping it will be back for more performances in 2019. If anyone would like to stay in touch then you can follow us on Twitter @untheatre or Facebook

Future Bodies is a co-production from Home and Unlimited Theatre in collaboration with RashDash and has been developed specifically for Home’s intimate 150-seat Theatre 2 space. It is at Home from 28 September to 13 October 2018.

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Here Coronation Street favourites, David Neilson (Roy Cropper) and Chris Gascoyne (Peter Barlow) play two desperate characters, clinging to each other because they have nothing else. Both actors are almost unrecognisable in the roles. Neilson literally takes centre stage as chair-bound Hamm, who barks orders from his battered armchair. Wearing a velvet-collared dressing gown, matching hat and shades, he tells stories that lift him momentarily above the filth he is living in with a mock superiority.

Hamm is unable to see the squalor he lives in but the audience can see how empty his pretence is. His face is bloody and his small room is no more than a rusty shell that makes you want to wash just looking at it. In comparison, Gascoyne’s character, Clov is all too aware of his surroundings and it’s as if the acceptance of this has worn him down in every sense. His clothes are ill-fitting and dirty; he stands stooped, twitches, wheezes and walks as if being dragged. He looks after Hamm with a resentment that is almost tangible. At one point Clov hits Hamm with a toy dog that he half-made for him (it was the wrong colour and only has three legs) and Hamm responds with, ‘If you’re going to hit me, hit me with an axe.’

The only other two people in their world are Hamm’s parents, Nagg (Peter Kelly) and Nell (Barbara Rafferty), who live in rubbish bins begging for any morsel of pleasure. At one point Clov sees a young boy from the window, but neither he nor Hamm is sure if the boy was real or not.

Death hangs heavy in this play. Often plays about death have something inherently uplifting about them, a response that makes you glad to be alive. This play doesn’t but rather leaves an unsettling angst. There is a line in it, ‘There is nothing funnier than unhappiness,’ but the laughter here is hollow rather than joyous.

Endgame has more misery than a typical Christmas episode of EastEnders and like a soap opera compels us to watch, even when we can’t genuinely say we’ve enjoyed it.

Endgame is at Home from 25 February to 12 March 2016.

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