PUFFBALL

Sun 8 & Mon 9 June, 7:30pm. Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann's Square, M2 7DH. 0161 833 9833 / http://www.royalexchange.co.uk/puffball A Roundhouse production in partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Contact (Manchester) and Cast (Doncaster). The Theatre is transformed into an event like no other... ‘I am living in and under the aftermath of an explosion, there are two of us here. One to tell the stories, the other to build a home…’ Inspired by the cast’s own personal stories – at times heart-breaking, at times joyful – the show will be the culmination of a major year-long project working with young people identifying as LGBTQ from towns and cities across the UK. It has been created in collaboration with renowned director Mark Storor and world-class circus performers. Fusing storytelling with beautiful circus performances, PUFFBALL is set to a live score by award-winning composer Jules Maxwell. Join us for cabaret performances after both shows as Contact and Royal Exchange Theatre, in association with Cake Tin Foundation and Rude Grrl present MOTHER'S RUIN'S: PUFFBALL CABARET - a raucous late-night cabaret in the auspicious surrounds of the Royal Exchange Great Hall. REVIEWS ‘An often delicate, elusive, yet sprawling and uncommonly poetic evocation of the lives of people who identify, as the cast do, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning….VISUAL, PHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL’ The Times ‘ ..an intriguing, unsettling, ULTIMATELY JOYFUL circus piece.. moments of fun, flirtation and easy intimacy, as well as scenes of TRIUMPH…the images they've inspired linger on in the memory’ The Guardian ‘STUNNING imagery – BRAVE, FUNNY, LIFE-ENHANCING‘ The Stage ‘..the struggle for identity – to connect with other human beings, to love and be loved – is WISTFUL, JOYOUS and TENDER in a show that is transgressive in many ways…when it takes off, it REALLY SOARS: a duet performed by two men on chains is TERRIFIC and certainly proves that love hurts; a swinging trapeze sequence is full of unfettered EXULTATION. This stage may be splattered with jelly and water, but WHAT IT REALLY BRIMS WITH IS LOVE.’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian