Following a sold-out run at MIF23, a specially recorded film of Maxine Peake’s powerful solo performance in They will premiere on International Women’s day at Aviva Studios with a live Q&A.
After making its world premiere in the iconic John Rylands Library at last year’s Manchester International Festival (MIF23), They, an adaptation of Kay Dick’s rediscovered masterpiece adapted by Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight, returns on screen at Aviva Studios (8pm, 8 March) and on demand on Factory International’s online platform Factory+ from 9 March.
Imagine a near-future where creative expression is outlawed, all art eradicated and any resistance takes enormous courage. Would it be enough to go on quietly creating for yourself? To memorise your favourite passages before all books disappear? What is art without an audience or a debate? First published in 1977, Kay Dick’s novel They: A Sequence of Unease went out of print for decades but was recently re-discovered and feels more relevant than ever.
The adaptation is Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight’s latest Festival collaboration, following The Masque of Anarchy (2013), The Skriker (2015) and The Nico Project (2019), which celebrated radical acts and artists.
The trio, as the newly-formed company MAAT – a collective adventure to make new work in conversation with Music, Art, Activism and Theatre – will present a brand-new adaptation of John Bowen’s cult-classic Robin Redbreast at Aviva Studios in 2024. For Robin/Red/Breast (17-26 May) they join forces with acclaimed electronica artist Gazelle Twin and Booker Prize-shortlisted writer Daisy Johnson.
Tickets available from the Factory International website here
