From David Lynch to Judy Garland; blowing the whistle to lifting the skirt of politics — all capped off with an April Fool of small-people proportions

Brought to you by hÅb — with Queer Contact, Royal Exchange Theatre, The Lowry, the Whitworth, Z-arts — we look forward to seeing you at some or all of Spring 2017. If you want to check out what happened last season take a look at our Autumn/Winter 2016 archive, and if you came to an event please help us by taking a few minutes to fill out our online survey.

What is Word of Warning + where did it come from?

Consistently refreshing and surprising, no season is ever the same…

Simply put, Word of Warning is a one-stop shop for the bonkers, the beautiful and the bizarre of new live performance — an attempt to keep alive the best of the 25 year greenroom legacy and to introduce new people to the possibilities of seeing live work in Manchester + beyond…

…a strand of alternative and fledgling work that has only recently got a new lease of life via Word of Warning and Emergency.
Creative Tourist on Manchester theatre (November 2014)

We take live work very seriously — but we don’t take ourselves seriously at all. Over the past 5 years we’ve shown funny, thought-provoking, beautiful work by the likes of Action Hero, Michael Pinchbeck, Ria Hartley, Lowri Evans, the vacuum cleaner, Leentje Van de Cruys, Stacy Makishi, Kim Noble, Richard DeDomenici + Greg Wohead amongst others. We’ve also created bonkers all ages live art (Haphazard), hosted Hunt & Darton’s pop-up art-café, unleashed bizarre behaviour upon Manchester’s city centre (Hazard) and created performance festivals in blocks of flats (Domestic).

Curated by the ever-impressive Word Of Warning…
The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner, on Domestic (November 2013)

Who’s it for? Anyone looking for a different night (or day) out.

We don’t want to put you off by talking labels — yes there’ll be theatre, live art, dance — the aim is to be anything but elitist or po-faced. So if you like comedy, music, gaming or just a friendly, stimulating evening — there’ll be something you might want to take a chance on.

What our audiences said about the work in 2016

Astonishing. Like nothing else. Transformative, immersive, moving.
Brave, dark, humerous, intimate, intense.
Heartwarming, funny + engaging.
Strangely mesmeric. A unique experience.
Very enjoyable — felt accessible and thus enjoyable to all.
You programme wonderful, daring performances that I have never been disappointed by.

Who is Word of Warning?

My name’s Tamsin Drury and I run an organisation called hÅb, which was greenroom’s partner for over a decade. You might not know hÅb but you might know some of our events — like Emergency (Manchester’s free marathon of live work, soon to enter its eighteenth year) and Hazard (biennial random sprees of eccentricity in Manchester’s City Centre).

I’ve been around a while, a really long while… and in that time, I’ve been responsible for making the Arndale Tower flash, wrapping Cathedral Gardens in 7km of hazard tape and encouraging a mass audience conga and a glitter-cannon Hallelujah chorus! On the less eccentric side, over the years hÅb has also worked with literally hundreds of young NW artists to help them create new pieces of theatre + dance.

Please send programming enquiries to me at info@habmcr.org

I’m joined in this lunacy by John Franklin, greenroom’s long time programme co-ordinator, the friendly face greeting you and eliciting your feedback at many of our events. We are also grateful for the support of a growing band of hÅb-ettes: currently Catherine (Cat) Shaw, Sam Stockdale + Toni-Dee Paul.

What our audiences said about us in 2016

Always special, bringing the unexpected and intriguing, thank you.
Bringing some of the most interesting performance work in the world to our city.
Fabulous for seeing things different from the mainstream machine.
Great organisation — a reason to move to Manchester.
I don’t know what I would do with my spare time without you.

Performance Programme Spring 2017

Wed 25 Jan, 8pm. Pay What You Decide | Part of WTF at The Lowry
Castle Rock
Thu 16 Feb, 6-9pm. Free | Thursday Lates at the Whitworth during Queer Contact 2017
(I Could Go On Singing)
Over The Rainbow
(Wed 1 Mar, 8pm sold-out.) Pay What You Decide | Part of WTF at The Lowry
A Machine They're Secretly Building
(Thu 16 + Fri 17 sold-out) Sat 18 Mar, 7.30pm. £12/10 | The Studio at Royal Exchange Theatre
Cock and Bull
Sat 1 Apr, 12noon-4pm. Free | Z-arts
Haphazard 2017