A season under construction — from a one-off, never to be repeated trip around a building in transition, to a sweet sixteenth, with a digital swirl of dance and the beatification of an old friend.

Brought to you by hÅb with Contact, The Guinness Partnership, Sustained Theatre Up North (STUN) + Z-arts, we look forward to seeing you at some or all of Autumn/Winter 2015. If you want to check out what happened last season take a look at our Spring/Summer 2015 archive.

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

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…

We take live work very seriously — but we don’t take ourselves seriously at all. In 2012, alongside funny, thought-provoking, beautiful work by the likes of Third Angel, Ellie Harrison, Levantes Dance Theatre, Action Hero, Richard DeDomenici and many more, we served the audience gin + satsuma jello shots and drenched them in confetti. 2013’s whirlwind of work included Lowri Evans, Hetain Patel, the vacuum cleaner, Leentje Van de Cruys + Stacy Makishi, a bonkers day of live art for all ages (Haphazard) and a performance festival for a 70s block of flats (Domestic). 2014 included Proto-type Theater, Ira Brand, Rachel Mars, Two Destination Language, Selina Thompson + Michael Pinchbeck, with a fifth wave of bizarre behaviour unleashed upon Manchester’s city centre (Hazard) ranging from a manual fairground ride to beautiful and transgressive images from Nicola + Kris Canavan. 2015 has so far seen another Haphazard-ous afternoon for all ages, Hunt & Darton’s pop-up art-café and welcomed Christopher Brett Bailey, Ria Hartley + Mark Thomas amongst others.

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

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 have said about the shows (2014/15)

• One of the best shows I’ve seen in ages! (& I’ve seen bloody loads!) I could see the effort and passion… clever, moving, funny!!!
• Wow! Beautiful, big, brave, sad, poignant, playful, happy, exuberant, engaging, poetic, visceral, intimate. Visually and emotionally very powerful and challenging.
• Great to stumble across the event, spontaneously… Brings life to the city.
• Really creative and great to see such different work from emerging artists…
• Awesome, so different to anything I’ve ever seen before.
• Exquisite, a great double bill

What our audiences have said about us (2014/15)

• …signed up to the mailing list — my life has been improved since. Been to some amazing performance on your recommendation — thank you.
• Consistently finding, supporting and showcasing the most brilliant and beautiful experiences I have the privilege to witness.
• Always pushing boundaries and testing the waters. An important part of Manchester’s artistic make-up.
• Word of Warning’s programme continues to intrigue and challenge me.
• Fantastic and innovative platform for live art and contemporary performance.
• Glad I’m on the mailing list, will definitely look more seriously at other stuff now!

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, now in its sixteenth 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@habarts.org

I’m joined in this lunacy by John Franklin, greenroom’s long time programme co-ordinator. Often spotted in a hat or proffering a variety of bizarre refreshments, John is 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 current and former interns — to date Tom Burford, Afreena Islam, Catherine Shaw + Jamil Keating.