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.

Performance Programme Autumn/Winter 2015

Domestic II
24 — 26 Sep, 7.30pm. £5 (Fri 25 sold-out)
Fri 25 Sep, 7pm + 10pm. £3 (both sold-out)
Sat 26 Sep, 12noon-5pm. FREE, no need to book
Sat 3 Oct, 12noon-10pm. FREE | Z-arts
Emergency 2015
Thu 22 Oct, 8pm. £5 | STUN Studio at Z-arts
Body of Light
Tue 17 + Wed 18 Nov, 8pm. £13/7 | Contact
Vesper Time