Malandra Jacks
Census
→ entry · access · artists · reviews · credits · websites Updated 20 November 2025
Presented by Word of Warning + HOME
This is what happens when a working-class community tells its own story…
A bus ride. A bingo card. A memory you didn’t know you shared.
This is our neighbourhood, not the one in the media, but the one shaped by our stories, our laughter, and our silence.
Award-winning† duo Malandra Jacks invite you into a world of spellbinding projection, real voices, and unapologetic heart. Part theatre, part time capsule: a celebration of communities rarely seen on stage.
Funny, intimate, and defiant — Census is a love letter to working-class communities, and a call to remember who we are and what we carry with us.
† Winner of Best Performance at Manchester Culture Awards 2024.
Entry
Tickets: care of HOME, book online or call 0161 200 1500
Times:
Thursday 20 November 2025, 7.45pm (last few tickets)
Friday 21 November 2025, 7.45pm (last few tickets)
Saturday 22 November 2025, 2.15pm (last few tickets)
Saturday 22 November 2025, 7.45pm
Duration: about 75 minutes without interval.
(Thursday’s show is followed by a 30-minute post-show Q&A.)
Location: HOME (Theatre 2), 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester M15 4FN.
Access
Age Advisory: 12+ (parent/guardian/carer discretion).
Content Warnings: please click here.
Features: a contemporary performance work with varied content including spoken English and projected video; occurs in Theatre 2 on the first floor, a studio space with raked seating.
Queries: please contact HOME on 0161 200 1500 or access@homemcr.org
Artists
Malandra Jacks are two artists making film, theatre, art installations, and sharing authentic stories. Importantly, their work offers a platform for communities whose voices often go unheard and are underrepresented…
Chloe Malandra is a multidisciplinary freelance artist, whose skills range from film production and theatre making to drama and arts facilitation for all ages and abilities. She has a genuine belief that the arts are for everyone and carries this ethos through all of her work.
Joshua Wilkinson is a Manchester-based performer, arts facilitator, and filmmaker. He produces short films with video production company, Modify. Josh regularly facilitates arts workshops across the UK, is a board member of Factory International and former board member of Contact.
Reviews
Ambitious, exciting and gorgeous. — I Love MCR
★★★★ Real delight in the inventiveness with which they upset the apple cart. — Northern Soul
Warm-hearted and thought-provoking, it was the sort of socially engaged theatre-making that we need more of and felt like a true labour of love. — Circles & Stalls
The core of this production is about what strong community values mean and how they enhance and are the very backbone of what makes an area viable. — Live Art Alive
Credits
Performers & Writers: Chloe Malandra & Joshua Wilkinson
Dramaturge: Kate Bradnam
Technical Consultant: Andrew Crofts
Composer: Greg Harper
Projection Visual Designer: David Hall
Set Designer: Faz Barber
Set Maker: Tom Mills
R&D Creative Practitioners: Julia Samuels & Matt Fenton
With special thanks to Roxy Daykin-Moores.
Originally commissioned by Contact and hÅb; supported by hÅb, Manchester City Council, and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Thanks to all the people of Moston, Harpurhey, and Charlestown whose voices make this work…
Websites
malandrajacks.com · Facebook /MalandraJacks · Insta @malandra_jacks