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Presented by Lowry + Word of Warning

This is a show about a song about a painter performed to the score of the song.

A playful and inventive music-theatre performance inspired by Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs, the 1978 hit written about the artist L. S. Lowry by folk-pop duo Brian and Michael. Two performers, joined by a live jazz musician and a record player, attempt to keep pace with a relentlessly scrolling animated score that dictates their every move in this farcical re-telling of ‘Lowry’s Song’. As they follow its instructions, they weave together compelling stories, machine-like movement, and slapstick humour. Transforming into different characters, they shift between performers, songwriters, Mr Lowry, and the figures in his paintings.

Remastering the biographies of Lowry and the band, Egan & Pinchbeck translate the song’s verse-and-chorus structure into a series of theatrical scenes exploring identity, memory, and how artists process the world around them. The production follows the needle of the record player and Lowry’s footsteps around Manchester to ask how painting becomes music, music becomes theatre, and people become performers. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lowry’s death, Matchstalks Remastered reimagines his evocative landscapes through a musical score, reflecting on their continuing relevance to contemporary debates around community, creativity, and place.

Part of Lowry’s Autumn Contemporary Season.

Entry

Pay What You Can: £15/£10/£5/£2 (advance booking recommended).

Tickets: available online or call Lowry on 0161 876 2000

Time: Wednesday 4 November 2026, 8pm (no interval, ends about 9pm).

Location: Lowry (Aldridge Studio 1), Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ.

Access

Age Advisory: 12+ (parent/guardian/carer discretion).

Content Warnings: please click here.

Features: a contemporary performance work with varied content including spoken English, music, and projected animations; occurs in Aldridge Studio 1 on the second floor, a studio space with raked seating.

Queries: please contact Lowry on 0161 876 2183 or access@thelowry.com

Artists

Kevin Egan is an interdisciplinary performer, theatre-maker, and Senior Lecturer of Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a core member of the internationally renowned theatre company, Reckless Sleepers, having worked with the company since 2007 on projects such as Schrödinger (2011), Negative Space (2014), It’s Hot, It’s Not (2019), and Binary Opposition (2025). His work is predominantly physical, visual, and task-based, which is often generated through scores rather than scripts, and connects to his research on musicality and composition.

Michael Pinchbeck is a writer, director, theatre-maker, and Professor of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has created work for parked cars, park benches, sheds, Roman walls, recital halls, and theatres — and was commissioned to write three plays by Nottingham Playhouse: The White Album, The Ashes, and Bolero. His recent theatre work explores notions of performance as commemoration, the relationship between musicality and dramaturgy, and immersive adaptation.

Credits

Devisers & performers: Kevin Egan & Michael Pinchbeck
Animator: Becca Horswill
Dramaturg: Ollie Smith
Musician: Adam Fairhall
Video: North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Commissioned by hÅb, and supported by Manchester School of Art, the Performance Research Group, and the School of English at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Image created by Michael Pinchbeck & Kevin Egan, outside of Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University. Photographer: Ollie Smith. Design: Kevin Egan.

Websites

Insta @k.s.egan · @mdpinchbeck · @beccahorswillart_ · @ollie.d.smith · @adam.fairhall.7 · @mcrschart · @mcrschart_prg · @english_manmetuni · @the_lowry

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