Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes
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- Date
- 25 - 30 May 2025
- Venue
- North Warehouse, Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester, M3 4JQ
- Tickets
- Full Price: Tues/Weds/Thurs & Sun - £27.50
Friday - £30.00
Concessions 50% Discount
Aviva £10 Tickets
A booking fee of £1.50 per ticket applies to all bookings.
7.30pm
We have free personal assistant tickets available for wheelchair users and disabled visitors. We do not require proof to book a personal assistant ticket with your access ticket.
Personal assistant tickets are free with a wheelchair, disabled, BSL, captioned or audio description ticket at any price point, including £10 and concession price tickets. Personal Assistant tickets are intended for people for whom it would be significantly difficult to access our venue without support from another person.
To book access tickets please call 0161 817 4531 (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm) or email access@factoryinternational.org or book online. For more instructions, please visit How To Book Access Tickets.
We’re putting art in the heart of Manchester, within reach of everyone; and have affordable ticket options including £10 tickets on most shows for those who need them.
For information about Aviva £10 Tickets and concessions visit our Affordable Ticketing FAQs page.
Suitable for ages 16+
Accessibility features available for this event: Captioning BSL Interpreting Wheelchair Access
Benji Reid’s powerful MIF23 show returns to Manchester, mixing Afro-futurist imagery with hard-hitting tales from his life and adventures that unfold before your very eyes
Combining photography, choreography and theatre to make striking and surreal images, Benji Reid is an artist like no other.
For MIF23, Benji drew from the well of his life experiences – exploring vulnerability, tragedy and triumph through the photographers’ lens. Now Find Your Eyes returns to Manchester after a string of international dates.
Find Your Eyes takes you behind-the-scenes, on an emotional rollercoaster where conflict meets beauty and the stage becomes Benji’s studio. Watch as he opens up on some of the most moving episodes of his life, and uses them to inspire his art.
Find Your Eyes draws on Benji’s work both as an award-winning photographer and pioneer of hip hop theatre – bringing dancers and photography into the fold to create images in real time in front of his audience.
Journeying through highs and lows, Find Your Eyes explores how we make sense of the world through our stories and our art.
Photography and Art Direction: Benji Reid
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Both the performance and the resulting images are so spectacular that they deservedly earn spontaneous applause
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We see the trick. Yet it still has the power of a miracle.
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The effect on the audience is profound.
Tickets
Factory International members on sale: Wednesday 29 January, 10am
General tickets on sale: Friday 31 January, 10am
We have a range of affordable tickets, including options from £10 for those who may need them. You can find out more about our Affordable Ticketing Policy here.
For ticketing and box office related enquiries, please contact tickets@factoryinternational.org or call 0333 322 8679 (phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm).
For more information please visit Ticketing and Sale of Goods Terms & Conditions – Factory International
Watch the trailer
Photos
:quality(60)/https://publicydn4hdgozyjrg.blob.core.windows.net/public/dd/images/Find_Your_Eyes_at_Manchester_International_Festival_2023_Benji_Reid_Yvonne_Smink_Slate_Hemedi_c_Oluwatosin_Daniju.2175e90.jpg)
:quality(60)/https://publicydn4hdgozyjrg.blob.core.windows.net/public/dd/images/Find_Your_Eyes_at_Manchester_International_Festival_2023_Benji_Reid_Slate_Hemedi_c_Oluwatosin_Daniju.79da336.jpg)
:quality(60)/https://publicydn4hdgozyjrg.blob.core.windows.net/public/dd/images/Find_Your_Eyes_at_Manchester_International_Festival_2023_Slate_Hemedi_Benji_Reid_c_Oluwatosin_Daniju.c1a0ff7.jpg)
:quality(60)/https://publicydn4hdgozyjrg.blob.core.windows.net/public/dd/images/Find_Your_Eyes__at_Manchester_International_Festival_2023_Slate_Hemedi_Benji_Reid_c_Oluwatosin_Daniju.0105374.jpg)
Credits
Creative Team
Concept, Direction, Photography, Text, and Performance by Benji Reid
Creative Associate and Sound Designer: Andrew Wong
Set Designer: Ti Green
3D Designer: Liam Hopkins
Costume Designer: Saskia Lenaerts
Choreography: Benji Reid and Performers
Lighting Designer: Tupac Martir
Dramaturgy: Keisha Thompson
Cast
Benji Reid
Performers: Slate Hemedi, Salomé Pressac and Zuzanna Kijanowska
DJ: Andrew Wong
AV Programmer and Show Controller: Ross Flight
Stage Managers and Camera Assistants: Rachel Glover
Company Tour Manager: Janine Bardsley
Production Managers: The Production Family
Special thanks to Sumit Sarkar for your generosity of spirit and for designing the titles and Ali Gadema for script support and punctuation.
Commissioning
Commissioned by Factory International, Manchester, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and Black Achievement Month and Taipei Performing Arts Center.
Produced by Factory International, Manchester.
Access information
Our full address is Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ and the what3words is chop.feeds.chase.
You can approach Aviva Studios along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield). Both entrances to the building have double sets of glass doors.
Once inside Aviva Studios, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. The flooring throughout the building is smooth concrete.
The entrance to the Warehouse is by lift or stairs from the Social. Two lifts and a staircase to the Warehouse are located in the Social opposite the bar.
The entrance to the Law Family Hall is by lift, escalator or stairs from one side of the Social beside the brick arches. There is only one escalator, and this will take you up to the Law Family Hall before the show, and will be reversed so that you can travel down at the end of the performance.
The Social has a range of seating, including those with arms and backs.
The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points.
Our building is large. We have portable stools available to borrow if you would benefit from resting along the way during your visit.
We have wheelchair spaces and seats at standing events for all events.
There are accessible toilets on all public levels of our building.
Accessible toilets are located inside the main toilets space in the brick arches of the Social.
Here you’ll find a mixture of accessible cubicles with left- or right-hand transfer, towards the back of the space, as well as ambulant accessible cubicles with grab rails, as well as a Changing Places facility.
The toilets in the brick arches of the Social are split into male, female and gender neutral – all of which contain accessible cubicles. There are shared handwashing facilities in each arch – they have soap dispensers under the mirrors to your left and dryers to the right. There are separate handwashing facilities inside the accessible cubicles.
There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in both Hall Foyers, at stalls and circle level.
There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in the Warehouse Foyer.
You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets at Aviva Studios.
Assistance dogs are welcome in our building, and we can provide mats and water bowls on request, just ask a host when you arrive. We can also take care of your assistance dog if you do not want to take your dog into the performance space. Please also refer to our assistance dogs policy.
If you are bringing an assistance dog to a ticketed event, please let us know in advance by contacting access@factoryinternational.org or calling our access phone number: 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).
To book access tickets and personal assistant tickets please call 0161 817 4531 (Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm) or email access@factoryinternational.org.
Access bookings can be made by email, phone or online. They are also available in person at Aviva Studios.
There is step-free access to all areas of the venue, with lift access to the North Warehouse from the Social.
We have step-free access and wheelchair spaces for this show on row A.
There will be a captioned performance of Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes on Wednesday 28 May at 7.30pm.
There will be a BSL interpreted performance of Benji Reid: Find Your Eyes on Thursday 29 May at 7.30pm.
This work made reference to abortion, medical emergencies, suicide, child neglect and addiction. Find Your Eyes also contained strong language and scenes which some viewers may find uncomfortable.
Please note incense is diffused in the performance area.
Travel information
Aviva Studios can be approached along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).
There are a number of rail and tram stations within the city centre which are just a short distance from Aviva Studios. The closest stations are:
- Salford Central rail station: 10-minute walk via Red Rose Way and Irwell Street.
- Deansgate rail station and Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop: 12-minute walk via Liverpool Road.
- St Peter’s Square tram stop: 15-minute walk via Quay Street.
- Manchester Oxford Road rail station: 25-minute walk via Oxford Street/Quay Street.
- Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria rail stations: Both stops have frequent trams operating to and from Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop.
By Bike
There are 40 bike parking spaces at Aviva Studios including space for two accessible bikes.
National Cycling Route 6 passes close to the venue and this TfGM webpage can help with route planning.
You can also hire bikes from on-street docking stations across the city centre. The closest docking stations to our venue are currently on Deansgate by Liverpool Road and (400m from the building) and by King Street (500m from the building). Take a look at Transport for Greater Manchester’s webpage for advice on cycle hire.
By Walking and Other Active Means
Aviva Studios can be approached along Water Street via Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).
If you're coming from Quay Street, the safest route to avoid construction works is via the cut-through opposite Gartside Street and past Booking.com.
All footways in the surrounding area are well lit and there are appropriate crossings across all main roads.
Pedestrians with visual impairment are recommended to approach the building via Water Street, from Liverpool Road. This route has traditional carriageway and footway design with fixed street furniture which should help with navigation to the entrance.
A footbridge at Left Bank in Spinningfields provides an accessible link across the River Irwell to Salford Central station, and a further footbridge also links Aviva Studios with the Salford area of Middlewood Locks.
Free bus
The free bus 1 service connects Piccadilly Station, Oxford Road and Deansgate rail stations, as well as other areas of the city centre to Aviva Studios.
The service stops on both Liverpool Road and Quay Street, close to the venue. Buses operate every 10 minutes during the day from Monday to Sunday and they are wheelchair accessible. For full details of the free bus 1 route and timetable, please visit the Bee Network website.
Bee Network services
Piccadilly Gardens is situated in the heart of Manchester and there are a number of bus services that will take you on to Aviva Studios. The 33 bus which starts at Shudehill, calls at Piccadilly Gardens and will take you straight to Liverpool Road. Services operate every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday and every hour on Sunday.
Alternatively, you can board either a 35, 36 or 38 bus to Bridge Street bus stop which is a seven-minute walk via Left Bank and Water Street to the venue.
Coming into Manchester Victoria rail station? Head on over to Shudehill Interchange (which is a seven-minute walk via Hanover Street) where you can catch the 33 bus to Liverpool Road.
Alternatively, you can board either an 8, 67 or 100 bus from Manchester Victoria to Bridge Street bus stop, which is a seven-minute walk via Left Bank and Water Street to the venue.
There is a car park approximately 0.2 miles (350m) from Aviva Studios at Water Street Car Park, New Elm Rd, Manchester, M3 4JH.
There is also a NCP car park (Manchester Spinningfields) approximately 0.25 miles (400m) away from Aviva Studios at Spinningfields, New Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3BE. It has 35 accessible bays.
There are a small number of Blue Badge spaces along Water St and Quay St. Otherwise head towards Liverpool Road, Great John St and Lower Byrom St – close to our neighbours, the Science and Industry Museum where there are a small number of additional Blue Badge spaces.
For a list of other parking bays available in the area, visit Manchester City Council website.
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