Factory International

Blue Now

This event has ended
Silhouette of a person against a vibrant blue background. There is a stark contrast between the dark shadow and the bright blue backdrop. The shadow of a man on a bright blue background
Date
8 Dec 2024
Venue
The Hall, Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ
Tickets
Standard Tickets £25
Affordable: Concessions £12.50 Aviva £10 Tickets
A booking fee of £1.50 per ticket applies to all bookings.

8pm

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.

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.

This event has ended

Suitable for ages 12+
Running time: 80 minutes

Accessibility features available for this event: Wheelchair Access Assistive Hearing

A live performance of Derek Jarman’s seminal film Blue

If I lose half my sight, will my vision be halved? – Derek Jarman

In 1993, just months before his death from AIDS-related illnesses, the visionary filmmaker Derek Jarman released his final feature film BLUE. Thirty years later, director Neil Bartlett presents BLUE NOW – a live performance of the film and testament to its enduring legacy.

BLUE is Jarman’s masterpiece – an unchanging shot of celestial blue accompanied by a monologue on his illness, mortality and lost loved ones. As AIDS progressively steals his sight, Jarman experiences the world through shades of blue, inviting the viewer to join him for 74 minutes.

BLUE NOW brings together a star-studded cast – Travis Alabanza, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Jay Bernard and Joelle Taylor. Together they perform Jarman’s powerful words (previously voiced by Nigel Terry, John Quentin, Tilda Swinton and Jarman himself) alongside a new score, performed live by original composer Simon Fisher Turner in collaboration with cellist and composer Lucy Railton.

Arriving at Aviva Studios after a sell-out tour across the UK last year, BLUE NOW is a unique opportunity to reflect on the impact of the AIDS epidemic and create space for compassion, rage and poetry in the face of prejudice.

Trailer

Cast and Creative Team

An introduction to Derek Jarman

Still from Derek Jarman's The Garden (1990), showing a close up of Jarman's face. He is lying on a cabbage plant, wearing a black leather jacket and golden crown.
Derek Jarman was one of the great British filmmakers of the twentieth century and a titan of queer cinema. Get to know the avant-garde director, artist and activist here.
Read now →

Credits

Directed by Neil Bartlett

Produced by James Mackay

BLUE NOW, in this live event version, was commissioned by WePresent by WeTransfer, first presented by WeTransfer in association with Fuel and Basilisk Communications, and originally produced by Fuel.

Tickets

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

Access

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 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 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).

Assistive listening is available for this event. To request an assistive listening device please add the assistive listening preference in the ‘Other Preferences’ section of your online account, or contact us by email (access@factoryinternational.org) or phone (0161 817 4531, Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm). When you arrive, head to the Orange Box where a member of our Front of House team will be on hand to accompany you to the relevant pick-up point.

There is step-free access to all areas of the venue, including all doors to the Hall. All available seats and wheelchair spaces for this event are in the Circle. The Hall has step-free seating in the Circle on row H.

Travel information

The building can be approached along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).

The Water Street route is the quickest way to arrive at our City Square entrance.

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: 

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 0.6 miles from Aviva Studios at Water Street Car Park, New Elm Rd, Manchester, M3 4JH.

There is also a NCP car park (Manchester Spinningfields) approximately 0.5 miles 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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