Greater Manchester Fringe award winners return for PUSH Festival

Such was the quality of the entries for Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2016 that two of their award-winning shows have been selected as part of Push Festival 2017 which takes place at the prestigious contemporary arts venue – HOME from January 14^th ^– 28^th.

Although only a handful of years into its existence GM Fringe is already establishing itself strongly as a festival that theatre, music & art lovers of all kinds will view as an essential addition to their diaries, along with the well established events such as Edinburgh and Camden Fringe Festivals.

2016 saw the largest number of entries to date with a consistency & quality of productions greater than ever and as a result all involved at GM Fringe are proud to see the following companies being given chance to stage their productions again.

'I'm Standing Next To You' by From The Mill Theatre Company.

January 17^th& 18^th(9pm)

“Loneliness is having so much love to give, but no one to share it with”

Our world has never been more connected.

So why is it that increasing numbers of people feel alone?

We stand next to each other and don't make eye contact, we don't know our neighbours and we would rather focus on our digital lives, rather than investing time in the real world.

From The Mill Theatre have created an immersive show (focusing on three separate characters) which looks at loneliness and isolation, seeing how often our dependency on social media increases those feelings.

Jenny:

“My character has recently had a baby and is struggling to adapt to this new life. She’s very used to being a career-driven woman and having actual conversations.

Now she’s at home and her whole life revolves around this child, MumsNet and other websites where she compares her parenting skills to other mums, which is a very dangerous thing."

Lucy:

“My character is a 20 something, cosmopolitan girl. She’s a romantic essentially and struggling to connect that with using online dating. It’s an exploration of how lonely you can feel using online dating, and embarrassed almost.”

Matthew:

“My character is a recent graduate, who is now working in an office job and he is dealing with post university life. He is in a job he doesn’t like with people he can’t communicate with.

He feels lonely and isolated and it is a common thing.