A series of exciting new audio plays are available to take people on a journey through Manchester.

Step Up MCR, a place-based giving charity that grows community led-ideas through local collaboration, worked with housing provider One Manchester to commission the brand-new audio experience – Walk This Play: Monuments. The commission is supported with Lottery Funding by Arts Council England and Great Places.

This audio performance is designed to be listened to as people stroll through the streets of Ancoats and is part of a new project called Walk This Play.

It features stories and voices from some of the people in One Manchester’s communities in Ancoats & Beswick and Clayton & Openshaw and will be available to download for free at the end of May 2021.
The idea behind Walk This Play comes to you from ThickSkin Theatre, an Ancoats based theatre company that aims to inspire young, new and diverse audiences. The project itself is a series of location-based audio plays, designed for people to listen to as they walk.

Nicole Hope at Step Up MCR commented: “The ongoing pandemic has fractured our feeling of connectedness and caused a really difficult year for our communities. We wanted to work on something fun and creative that would bring people together while enabling them to feel rooted to their neighbourhoods”.

“Walk This Play: Monuments has been created with theatre lovers in mind, to provide some socially distanced cultural relief for those who have missed the experience of live performance during the last year.”
The production of the play combines storytelling with music and sounds to create a really full experience and paint a rich picture of the people living in our communities. You can find more information on how to take part in this experience here – https://www.stepupmcr.org/walk-this-play-monuments

Issy Taylor, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at One Manchester said: “We’re really pleased to support this project with Step Up. The event will give people a chance to not only understand and enjoy the local history of the area, but also give their ideas for new projects that would benefit their community. We’re proud to be supporting local theatre company ThickSkin during such a difficult time for the creative industries.”