Beyond its huge range of academic sessions, the Manchester Congress will be a great opportunity to socialise and take part in events to remember!
We have organised a programme of social events and public entertainment – the iCHSTM Fringe – featuring exceptional performances by artists and musicians willing to expand on their enthusiasm for the history of science, technology and medicine and experimenting by putting their passion on stage. The Fringe will also offer visitors a chance to find out more about the key transitions in Manchester’s local culture and history, from the hardship of Industrialisation to the rise of dance music in the iconic Haçienda night club.
Enjoy!
Monday night: opera
The Turing Machine Opera, with Decode/Recode
The UK première of the multimedia opera exploring the life and work of the iconic computer theorist Alan Turing, devised by Ooppera Skaala of Helsinki. The intimate and intense opera for two singers and one dancer weaves together soaring, emotionally charged vocal lines with atmospheric ambient soundscapes and sampled electronic rhythms, set off by stunning 3D graphics.
Before the performance, guests will be given an opportunity to take part in Decode/Recode, a collective media performance featuring interactive artworks, sound, lights, performers and VJs.
Capitol Theatre, 18:15–20:00. £10 (discounted price) to registered Congress attendees and their accompanying people.
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Monday night: folk music
The Noisy Frame: lives of clothmakers in song and testimony
Based in the Pennine village of Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield, Annie Dearman (voice, Jew’s harp) and Steve Harrison (melodeon, mouth organs, banjo) take us back to the noisy frame of the Industrial Revolution with songs, narratives and pictorial evidence all dating from those times. They have a particular love of songs that tell historical stories, in a robust and firmly rooted English style, taking their repertory from traditional singers, the folk song collectors, printed ballad sheets, and songs and tunes that they happen to hear and like.
Jabez Clegg, 21:00–22:30. Free to Congress attendees.
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Tuesday night: opera
The Turing Machine Opera, with Decode/Recode
See Monday.
Capitol Theatre, 18:15–20:00. £10 (discounted price) to registered Congress attendees and their accompanying people.
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Tuesday night: stand-up comedy
XS Malarkey
XS Malarkey is a multi-award winning comedy evening which takes place at the Jabez Clegg every Tuesday night. Reviewers have described the event as a ‘rare treat’ which offers the funniest performers in the country ‘for the price of a kebab’.
Jabez Clegg, 20:00–22:30. £3 (discounted price) to Congress attendees.
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Wednesday night: academic research-driven stand-up comedy
Bright Club
Bright Club is the comedy gig where university lecturers and researchers try their hand at stand-up for the first time. Whereas most academics will see their work published in leading journals, others will always remember the brilliant stories they could tell in front of their peers. The Manchester Congress provides the first opportunity for the first ever HSTM Bright Club: come along and find out more.
Jabez Clegg, 21:00–22:30. £2 (discounted price) to Congress attendees.
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Thursday night: club night
Dave Haslam, Haçienda DJ
The Haçienda night club was central to the acid house and rave scenes of the late 1980s and 1990s which radically transformed popular perceptions of the city, as stock visions of grimy Cottonopolis gave way to the vibrant, confident and chemically altered ‘Madchester’. Dave Haslam made over 450 appearances at the Haçienda, from 1986 to the venue’s final night in 1997, and has performed in Detroit, Berlin, Zurich, Ibiza, New York, Lima, and Geneva. Tonight, he presents a tour of the world of the Haçienda through its landmark tunes.
Jabez Clegg, 21:00–23:00. £5 (discounted price) to Congress attendees.
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Friday night: jazz
Email Special
An international group of musicians, all historians of technology, that have played for the past eleven years at annual international symposia like ICOHTEC and others. Playing jazz, they got their name, The Email Special, for two reasons: because they largely decide what to play and rehearse via email, and as a variation of ‘Air Mail Special’, a tune made famous by Benny Goodman. The roots of this reach back to a symposium in Dresden (then East Germany) in the summer 1986.
Jabez Clegg, 21:00–23:00. Free to Congress attendees.
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The venues
The Jabez Clegg: conveniently located near the centre of the University of Manchester campus, two minutes’ walk from the main Congress buildings, the Jabez Clegg is a large pub/venue with several events rooms. Originally built in the 1890s as the Holy Name Church Hall, it takes its name from the eponymous hero of The Manchester Man, Isabella Banks’s classic nineteenth-century novel of industrial progress. By special arrangement, during the Congress, the Jabez will be supplementing its usual fine array of drinks with special cask ales inspired by famous figures from the history of science.
Address: 2 Portsmouth Street (off Oxford Road), Manchester, M13 9GB
Website: www.jabezclegg.co.uk
The Capitol Theatre is Manchester Metropolitan University’s main theatre and the performing stage for the Manchester School of Theatre (Faculty of Art and Design). It is located at the corner of Oxford Road and Grosvenor Street, five to ten minutes’ walk from the main Congress venue at University Place.
Website: www.capitoltheatre.mmu.ac.uk