Culture And Memory

Funny Stuff

This project celebrates the Radical Theatre movement that emerged in Manchester in the mid-1980’s. LipService Theatre, a company at the forefront of that movement, is commemorating 40 years in 2025. We will use this anniversary as a focus to celebrate both LipService and the Manchester Fringe Forum, (an organisation of 20 theatre companies, street performers and artists) who collaborated to give Manchester artists a national platform. We will create a digital archive containing oral histories from contemporary 80’s artists, audiences, show recordings, scripts, and a physical archive of “funny stuff”, all the bespoke sets, comedy props and amazing costumes which characterised LipService’s unique work, to be housed at Manchester Central Library. An exhibition will tour to 15 venues and be filmed with access for D/deaf and disabled audiences. The project will finish with a symposium, with a panel of speakers including Fringe Forum members, academics, archivists and contemporary emerging artists.