Review: Free Your Mind at Factory International ★★★★★
An outstanding, visually stunning reimagining of The Matrix, from director Danny Boyle.
Free Your Mind | 13 October – 5 November 2023 | Factory International, Manchester
This must-see performance throws you into an alternate reality as soon as you enter Factory International. Stewards donning trench coats, a white rabbit bouncing around the industrial staircases, territorial commands announced over the foyer speakers. You are allocated a red or blue wristband, and the intrigue of The Matrix begins. Which choice will you make?
The show itself is visually spectacular, directed by no other than Manchester’s Danny Boyle. The performance has echoes of Boyle’s 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony combining contemporary dance with breath-taking set design and digital art. The physical theatre numbers lead you through alternate realities, a constant battle between humans and the machines. Each dance is executed with acute precision – you feel as if you have witnessed a ceremonial march with the sheer number of performers and synchronisation involved. It truly is a spectacular sight to behold.
The performance throughout has nods to Manchester’s incredible scientific and mathematical discoveries, from Alan Turing to Manchester’s industrial past. It also touches on our own lives with dystopian Amazon housewives, along with our extremely reliant addiction to tech. This retelling of The Matrix is not only a homage to the epic sci-fi film but it’s also giving the audience a glimpse into their own Matrix-esque futures.
The second act is like no other performance, as you are beckoned into a different space within Factory International. The building itself takes on a disorientating feel, as you are invited to watch a spectacular audio and visual catwalk performance, where you have front row seats. Gareth Pugh’s costume design and attention to detail is remarkable, and this all aids in sucking you into this mind-altering reality.
Overall, this is a performance not to be missed, with visually stunning sets, costumes and choreography. It’s truly exciting to see Manchester’s potential for theatre that could trump some of London’s offerings. This performance could be the future of theatre and the future of humanity.
Fern is an actress, photographer and vintage store owner. Stare Society began life in 2017 as a creative outlet, and opened its doors on in Manchester in 2022.
It was fun, but in a so-bad-its-funny kind of way. It was stupid throughout with more than two or three laugh our loud moments.
All the Manchester nods were more than just a bit cringeworthy and seemed like a last minute addition to please the funders.
I will never understand why a sometimes very literal, sometimes completly not interested, staging of The Matrix was the first show at this new Manchester venue. It was so weird.
The balletic gunplay in The Matrix ought to lend itself to some spectacular dancing, but it doesn’t. There’s some good dancing, some good music and they’ve clearly spent A LOT of money, but it doesn’t hang together. It’s a mess. It’s less what the f than why the f.
There is a dance sequence involving a load of corporate logos dancing around, and it’s the most embrassed I have ever been in a theatre.
An absolute car crash.
It’s easily one of the daftest things I have ever seen. It’s a mess of seemingly costly parts which don’t mesh. I cannot believe they made this. It wasn’t a good idea on paper and it didn’t improve on stage. It is very worrying that the people making decisions at this venue thought this was the way to launch it. To its credit, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments, but they’re absolutely not intentional.