As part of Manchester International Festival’s major outdoor event Animals of Manchester, we were commissioned to collaborate with a class of children from Holy Trinity Primary in Moston on a performance to introduce members of the public to an animal they might find in the area around Whitworth Park.

We chose to introduce people to microbes through the creation of a microbe chat show.

Each child in the group chose a different microbe to investigate, based on their particular personalities and together we devised a series of miniature performances that would enable random members of the audience to have an encounter with each of these microbes. These encounters ranged from leading a aerobics routine to generate sweat, to squirting the audience with water, to introducing the audience to a box of dead grasshoppers.

Alongside this we created a new anthem for microbes and a traditional trade union banner in their honour, both celebrating the importance of small and overlooked things.

Created by Andy Field & Beckie Darlington

Costume design by Elinor Birkenhead-Jones

Commissioned by Manchester International Festival