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Monday, July 22, 2013

All eyes on Sir Kenneth Branagh as Manchester International Festival bows out


Crowds gather to watch Sir Kenneth Branagh in Macbeth

5,000 people turned up for a picnic in a city centre car park to catch a big screen relay of Macbeth, while tens of thousands across the UK got to see the production at 250 cinema live link-ups too

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
By Dianne Bourne





Thousands of eyes were on Manchester as MIF staged a live link-up to the hottest ticket of this year’s arts extravaganza – Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Macbeth. 5,000 people turned up for a picnic in a city centre car park to catch a big screen relay of Macbeth, while tens of thousands across the UK got to see the production at 250 cinema live link-ups too. 

 It was a fitting finale to the international festival’s 18 days of world premieres and exclusive arts performances, many of which will now take Manchester’s reputation to arts venues around the world.

Tickets to see Branagh perform in a deconsecrated Ancoats church had sold out in a record nine minutes after first going on sale for this year’s MIF. Extra performances were added, and then organisers announced an ambitious live relay so that 5,000 more people could see the production on a big screen as part of the festival programme. 

 Those revellers descended on the Bridgewater NCP car park on Albion Street on Saturday night with blankets, cushions and picnics in hand to enjoy the performance as the sun set over the city.

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