Tell Me

Sadiq Ali

Sadiq Ali Company / Turtle Key Arts

The Lowry, Salford

January 16-17, 2026; 60mins no interval

Sadiq Ali's Tell Me. All pics: Alberto Santos Bellido

For two nights only, the Lowry brings a new production from the Sadiq Ali Company: Tell Me, a contemporary circus and dance theatre show that nestles superbly in the intimacy of the Quays Theatre presenting a "reimagining of the narrative around HIV in today’s world".

With just three circus-skilled dancers, a varied soundtrack and set of moving red frame cubes, the piece is compelling: warm, joyous and optimistic in its expression of human delights, frailties, betrayal and the potential power of trusting relationships.

The opening sequence, perfectly performed by dancers Phoebe Knight and Jonah Russell, is completely captivating as they forge a relationship, working with trust and excitement in exploration. They climb, swing and hang from a moving red cube, excitedly feeding one another’s enjoyment and power, deepening their relationship and influencing their environment - the cube performing as both containment and stage, while representing the outside world.

It’s absolutely joyous; a highly sensual, developing performance that retains innocence - as seen in some ballad duets - enjoyable on different levels by all ages, interpretation very much in the eye of the beholder.

The third performer, Sadiq Ali, the company's founder, has chosen to draw on his own experience of HIV diagnosis to tell the story and encourage a varied perception.

The performance changes, retaining the joyous nature in a celebration of 80s disco, though increasingly punctuated by a news announcer bringing a developing story about a new illness. There should be a special term for arts for which the audience or readership knows what’s about to happen long before the characters. Think Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty, or stories pre- and post-Hiroshima. Almost inevitably Sadiq calls his mother and asks to meet her.

From then on, the story is unusual. You can read up beforehand or just allow the performance to take you there, though I’m not entirely sure that every detail is grasped by everyone. Nevertheless, the performance itself continues to be exciting, unnerving at parts and ultimately beautiful.

Sound designer Guy Veale, lighting designer Jamie Heseltine and designer Aslı Ozuak all make excellent contributions to the power of the show, as does Alex Harvey, an equipment and rigging consultant. But I’m beginning to miss paper programmes and would love to see a soundtrack list.

The Lowry has co-commissioned this work and I hope it returns. I want to see it again. If not, it's a natural for Edinburgh fringe performance...

More info and tickets here