The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE
Multi award-winning broadcaster, writer, activist, musician and performer Gemma Cairney honours the legacies of remarkable women in The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE, an ensemble-led performance combining music, movement and poetry, at Manchester's Aviva Studios on October 8.
Women celebrated in the work span centuries and continents, including Grace Jones, Wang Zhenyi, Pamela Colman Smith, Audre Lorde, Betty Davis, Marsha P Johnson, Nanny of The Maroons and Pharaoh Hatshepsut
Developed from Cairney’s book The Immortal Sisterhood, the music-theatre performance had its World Premiere at New York's Lincoln Center in January 2025 and has its UK premiere at the British Library (September 18-19) before its only other UK performance, in Manchester.
Gemma Cairney is a broadcaster, writer, documentary maker, cultural producer and activist, Chair of the Edinburgh Arts Festival and host of Factory International’s acclaimed podcast Dream Space.
The performance celebrates its list of remarkable women blending sound, opera, movement, cello, violin and poetry. The ensemble features artist, movement director and choreographer Mele Broomes; Gemma Cairney; Fay Guiffo, sound artist; A Jones, cellist; performance artist Simone Seales, and voice artist, composer and writer Roxanne Tataei.
The performance is followed by DJ Sippin’ T, playing a set for the audience to take part in the ceremony that takes place on the dance floor.
Gemma Cairney said: "I see representation in the arts as a galvanising force for us all. Working on the different parts of The Immortal Sisterhood has been no exception from this feeling. Writing the book, collaborating on the show and returning to live performance - all of it is proving totally life-changing and I want the world to experience it.”
Factory International's artistic director and chief executive, John McGrath, said: “As the host of our podcast, Dream Space, Gemma guides some of the world’s most exciting artists on a journey to a space where art has no limits, asking what their ideal world would look like, and what art has the potential to do.
In The Immortal Sisterhood LIVE, she invites us into her own space; introducing us to the inspirational women throughout history whose remarkable stories have guided her; with an ensemble of brilliant creatives who bring their stories to life through music, movement and spoken word.”
More info and tickets here
