Refract:22 - what’s on at the summer festival at Waterside in Sale, when the events are & ticket info

A summer arts festival is bringing 10 days of cultural events and activities to a Greater Manchester venue.

Refract:22 is being held at Waterside in Sale from 21 July to 30 July.

The programme includes dance, theatre, cabaret and music, with a huge range of subjects and topics being covered across the festival.

We’ve taken a look at what’s on and picked out five great shows as well as letting you know how you can pick up tickets to attend.

Quite Unfit For Females

With the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament taking place in Greater Manchester at the moment women’s football is in the spotlight, and Quite Unfit For Females delves back into the history of the game.

About Time Dance Company are exploring the astounding story of the Preston-based Dick Kerr Ladies football team, arguably the most successful women’s team of all time which was established in 1917 and played to raise money for soldiers and hospitals during World War One.

The performance celebrates the incredible achievements of the pioneering Lancashire women and how they went on to defy a ban on women’s football in 1921, when the FA delivered the bitter blow that football was,in its opinion “quite unfit for females”.

The show is on Thursday 21 July at 7pm on the plaza at Waterside and attending is free.

Kabantu

The Manchester musical collective is comprised of musicians who were each born in a different country, and who together bring different traditions, styles and genres together to create sounds for the globalised 21st century.

 The group’s name means ‘of the people’ and stems from the South African philosophy of Ubuntu, which means ‘I am who I am because of who we all are’.

The group is playing on Friday 22 July at 8.30pm in the Chambers, and tickets are £15.

The Spirit of Woodstock

A thought-provoking, poignant, dynamic and semi-immersive theatre collage of the worlds and era that surrounded the “Mother of Free Festivals”, Something Underground pays tribute to Woodstock ‘69.

It’s a one-man show inspired by the ethos of the hippie, counterculture, and free-festival movements, exploring the politics, the conflicts, the protests, the moon landings, the civil-rights movement, the adverts, the drugs, the music, the musicians and the personalities.

The show is also imbued with the legendary sounds of this iconic era.

It’s on Monday 25 July from 7pm in the Chambers, and tickets are £10 at full price and £8 for concessions. The show is for theatregoers aged 14 or over.

Julie Madly Deeply

Trafford will be alive with the sounds of cabaret as Sarah Louise Young brings her off-Broadway hit show about Julie Andrews to Waterside for the festival.

The show takes a look at fame and fandom and is based around the life of singing and movie icon Dame Julie Andrews.

Julie’s famous songs from musicals including Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady are intertwined with stories and anecdotes about her life, from her beginnings as a child star to the more recent challenges of losing her singing voice.

The show is on Wednesday 27 July at 7pm in the cabaret club and tickets are £12 and £10. This show is for anyone aged 13 or over.

Fashion Spies

Quick Duck Theatre is bringing the world of fashion and the catwalk to life in its immersive and interactive show Fashion Spies that gives the audience a key sleuthing role.

At fashion weeks across the globe, expensive must-have items have been stolen, and every top-secret agent sent to investigate has been kidnapped. With the infamous annual Burnwell-upon-Twynne Fashion Week around the corner, the Secret Agency Service has no other option but to send in the spy academy’s entire undergraduate class to solve the case, which is the audience.

Those attending the show will find themselves on an undercover mission travelling around the world with Quick Duck Theatre as The Devil Wears Prada meets Spy Kids in a surreal choose-your-own-adventure comedy.

Fashion Spies is on Thursday 28 July at 6pm and tickets are £10 and £8. The show is suitable for audiences aged seven or over.

How do I book tickets to go to the festival’s events?

All the information you need to attend Refract:22, including the full programme covering all 10 days of the festival and the links for booking tickets for any of the paying events, are on the Refract website here.