abolition of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, which contributed £900,000 to the 2009 festival, resulted in a loss of funding for 2011's Manchester International Festival. Björk began the MIF11, with the live debut of her new album Biophilia, with Dave Simpson of The Guardian stating that she "provided a stunning visual display", adding that "the Icelandic singer made a typically eye-popping entrance on huge platform shoes and sporting blue and white facepaint". Sinéad O'Connor also performed at the festival, earning favourable reviews. Damon Albarn debuted his opera Doctor Dee, based on the life of Elizabethan scientist and philosopher John Dee, at the Palace Theatre. Directed by Rufus Norris, the production was described as "by no means an opera in the conventional sense" by The Guardians Alfred Hickling, who described Dr Dee as "an erudite affair", giving it four stars. Finance for MIF 11 The 2011 festival made a £0.1m profit (£11.3m worth of funding minus £11.2m expenditure). The economic impact to the region was £37.6m. MIF 13 The festival returned in 2013 and ran from 4 to 21 July attracting an estimated quarter of a million attendees, generating £40 million for the city of Manchester. The 18-day Festival included over 300 performances of more than 30 new commissions and special events which included collaborations with artists such as Maxine Peake, Kenneth Branagh, The xx, Massive Attack and Tino Sehgal. Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh directed a new adaptation of Macbeth at the Church of St Peter in Ancoats. Branagh starred as Macbeth alongside Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth in a performance which The Daily Telegraphs Dominic Cavendish described as "a thrilling and cinematically fluid production" in his five star review. The production was co-commissioned with New York's Park Avenue Armory where it played to rave reviews in May and June 2014. During the shows run at MIF13, Macbeth was broadcast to cinemas around the world by National Theatre Live. One of the main events was Massive Attack vs Adam Curtis, a collaborative performance from Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja and Bafta-winning filmmaker Adam Curtis which took place in the Mayfield Depot. Robert Wilson directed Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe in a surrealist adaptation of Daniil Kharms' short story The Old Woman at the Palace Theatre. MIF13 introduced a members scheme which granted people access to priority booking for the most highly anticipated events. Also new was a £12 ticket scheme,