Danny Boyle opens Manchester arts centre Home
Director Danny Boyle has taken part in the opening ceremony for a new £25m arts centre in Manchester.
By Ian YoungsArts reporter The Trainspotting director, who oversaw the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, is a patron of Home. Boyle delivered a speech to open the venue, which includes two theatres, five cinema screens and an art gallery. He praised the city council for having "the courage to put their money where their mouth is about the importance of culture economically and socially". Home is a replacement for the city's Cornerhouse cinema and gallery and Library theatre company. Its opening comes as plans are drawn up for another new venue, the 5,000-capacity Factory, which will cost £78m and is part of the government's plans to build a "northern powerhouse" to compare with London. Boyle said cultural venues could stimulate economic growth, but that Manchester should not be seen as a competitor to the capital. "You've got to stop thinking about rivalling London," he said. "That's one of the things I feel very strongly. "People were saying to me [Home] is like the Barbican. It's not like the Barbican at all. It's much better than the Barbican. "If you look at some European countries, they invest equally in multiple cities. There's lots of talk about the country splitting apart. The way you make the country cohesive is you have these cities which are huge beacons for the whole country, and it means we can all share in our country equally." Home's first theatre production is The Funfair, award-winning playwright Simon Stephens's new version of 1932 Hungarian play Kasimir and Karoline, which is set in modern-day Manchester. Stephens, who also adapted The Curious Incident for the National Theatre, compared the current "optimism and energy" in Manchester's theatres with the city's music scene in the 1980s. "It comes at a time when Manchester's theatre is increasingly confident," he said. "I think it's remarkable, and I think Home will crystallise that. "There's a whole generation of writers, actors and directors who can't afford to live in London any more because it's becoming prohibitively expensive. "They're moving to Birmingham, they're moving to Cardiff, and in their handfuls they're moving to Manchester. I think this has the potential to be the most exciting theatre city in the UK." However Ben Walmsley, a lecturer in audience engagement at the University of Leeds, queried why so much money was being spent in Manchester. "There are people looking over the Pennines and wondering why all this investment's going into Manchester and if it needs to be more equally spread perhaps across the north of England and different communities," he said. "Home is wonderful but I would severely question whether the city needs another 5,000 capacity venue which may just add further competition. "There's a bigger question about what gets funded. Is it venues and buildings that some of them risk becoming white elephants?"