Processing the Pandemic on the Manchester Worldwide Competition

Gregory Maqoma’s varied choreography for these dancers (as well as Thulani Chauke on two large screens on the sides of the stage – a nod to travel problems during Covid-19) and Garratt’s ventriloquism were the best parts of the uneven show that meandered from one set to another.

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Surprisingly, the strongest performance piece was a film installation. In the huge Manchester Center (a former train station), flashing lights and buzzing, breathy electronic surround sound (by Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Jon Hopkins) pervaded the cavernous space before the start of “All of This Unreal Time,” a collaboration between the Actor Cillian Murphy (“Peaky Blinders”) and writer Max Porter directed by Aoife McArdle.

Murphy and Porter previously worked on the stage adaptation of Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, and like that work, the lyrics here are a strange and wonderful collection of narrative, reflection, self-talk, myth and poetry. “I came here to apologize,” says the screen before we see Murphy trudging through a dark, dripping tunnel.

As he walks through the night, through dilapidated streets and past fluorescent cafes, Murphy’s character speaks of his shame, anger and fears as he confesses his flaws as a man (“Sisterhood, that’s one thing to be envied “). “I’m sorry that I took and took and took and took and took and enriched myself without a break and left deep scars on the skin of the earth,” he says towards the end as he walks through a field outside the city , the sky brightens, trains go by, birds flock.

McArdle keeps the pace high, the focus on Murphy, her cutaway shots are fleeting and pointed. Seen on a giant screen that swells and fades like the echoes of nature itself, along with the musical rhythms of the lyrics, All of This Unreal Time (available online) is a captivating, truly immersive journey that – like all good art – keeps the possibilities of the meaning completely open.