Manchester International Festival Special

Available for over a year

With Mark Lawson at the Manchester International Festival. Victoria Wood reveals how a 1929 recording of Manchester school children singing Purcell's Nymphs and Shepherds inspired her new play, That Day We Sang. The drama imagines the experiences of two children who took part in the recording, and meets up with them 40 years later as they assess the gap between their childhood dreams and their adult reality. Paul Heaton found fame and success as a member of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South. He has turned his talent for pop songs with bittersweet lyrics to the creation of a song cycle, The 8th, which meditates on the seven deadly sins and a new 8th sin. Björk opened the festival with the premiere of her Biophilia live show - part of a three year mission which includes a new album, apps, the internet, installations and educational projects. Playwright Charlotte Keatley reviews the show. The poet Lavinia Greenlaw has created a work which plays with the idea of hearing the thoughts of others. Audio Obscura is an aural journey, set in Manchester's Piccadilly train station, and made up of fragments of interior monologues. Lavinia reflects on the appeal of eavesdropping. Producer Ekene Akalawu.