Manchester International Festival returns this July and will be bigger than ever: the 18-day festival welcoming projects from stars including Idris Elba, Skepta, David Lynch and Yoko Ono.

Mike Leigh may be best known for his portrayals of London in films such as ‘Naked’ and ‘Career Girls’, but his new historical epic ‘Peterloo’ brings him back to home turf.

With the Greater Manchester Fringe running through all of July – the event’s seventh year – Mancunian Matters went to speak to some of the acts and the organisers of the event at the closing party…

In Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, a woman is buried up to her waist in a hole and then later up to her neck.

Oh, Manchester, so much to answer for… So goes the haunting refrain of The Smiths’ Suffer Little Children – a requiem to the victims of the Moors Murders and a timeless call to remember the sins of the past.

Maxine Peake has just landed a coveted role at the University of Manchester.

Absurdly hilarious women from the international comedy scene are coming to your doorstep as Manchester welcomes the fifth annual Women in Comedy Festival.

Maxine Peake’s performance in The Skriker is one that will live long in the memory.

Chancellor George Osborne has recently announced that Greater Manchester is to have an elected mayor, two years after the city had voted against having one.

The Salford singer-songwriter is currently celebrating the release of his new video, featuring Bolton actress, Maxine Peake

Manchester’s ‘Festival of Imagination’ at Whitworth Art Gallery