NorthernSpirit Productions

Hello! We are a group of three northerns raising money for dissertation to put on our show.

Within our play we are wanting to represent northerners and how the Hacienda has had an huge effect on not only Manchester, but the UK.

Northern actors are under-represented massively within the industry and we always question why people move to the north, the north is becoming a smaller London. As the only three northerners at a northern drama school within our year group, we wanted to perform something heartily, personal and what we know best. Being northern. We want to portray what it's all really about as we play ourselves telling this story.

The Hacienda was revolutionary in changing views of the north. It helped inspire people to be themselves, you could sing in your own accent, wear your own clothes and actually get somewhere, it was hope for the north and gave people a chance to feel like themselves for the first time. It was breaking boundaries politically without being political, and revolutionary without violence. Why now? Noel Gallagher said “The sun wrote an article during the hacienda times titled ‘how to speak Mancunian’ and then the tourist came in”. This is relevant to today as it shows how southerners are moving to the north without understanding northern culture and changing it to be a smaller version of the south (“Manchester is the new London”).

We want to show the drug misuse and how ecstasy made the Hacienda what it was, and that the Hacienda made ecstasy what it was. We want to show how the rave scene became what it is today. It brought people from all classes, races and sexualities together to enjoy music and to escape reality.

It took people away from going to normal clubs to get with other people and pull, it brought people together and for the first time lots of men and women were seen and just friends. Something which has been kept in rave culture till this day. It put the north on the map.