The Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama

The Martin Harris Centre is a University of Manchester building which houses the drama, music and film studies departments. Alongside functioning as an educational space, the Martin Harris also operates as a performance venue open to the public as well as students. There are two venues — the John Thaw Theatre and the Concourse Auditorium.
The John Thaw is a black box space which houses live theatre and some small film screenings as well as occasional open lectures and discussions. The Concourse Auditorium is a much larger space and is a concert venue for orchestras and other live music. Playing mostly classical music, the Concourse is a great place to go if you like a classy evening with a modern twist.
There is no bar or lounge area so going to the Martin Harris for a performance is pretty no-​frills, but that doesn’t reflect on the quality of entertainment on offer.

The Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama is a part of The University of Manchester, but its events are also open to the public.
It hosts an array of different events from amateur drama productions to large orchestra performances and even guest speaker novelists, dramaticians and musicians. In the next few months these will include the fantastic contemporary novelist DBC Pierre, whose book Vernon God Little was a world resounding success, and well-​known poet John Hegley.
The music events include a whose series by the resident ensemble Quartor Daniel, a load of free lunchtime concerts and some ‘beat the rush hour concerts’ which are also free at 5pm, and include performances by the most accomplished rising stars of the university’s postgraduate department.
The theatre events are always good, as Manchester University has excellent Drama and English departments, producing not only the finest young acting talent but also great young playwrights and directors.
They also have film screening events from time to time, which are worth keeping an eye out for, in the world in which independent film makers have to struggle against the vast funds of Hollywood.
Fantastic events in music, drama, film and all performing arts, either for free or a few pounds. How could anyone complain. The 5^th star is withheld, only because they don’t have a proper bar or a place to have a pre– or post– concert/​play/​film drink.