Humanity Hallows Issue 6 Out Now
Pick up your copy on campus or read online
By Salman Shaffi
Manchester’s HOME recently staged a performance of the Fringe First Award winning play Tank.
Set in the 1960s, Tank is inspired by the notorious Dolphin House experiments when, during the cold war space race, NASA began to fund research into communication with dolphins. As part of the experiment, Margaret Howe Lovatt volunteered to spend 24 hours a day in isolation with a dolphin named Peter. The research was far from conventional, with attempts to teach Peter English, dealing with his sexual urges and experiments with LSD just part of Margaret’s role.
Based on these bizarre real events, Tank is satirical and absurdly brilliant, with Breach Theatre demonstrating the absurdity of what will be done in the name of science and politics. Experiencing misogyny in a male dominated environment, Margaret attempts to communicate with Peter, her hilarious repetitions of “Helloooo” and “Ball” showing the superficiality of the experiment.
Fragmentation furthers the sense of hilarity in the performance while also carrying tension. A video screen above the stage adds to the fragmented nature of the stories told below, while a video of Peter stares at the audience in a loop, overlooking the on-stage hilarity. A mixture of comedy and unease continues as the performers discuss if a description of Margaret’s legs, or describing her as a cowboy, is important to the exploitation of intelligent life on earth: misuse of scientific research on animals and agricultural industry cloaked in the hilarity of masturbation jokes.
Tank also feeds into a sense of psychological horror as the dolphins are presented through human actors, who move in and out of being either human or animal. Therefore, when pain and frustration are enacted, we hear the sounds of Peter’s distress processed through an incredible sound design which provides a strange dolphin like voice.
Ultimately, it is not only the captivity of dolphins at the heart of Tank but constraints around humans, who move from the front of the stage to the tank for water throughout the play, and whose offices are transformed into a tank.
For more information about upcoming events at HOME, visit www.homemcr.org
Featured image and gallery: Lucy Elson-Whittaker Sunday may signal the final day of Truck Festival 2026, but there’s still plenty to celebrate before the gates close for another year. From rising indie stars Keyside to the long-awaited return of Rizzle Kicks, festival favourites Circa Waves and headliners The Wombats, these are the performances that define…
Featured image and gallery: Lucy Elson-Whittaker It’s Saturday at Truck Festival 2026 and, somehow, the sunshine is still holding out. The weekend’s biggest day is packed with indie heavyweights as The Vaccines, Kaiser Chiefs and Two Door Cinema Club deliver the soundtrack to a generation. In between the nostalgia, Adult DVD provide the perfect excuse…
Featured image: Lucy Elson-Whittaker After CMAT’s unforgettable set on Thursday, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Truck Festival 2026 had already peaked. But with the weekend only just getting into its stride, there’s still plenty more to come. Friday is packed with a lot of artists worth catching, from The Love Buzz and My First…
Featured image: Press The gates have finally opened for Truck Festival 2026, and for the third-year running, the weather could not be more perfect. Beneath clear blue skies at Hill Farm, Oxfordshire, the iconic Ferris wheel is spinning once again, the Truck Monster is roaming the fields, and thousands of festival-goers waste no time filling…
Leave a reply