The next Manchester International Festival, a bi-annual festival of new commissioned work and special events, will run June 29-July 16, 2017. Incoming artistic director John McGrath has announced his opening slate of productions.

What if Women Ruled the World? takes Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove as a provocation. The film’s final scene of a surviving nucleus of male leaders repopulating the earth is the inspiration to imagine a reverse scenario: What if women ruled the world? Each night, a group of 10 women and one man will be confronted by some of the urgent crises of our time: climate change, military escalation, mass migration. In this brand-new work created by artist Yael Bartana, with the performance directed by Royal Court artistic director Vicky Featherstone, a professional cast will be joined by a group of female experts: scientists, politicians, artists, and thinkers of global reputation. Together, they’ll spend the evening trying to solve that night's global emergency as the clock ticks above them. The exact dates and venue are still to be announced.

Fatherland, created by Scott Graham from Frantic Assembly, Underworld’s Karl Hyde, and playwright Simon Stephens, focuses on contemporary fatherhood in all its complexities and contradictions. Inspired by conversations with fathers and sons from the trio’s hometowns in the heart of the country, it is a survey of life in England’s towns today. The show will transform the familiar spaces of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, with a cast of 13 men and a musical score by Karl Hyde and Matthew Herbert.

The full MIF17 program will be announced March 9.

For more details visit mif.co.uk.