Baby Balloon - Oily Cart - If you’re under 18 months old, float away with Oily Cart’s Baby Balloon. A special dance show with live music for the very young to join in, from Britain’s leading children’s theatre company.

Ticketed show (very limited capacity); ages 6 -18 months
Show starts at: 10:30am, 12.30pm, 3pm (1 hour duration); Location: Charter Suite 1

Beautiful Music, Horrible Sounds - Your chance to be noisy or nice with Spectrum Drama and the University of Salford. Participants can enter the Museum of Sounds on a quest to find the worst and best sounds in the world...

Ticketed workshop; ages 6-12 years
Show starts at: 10.50am, 11.50am, 12.50pm, 2.20pm, 3.20pm, 4.20pm (30 minutes duration); Location: Exchange Room 4

Bistouri - TOF Theatre - A very important patient in bed and at his bedside the retired ‘’do it yourself’’ surgeon delighted to be back at work. This show for the very brave lets you into a special ambulance to watch the strangest operation ever. TOF Theatre are one of Europe’s very best puppet theatre companies.

Ticketed show; age strictly 7+ years
Show starts at: 11am, 12.45pm, 2.30pm, 4pm (40 minutes duration); Location: Outside  

Breathers - Max Streicher- Feel yourself shrink next to Max Streicher's chamber of giant inflatable bodies. Max is a Canadian artist who creates forms out of light-weight materials that are animated by the movement of air.

Drop In show; all ages
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Charter Suite 3-5     

Compost Mentis - Whalley Range All Stars - Features a large compost heap and the gardener who looks after it. Their relationship slowly begins to breakdown when it is discovered that the compost heap has a life of its own and harbours thoughts that are fermenting within. Puppet, mechanical and musical interventions ensure that the audience like the gardener are led up the garden path.

Drop In show; ages 7+ years
Show starts at: 11:45am, 1.30pm, 3.15pm (35 minutes duration); Location: Outside  

Crime Scene - A chance to learn and use a range of crime-cracking skills such as handwriting, fingerprinting and DNA analysis to solve the murder mystery with our forensic experts at the University of Manchester.

Ticketed workshop; ages 7-11 years
Show starts at: 10.30am, 11.15am, 12noon, 12.45pm, 1.30pm, 2.45pm, 3.30pm, 4.15pm (30 minutes duration) Location: Exchange Room 1   

Draw It - Lynne Duric - Create a drawing inspired by your experiences at The Great Indoors by adding your marks to a large continual drawing throughout the day with artist Lynne Duric. Drop by, join in and see how the drawing evolves and changes the more you add to it.

Drop In show; all ages
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Exchange Hall

Every Action... -Ockham's Razor - Marvel at the magical aerial world of Ockhams Razor. The first appearance in Manchester of Britain’s most exciting young circus group. Every Action... is at once playful and arresting and looks at a world where everything you do will affect someone, somewhere. Double Bill with ‘Fuse’

Ticketed show; all ages
Show starts at: 12.30pm, 3.30pm (1 hour 10 minutes); Location: Exchange Auditorium

Feedback - Muziektheater Transparant - Soak up the noise with Feedback and tune into the newest European music for kids from Muziektheater Transparant. A brand new show especially commissioned by Manchester International Festival for The Great Indoors.

Ticketed show; age 5+ years
Show starts at: 11.30am, 2pm (1 hour); Location: Charter Suite 2

Fuse - Cirque Bijou - Mind the sparks from the latest in angle grinding circus acts with Cirque Bijou. Cutting edge contemporary pyrotechnic circus, combining video art, street dance, aerial, fire, human pyrotechnics, all set to a fast–paced backing track. An explosive 20 minute show that has already travelled the world. Please note the show contains fireworks and loud noises. Double Bill with ‘Every Action’

Ticketed show; all ages
Show starts at: 12.30pm, 3.30pm (1 hour 10 minutes); Location: Exchange Auditorium

Insect Circus Museum - Housed in a vintage, mahogany lined, Bedford TK beetlebox lorry, this unique museum displays a stunning array of costumes, props, puppets, toys and ephemera from the extraordinary collection of the Insect Circus Society. Spanning more than three centuries, and covering many continents, this is undeniably the finest museum of its kind in the world.

Drop In show; all ages
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Outside

John Hegley and The Popticians - Experience the Jubilation of 25 years of John Hegley and the Popticians, songs about glasses, contact lenses and the misery of human existence. Some dancing, no juggling.

Ticketed show; all ages
Show starts at: 11am, 2.15pm (1 hour); Location: Exchange Auditorium

Jon Hicks - Don’t get splashed in Jon Hick’s live action painting. This International Man of Artistry has made his brush mark at events worldwide with his truly unique shows including his legendary, as seen on TV, rapid fire, outsized paintings.

Ticketed show; all ages
Show starts at: 10.30am, 1pm, 3.30pm (1 hour); Location: Charter Suite 2

Living Room – Whalley Range All Stars - Living Room is a room within a room – with head sized holes on all 4 sides. Looking in the holes you discover a domestic interior and you notice that the room has a life of its own. Ornaments twitch furtively, the lighting appears to be breathing and the furniture seems restless. When you look further you realise that you have literally become part of the furniture as well. A brand new commission from Manchester International Festival and The Whitworth Art Gallery to celebrate the Whalley Range All Stars 25th anniversary. Drop In show; all ages

Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Exchange Hall

Small Things for Big Minds - Turn on the giant microscope to peer into magical, hidden worlds…. An interactive microscopy workshop by The University of Manchester offering an exciting opportunity to visualise hidden worlds and micro-organisms using specialist science tools.

Ticketed workshop; ages 7-11 years
Show starts at: 10.40am, 11.25am, 12.10pm, 12.55pm, 1.40pm, 2.55pm, 3.40pm, 4.25pm (30 minutes); Location: Exchange Room 2

Stereo Dances - Rosemary Lee and Nic Sandiland - Listen to instructions played through pairs of headphones and learn to create a private dance duet with a partner. Engrossing and refreshingly uplifting, you’ll find yourself listening to all sorts of music and creating all sorts of dances.

Drop In show; ages 4+ years
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Exchange Hall

The Garden - Join Lynn Setterington and students from Manchester Metropolitan University to create beautiful trees, shrubs, bunting, flowers, fruits and creatures from the things you would usually throw away.

Drop in workshop; ages 5-11 years
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Exchange Hall

The Kitchen - Eat your own art in our kids-only kitchen! From Manchester College of Art and Technology to make colourful smoothies, delicious goodies and to try your hand at decorating!

Drop in workshop; ages 6+ years
Show starts at: 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm, 4.30pm (45 minutes); Location: Exchange Hall

The Whacky Windbags by Jake Rodrigues and Nik Ramage - Join Professor Jake and the Whacky Windbags with his Honky Tonky Windy Plonky Machine. With an array of strange contraptions that intermingle with dozens of wooden organ pipes you’ll learn musical chords, harmony and how music is made with pipes, reeds and bellows. Served with a dash of Vaudeville and a whiff of the funfair Jakes windy workshop is an engaging way of exploring music with a windy combination of honks, parps, wheezes, hoots and toots to tickle your musical funny bones.

Drop in show; all ages
Show from: 10am – 5pm (all day); Location: Exchange Hall