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Review: New Dawn Fades @ The Met, Bury
A powerful, witty and deeply Mancunian Joy Division story
New Dawn Fades @ The Met, Bury
As a massive Joy Division fan, New Dawn Fades was an irresistible proposition. Not just a retelling of the band’s story, but staged in the very room that witnessed one of its most chaotic moments the infamous 1979 gig that descended into a riot and has now entered Mancunian folklore.
The Met is a fantastic little theatre: small, intimate, and atmospheric, yet relaxed and welcoming. It has a bar and seating area for pre-show drinks, a small museum and shop connected to the production, and is run by passionate volunteers. That combination of quirks, history, and local charm sets the perfect stage for a story about Manchester’s most iconic post punk band.
🎭 The Play
New Dawn Fades is not a straight biographical drama. It is part history lesson, part punk elegy, part Mancunian myth-making.
The story of Joy Division unfolds through the gaze of Anthony H. Wilson, who acts as a witty, intellectual, slightly pompous master of ceremonies. His presence becomes the engine of the narrative, philosophical one minute, sarcastic the next constantly reminding the audience that Joy Division’s tragedy is inseparable from the city that forged it.
The script shifts between band dynamics, historical moments, cultural references and a dark, absurd humour that keeps the pace buoyant even as the story becomes increasingly bleak.
👥 Casting & Performances
The casting was outstanding across the board, with particular highlights:
- Anthony Wilson effortlessly charismatic, funny, dry, and intellectually sharp.
- Peter Hook (Hooky) played with swagger, attitude, and just the right amount of bite.
- The rest of the band captured the awkward charisma and emotional volatility that defined Joy Division’s short, intense existence.
Rather than leaning into “tribute act” territory, the show let the actors portray the people, not just the icons with warts, doubts, ambition, and vulnerability intact.
🎶 Music & Atmosphere
The show uses Joy Division’s music sparingly more as emotional punctuation than a constant soundtrack.
When songs arrive, they hit hard: haunting, raw, electric. The musical arrangements avoid mimicry and instead aim for emotional truth, which fits the spirit of the production.
It’s less “watch the band recreated on stage” and more “remember why this music mattered at all”.
✍️ Tone & Themes
At its heart, New Dawn Fades is about:
- ambition and insecurity
- industrial decay and cultural rebirth
- friendship and conflict
- hope, despair, and art born out of both
It’s funny, at times very funny but the humour never dilutes the tragedy. Instead, it highlights just how fragile everything was.
⭐ What made it special for me
As a fan, this wasn’t just entertaining it was moving. I loved it the best play I’ve ever seen but thats probably due to my interest in the band and Curtis
The play taps into the mythos of Joy Division without becoming reverent or sentimental. It balances grief, anger, and creativity with sensitivity and swagger and recognises that Manchester itself is a character in this story.
🧾 Final Thoughts
New Dawn Fades is everything you’d want from a Joy Division story: bold, bleak, funny, poetic, and entirely uncompromising.
The performances were brilliant across the board, the storytelling inventive, and The Met provided the perfect, historically charged setting a quirky, volunteer run space with a bar and museum that makes you feel part of Manchester’s cultural heartbeat.
I left feeling energised, haunted, and proud.
A must see for fans, and a powerful piece of theatre in its own right.
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