I’ve been to Cardiff this week, along with practically every other theatre set, costume & lighting designer in the country, to install a couple of small exhibits as part of the Society of British Theatre Designers four-yearly exhibition, this year themed Transformation & Revelation. The exhibition is being hosted at the impressive new Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama building which nestles into the edge of Bute Park between the river, University and Castle in Cardiff.

The exhibition opens officially on Friday and was only partly set up when I was installing on Monday but it already has the hallmarks of every theatre design exhibition I’ve ever seen: a fascinating and beautiful array of modelboxes, costumes, masks, photographs, props – illustrating a bewildering variety of styles and scales of performance (and budget!)….and generally of course, it’s far to much to take in in any one visit.

For those of you who can’t make it to Cardiff (tho’ we think you certainly should), here’s a taster of our modest input:

SPACE ODYSSEY: AN INTERGALACTIC OPERA
‘Whilst the Civic Hall at Stratford-Upon-Avon is a performance venue, there is no fixed seating, so I approached Space Odyssey in the way I would usually tackle a piece of site-specific work: finding what will work best for this space. Since the hall is a near-perfect octagon with splendid acoustics, we ignored the built in stage and instead configured the space as a long traverse, with the choir of 80 children at one end and the orchestra of 11 plus conductor at the other. This just about left a six metre diameter playing area in which to accommodate the (at times) vast numbers of cast portraying Odysseus’ journey through space from the planet Troy at one end of the galaxy to Earth, home and Penelope at the other. With circular plinths, some hanging planets and a bit of nifty work with gobos and moving lights, the Civic Hall to galaxy transformation was complete.

In this show though, perhaps the transformation and revelation was less about the design, and not even really about the transposing of Homer’s Odyssey to space, but more about the way the young choir and cast from three Stratford Schools more than stepped up to the mark.’

Orchestra of the Swan & Talking Birds
at Stratford Upon Avon Civic Hall 2010

FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT
‘The design developed alongside the script, each slightly influencing the other, with my feeling that there was a need for some sort of physical transformation in the design, leading to the writing of the building demolition denouement. It was the first time these two theatre companies had collaborated, bringing together two quite different processes for making work, with Foursight’s emphasis being on devising around the scripted material throughout the rehearsal process.

I’ve done a lot of design for devised work and so am used to building possibilities into a set, usually in the form of cupboards or hatches out of which to produce props unthought of at the point of design, or putting everything on wheels so that the elements of the set can be moved about if it becomes necessary once the show begins to unfold. In this case, once I had the visual start and end points I designed the set to break up into several moveable units and left it up to the acting company to devise the exact sequence of the transformation from rooftop to rubble – via slide, boat, cowboy steer, row of terraced houses and maternity ward.’

Foursight Theatre & Talking Birds
Touring 2010

 

Andy Parkes came to see A City Grown From Words at the weekend and user-tested the Difference Engine. He’s written a lovely blogpost about it:

“This sort of thing would ordinarily be off limits to a deaf or hard of hearing person as you just wouldn’t be able to following anything that was being said. Especially because performances were happening in various parts of the venue as opposed to a fixed stage. 

However, we were able to test something called “The Difference Engine”.”

Thanks Andy!

We’re open again tomorrow (Sunday) 12-4pm.

Come & say goodbye to the sorting office – and while you’re here, pen a letter to someone who’d enjoy hearing from you…

Audiences today said:

“It is very nice to note the passing of a much missed sorting office in such an imaginative and personal way.”

“Really exciting and inventive – enjoyed the interaction I could have with the event. And nice to see this building in use.”

“Excellent as ever from Talking Birds. And first TBs for 6yr old – who loved it. Mesmerised. Let’s write more letters, folks!”

“Loved A City Grown From Words. I encourge you to make it tomorrow.”

“Really enjoyed this celebration of the Bishop Street sorting office. Wonderfully evocative.”

For more info on times and location, scroll down or click here.

1. This is Bishop Street.

2. This is number 50 – the old Oxfam Homeware shop.

3. This shutter will be up so you can actually get in…

You can collect your item from A City Grown From Words in Coventry.

The “sorting office” will be open for one last time this weekend.

**Click here, print and bring with you to collect your letter.**

Quentin Cooper from BBC Radio 4 chaired the showcase event

Janet was speaking about The Difference Engine, which the DCD funded to ‘proof of concept’ stage. The Difference Engine is our bespoke in-pocket real-time subtitler which delivers access (and other) information to mobile devices at an event. We trialled it alongside Capsule last November and again for A City Grown From Words. We’re now fundraising to build version 2 – if you’d like to donate, please get in touch via birdmail [at] talkingbirds.co.uk.

For more information, visit the DCD Programme’s website.

Some of the comments made on twitter during Janet’s presentation

Coventry has always had a lot of mail passing in and out and through it. At one point, the Bishop Street sorting office handled more mail than any other in the country, and the post service has been an important part of the city’s economy since the 1920s.

Perhaps this was because the city had a lot to say, and those elsewhere had a lot to say back to the city. At any rate, there has always been such a volume of post – love letters, bills, postcards, job offers, dear Johns, good news, bad news, wedding invitations, official notifications, pay cheques, good luck cards, sorry to hear cards, and letters to Santa – flowing through Coventry that its easy to feel that the sorting offices still hum with them, even once the building has become empty.

A CITY GROWN FROM WORDS is an installation which is a reflection of deserted sorting offices everywhere. Places where words – significant or trivial, written or typed, tear-stained or computer generated – have been held and processed before spreading through the city, affecting and changing the lives of those who read them.

When: Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2011.

Where: 50 Bishop Street (old Oxfam Homeware Shop – down the street from the Bishop Street sorting office),Coventry, CV1 1HW.
Open: 12 – 4pm
Admission: Free

A City Grown From Words has been made with recent Performing Arts graduates from Coventry University and is supported by Coventry School of Art & Design, Coventry University, Arts Council England, and Coventry City Council through its Small Arts Grants scheme.

Please tell us about significant letters you have sent or received by calling 0845 22 55 918 (24hrs, local rate); alternatively, tweet us @birdmail or email birdmail [at] talkingbirds.co.uk with SIGNIFICANT LETTERS as the subject.

One of these sets of pics is from the real Bishop Street sorting office and one is from the old Oxfam Homeware shop, which is where we are making A City Grown From Words – may not be too tricky to spot the difference, but we reckon the shop’s not a bad match for the sorting office – and once we have some projections, music and a bit of live action in there too…well, surely close enough?!