Highly Sprung have been resident at Unit 4 this month and current events have apparently moved the young people they are working with to chuck their plans out of the window, and instead make an audiotour inspired by the riots. Performances will be on Friday 26th & Saturday 27th, details tbc.

The Whale is heading up the M6 to Mintfest the following weekend (if you see it on the motorway, please wave/toot/tweet), and will be ensconced in the Garden of Delights 2nd & 3rd September. Come & say hello? (& maybe even buy a t-shirt?!)

If you are in Edinburgh, keep an eye out for fellow Midlanders The Other Way Works, Kindle Theatre, Foursight Theatre & Untied Artists. Or if, like us, you’re further south, Edgelands looks like it will be worth keeping an eye on from afar.

Who:

Artists/Producers/Events Organisers/etc who can make interesting and productive use of a free empty space (approx 8m x 5m) in Coventry for a month – and, just before their month is up, invite the public in and make something amazing happen there. We’re looking for people/groups who can create something original and wonderful (and perhaps even a bit beautiful) that will make people want to come and experience the Space Programme for themselves. Something that will contribute to building up an understanding and expectation in the wider Coventry unconscious that FarGo is a place where cool things happen.

What:

The Space Programme is an opportunity to make a scene where there isn’t one. Each individual slot is an opportunity to explore how the space could be used/transformed prior to the opening of FarGo, Coventry’s new creative village.

When:

Slots from September 1st 2011 (subject to lease agreement).

Where:

In Unit 4 at FarGo, Far Gosford Street, Coventry.

How:

The Space Programme is curated by Talking Birds and has been running since July 2010. You can find details of projects so far at by clicking here

Successful applicants will be awarded £100 at the start of their residency.

If you are interested in taking part, please send an email of up to 600 words to

janet[at]talkingbirds[dot]co[dot]uk detailing:

– who you are

– what you would do with your month in the Empty Space Module

– what your event might look like

– whether you could go on site at the drop of a hat (September 1st) or need a longer lead in

– links to any online images/info about your past work

 

Deadline for expressions of interest: August 15th 2011

Here’s some pictures of The Q Enhancement Operatives enhancing people’s Q-ing experience on New Street & in Victoria Square this afternoon:

You can see more pictures in our FB album if you click here.

Or read the story of the Q in Coventry & Birmingham in tweets via our Storify if you click here.

The Q is also available for festival bookings in both show and walkabout formats, contact us by clicking here.

Join The Q in Birmingham

1pm-Chamberlain Square

3pm-New St

6.30pm-Hippodrome Plaza

Q by Q updates @Q_mob

And for the story so far, clicky here.

Three Birds-related things coming up this week:

Tuesday 26th – Pecha Kucha Night Coventry Vol 5 (hosted by JV)

Friday 29th – Trove at FargoSpace 6-9pm

Saturday 30th – The Q in Birmingham as part of Six Summer Saturdays

Hope to see you at one or more!

Pic by Alan van Wijgerden

Come & join the Q-mob: it’s like a flashmob, only slightly more orderly.

If you’re on twitter, follow @Q_mob – we’ll be tweeting a pic of the exact Q-ing location 30 mins before we start to give you chance to find and join the Q. Wear or bring something orange.

(Or if you aren’t on twitter, you can cheat and look at the map)

Remember: ‘the queue is a way of moving forward, but also a way of standing still‘ chapter 1, Book Of Queues

The Q Corporation is committed to world beating queuing, and we’re coming to Coventry to be inspired by the quality of yours. We’ll be appreciating and enhancing queues throughout the day, and giving public demonstrations of championship-grade queuing at the following times and locations:

*** Click here for Coventry City Centre map with locations ***

Friday 22nd July >> 1pm Shelton Square >> 2.30pm Lower Precinct >> 4pm Upper Precinct

Saturday 23rd July >> 12noon Upper Precinct >> 1.30pm Shelton Square >> 3pm Millennium Place

To join the Q flashmob, follow @Q_mob on twitter for details of when and where to assemble.

PDF flyer >

Meanwhile, here’s some tryouts for the voice of the Q Corp – could you do better? Ring the Q-line on 0845 22 55 918 and record your “Cashier number 4 please” – YOU COULD BE THE VOICE OF THE Q!

Cashier_No_4_Various.mp3

The Q is a brand new outdoor performance which will celebrate the great British Art of Queuing. So pre-eminent are we in this highly competitive field, that it sometimes seems like we’re the only ones taking part. 

But now, in the run up to 2012, there’s no room for complacency, and we know for a fact that we face strong competition from the Russians, increasingly from the Japanese, and there have been worrying reports of late surges from the Scandinavian countries (where their efficiency has, for many years, led to a near total absence of queues).

Talking Birds aims, therefore, to ensure that our position on the medal table remains unassailable. We know we British have the raw ability, it’s just a matter of having the BELIEF. Existing queues will be lavished with attention by our Queue Enhancement Team which will provide temporary seats, one minute stand-ins, and shelter from inclement weather, and, in the case of particularly elegant examples, a round of applause and possibly a fanfare.

Meanwhile, in the city centre, a team of crack queuing specialists will recreate Great British Queues of Our Time, demonstrate the Science of Queueology, present the thrilling yet heart-wrenching drama of Pushing In (and its terrible consequences), as well as imparting helpful tips such as How to Hold Your Place in the Queue and How to Queue Like A World Beater.

Together, we hope to maintain our dominance in this discipline so that, whatever happens in the Olympic Stadium, the world will look on us with envy and, maybe even awe, as we file, in an orderly way, out into the sunset.

  Taking place in locations around Coventry City Centre during London 2012 Open Weekend on Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd July 2011, culminating in A Very Big Q on Saturday at 3pm in Millennium Place CV1 1JD.

OK That’s Us

I’ve made a few shows with students over the years and I’m enjoying it more, year on year. In fact, on the rare occasion I find myself in a questionnaire situation and am asked about my theatrical inspirations, I find that I’m referring less to my august predecessors (the Complicities, the IOUs, the Insomniacs, the Right Size’s who I loved when I was first making theatre), but instead to the unfettered theatre-making passions of undergraduates who, with their desire to new-mint an original theatrical experience, continually remind me of the infinite possibilities of the form. I didn’t have any formal theatre training myself, and perhaps my enjoyment is in part about getting a chance to live in this world for a month here and there. Either way, if you are an adventurous theatre goer and get wind of an (often free) theatre show made by students in collaboration with an established company, then you could do a lot worse than turning up for what will often be a really fascinating live experience.

These pictures are from a show made with first year Theatre Studies undergraduates at Warwick University.

Nick

We’re doing some work with Warwick University Theatre Studies students at the moment. Their base in Millburn House is shared with the intriguing sounding ‘Ion Cyclotron Resonance Laboratory’. Unfortunately, this time around we’ve not managed to get in there, but have been admiring the small exhibition in the foyer, entitled “The Idea of a University”.

It’s headed by a lovely quote from a 2010 interview with MJP Architects:

“You get students and researchers; maybe it’s a bit optimistic to hope that researchers and students will keep bumping into one another and wonderful things will happen.”

As someone who is almost always involved one way or another in creating the (optimistic, idealistic?) conditions where different ‘sorts’ of people will bump into each other in the hope that “wonderful things” (conversation, connection, collaboration?) will happen, it was nice to be reminded that, in many ways, that’s also the point of educational establishments…because that, actually, is how learning (as well as art) happens.

Thanks MJP Architects!

(Janet)

 

Day two of Scoop shoot:

Two witnesses (Ciaran and Lauren) bravely talk about hearing the screams from Little Red Riding Hood’s granny’s house.

Little Red Riding Hood (Emma) out-stares the wolf

Along with everyone else yesterday, Talking Birds got news of its Arts Council funding settlement for 2012 – 15. And whilst we were delighted to be included in the National Portfolio, it was of course tempered by news of those companies and colleagues who didn’t appear on the list. If there’s one thing that characterises this field of activity, however, it’s resilience, ingenuity and drive, and it’s been frankly inspiring to witness the spirit and determination of such companies in the face of demoralising news. It’s from where, over the last couple of days, we’ve heard the cry ‘onwards and upwards!’ most frequently, and most loudly.
For our part, we will continue with our ambitious programme of work in Coventry, the West Midlands and beyond with an ever more acute sense that the need to work together has never been more pressing, so we can create work which touches the lives of as many people as possible. The arts funding pot has got smaller, but the need for art now feels so much bigger.

Nick, Derek & Janet