As spring has sprung (sort of) and it’s more than a month since the last blog post, it seems timely to let you all know about some changes here at Birds HQ. We’ve appointed the formidable (french pronunciation) Philippa Cross as Talking Birds’ General Manager – throwing her in at the deep end with the Stratford performances of Troy Story a few weeks back – and Nick, who’s been with Talking Birds since the very beginning, has now left his role as Joint Artistic Director to pursue some New Voyages. (Although there are plans afoot for him to reprise his legendary role of Trevor Goose this Christmas – watch, as they say, this space…)
Nick writes:
Flying the Nest
In March 1992, while filling out the Edinburgh Fringe Festival brochure entry, it became clear that we would need to commit to the name of the show (as yet unmade), and also the name of the company that was taking it up (also fairly unmade). Someone, I think it was Dave, suggested that since the show featured some birds that talked, we should call the show Talking Birds. And in a moment of breathtaking inspiration it was then suggested that we should call the company the same thing. It didn’t seem to matter to me at the time as I was sure the whole adventure would be over by early September.
Twenty one years later and the flock is still soaring across the skies in impressive V formation, but I’ve now left the rotation and am perched quietly on a telegraph line where I will watch the skein ride the updrafts from a distance.
It’s been a blast and I’ve learned most of life’s best lessons from the journey, not least the clever deployment of words like ‘skein’, and I’m sure occasional Talking Birds brochure entries will use the Walker biro, but until that time, leading from the front will be the formidable duo Derek and Janet ably assisted by the fresh pair wings of Philippa who joins as General Manager.
To all those people I have befriended, loved, and worked with along the way (and those categories have very blurry edges), thank you for the fair wind and the beautiful skies.
Nick Walker, April 2013
There’s a lot going on at the moment, so this is a quick dates round up for you:
Words from the Birds 