Birdboy

“Birdboy” is a tribute to all the ‘strange children’ who live on the margins. Birds are associated with freedom and this piece takes the bird metaphor to explore the chaotic and vibrant inner world of a person who seems not to belong. Dancer Kévin Coquelard is alone in the middle of nowhere. He comes across a wrecked car and suddenly strange glowing beings appear, floating through the space like jellyfish. Gradually overcoming his confusion and fear, he starts to play with the world around him, looking at it through a child’s eyes. “Birdboy” is a journey through a wild and beautiful landscape of imagination, understanding and freedom as well as fear and isolation. By powerful artistic means, the piece sympathetically conveys a sense of what it is like to be an outsider.

Created by: Emma Martin in collaboration with:
Dance: Kévin Coquelard
Design: Orla Clogher
Sound and Composition: Dunk Murphy
Lighting Design: Stephen Dodd
Voiceover: Xavier Leseure
Stage Manager: Sinead Cormack
LX Programmer: Susan Collins
Production Manager: Peter Jordan
Education consultant: Shane O’Reilly
Video and Image: Luca Truffarelli

“Thrilling. For those interested in the power of dance and movement in children’s theatre … powerful and ground-breaking … breathtakingly vivid … Emma Martin’s stunningly designed and choreographed show”

Joyce Mc Millan, The Scotsman

Produced by United Fall. Supported by VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art. This guest performance was made possible by the generous support of Zeitgeist Irland 24; an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany to promote Contemporary Irish Arts and Culture in Germany in 2024. United Fall is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.