Echoes of Invention

A modern reimagining of Delia Derbyshire’s renowned ‘Inventions for Radio’ as part of Coventry’s year as City of Culture. The collaboration with Barry Bermonge, which began in 1964, brought a diverse range of voices from across the country together into one of Delia’s most loved pieces. Giving a platform to under-heard voices on the radio, ‘Inventions for Radio’ was pioneering in showcasing the thoughts and lives of ordinary people and extraordinary subject matter. 

‘Echoes of Invention’ explores Delia and Barry’s original work through the lives of people living in Derbyshire’s home city of Coventry today. In the first of the four themes, ‘Faith’, we hear from a range of perspectives as they describe their experiences of the divine, the indefinable and their deepest beliefs. Composed collaboratively by Caro C and Charles Craggs the music is inspired by Delian techniques. Limited to the voices of singer Amy Kakoura, who improvised around the note of A, and the interviewees, the composers used modern music technology to build the soundscape; keeping the piece fundamentally rooted in the human voice.

You can download the album at Bandcamp here!

EVERYTHING: An Online Lecture Series

In early 2020 the esteemed Professor Anthony Roberts was given funding to create an entirely new lecture series that would, with the help of guest lecturers each week, explore the whole universe from atoms to stars and everything in between. Sadly the COVID-19 Corona virus changed these plans…

With his crack team of experts otherwise engaged on the pandemic Professor Roberts series was on the brink of collapse!

At the last minute, Bladder & String stepped in to fill the void and, with a team of enthusiastic artists, become guest lecturers on the series!

Released each week, we invite you to join us on a journey into everything…

Click this link to see the series on YouTube

Workshops

Bladder & String makes work built on the skills and experience of its artists and collaborators. Our artists have facilitated workshops for a range of ages from primary school to university education as well as adults. You can see the areas that we work in below but each session can be tailored to your needs. For any enquires please do drop us a message on our contact form!

• Improvisation and Play – Developed from long from improvisation, exploring how to generate material from nothing, how to work with, listen to and create with other performers playfully.
• Devising – Using simple stories and narratives this workshop gives participants structures they can work with to create their own work and develop new stories.
• Puppetry – How to approach the manipulation of puppets, focusing on breath, movement breakdown and brining inanimate objects to life.
• Masks – Developed from the the half mask of the Commedia Dell’arte and the full mask of Trestle Theatre, participants explore silent performance and how to communicate with the body and movement.