available for booking
Town Criers is a performance for public spaces, co-created with local community participants. Donning the traditional livery of town criers, with bells and paper scrolls, they shout, on the streets, at the tops of their lungs.
But these town criers don’t just deliver the news of the day. They may choose, instead of making top-down pronouncements, to ask questions, share secrets, crack jokes, demand things from the powers that be, tell the world how they feel.
What would people not used to being given a platform to speak choose to say? What means or methods of speaking in the streets are permitted? What is unsaid or unprocessed in our society? Could the town crier’s crystal clear delivery be used to express fear, uncertainty, doubt?
There is no microphone, no technology, no media to amplify the choir of criers - just a costume and the permission to make oneself heard.
Town Criers can be re-made in different places with local people. Please get in touch if you would be interested in creating a version for your area.
Conceived and directed by: Clara Potter-Sweet and Ben Kulvichit
Camden version co-created and performed by: Dan Badger, San Devan, Dorothy McDowell, Francesco Pelliccio, Debbie Radcliffe
Artistic advice: Joshua Sofaer
Town crying consultant: Alan Myatt
Performance photos: Claire Haigh, Zbigniew Kotkiewicz
Rehearsal photos: Matt Mahmood Ogston
Town Criers was commissioned by the Developed on Drummond Street partnership (Old Diorama Arts Centre and Camden People's Theatre).
> 29 July 2023 / Regent’s Roots, Regent’s Park Estate Community Festival
> 01 July 2023 / Tolmer’s Square Festival
RESOURCES
THE TOWN CRIERS DID PROCLAIM...The Camden criers spoke about: the literary concept of good vs evil, HS1 and commercial over-development in Camden, lived experiences of homelessness, the four-day work week, and falling in love.