songs  for   breaking  britain  (2014)
hannah   NICKLIN   &   Company

Photos by Giulia Delprato

Songs For Breaking Britain is a collaboration between Hannah Nicklin, dundee-based punk musician Sean Arnold, and London musician/performer/drummer Keir Cooper. Lead by Hannah, interviews are conducted in various cities and spaces around Britain, inviting people to stop and share opinions on their locality, their country and their relationship with it.

Within a day, the company turn these interviews into a rock song or two and perform them back to the town, building a collection of musical community diaries. What is created is a theatre album of truly punk pieces, using the emotions and words of people who spoke with the company about their lives: a moment in time, first thoughts from interviewees and first musical ideas - the show is a commitment to listening, collaboration and drawing in pen, not pencil.

'a punk rock agit prop
social documentary' - Maddy Costa

'“My favourite question to ask is ‘What’s your favourite song?” says Keir Cooper, “because everyone’s an expert in that.” Cooper is the drummer for Hannah Nicklin’s Songs for Breaking Britain, which played last night as part of the Lyric Hammersmith’s All Change Fun Palace weekend. His comment, to me, epitomised the whole ethos of
Fun Palaces and of Joan Littlewood’s vision for the arts and sciences.' 
Eleanor Turney -
Managing Editor of The Space

Developed at
OvalHouse, London
Stockton Arts Centre
The Mill - Bradford
HUB - Leeds

Performances
The above at
various times 2013 &...
Lyric Hammersmith: Oct 2014
 
Future Dates
13th May 2016
The Wilson, Cheltenham