‘The King of All Birds’ a gig for voice and vocoder

“I GREW up in Tallaght but spent a lot of my summers in the west of Ireland, where my mam’s side of the family is from,” explains Martha Knight, who is presenting ‘The King of All Birds’ in the Civic Theatre next week.

This is a gig for voice and vocoder. It picks apart our shared history with the sky: the years when it remained untouched, those first ventures into it, and now, our endless climbing: “up, and up, and up.”

‘The King of All Birds’ was inspired by the aerial photos that Martha saw displayed in homes in rural Ireland when she was growing up.

She was fascinated with these photos, who took them and who sold them to so many people around Ireland.

This fascination developed into an interest in the history of Ireland from the sky, including questions like, “who was the first person to see Ireland from above?”

She ended up doing much research into early Irish aviation, as well as ancient Irish mythology about flying creatures and mad kings.

She also did a lot of research into who and what is watching Ireland from above in the current day, with the sharp rise of satellite surveillance and drone technology. These stories became the basis for the show.

She has worked on many projects over the years, both as a theatre maker and sound designer/composer, over the last number of years.

Her most recent sound design/composition work includes ‘Three Sisters’ in the Gaiety Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival and ‘Uncle Vanya’ in Smock Alley Theatre.

In Tallaght, she works as a theatre artist with Freshly Ground Theatre, SoloSIRENs and Tallaght Community Arts.

She also mentors young sound designers through the Civic’s Tenderfoot programme.

Martha remarks that “the best thing about my work is how varied it is, and I really love being busy and creative and working with such a variety of different creative people.”

So far, her highlight has been taking this show to Toronto with the Canada Ireland Foundation as part of their inaugural ‘Bealtaine’ festival.

It was “so exciting” to perform the show for a totally new audience in Toronto and to see how people connected to it.

It was “so interesting” to have people with no connection to Ireland find some part of themselves in it, in the humour, the music, the history, or the themes of technology, connection to the land, and the passage of time.

The biggest challenge was the very beginning, trying to shape these stories into a show that made sense to people and that people could connect with.

“We learned that the way to do it is through tongue-in-cheek humour, and also through music and song,” explains Martha.

Music and song are a big part of the show, as she brings the audience on a musical journey from folk instruments to electronic instruments, effects and live looping.

Martha is currently working as a sound designer on ‘Do You Come From Gomorrah?’, a new play by Frank McGuinness that will premiere in the Peacock at the Abbey Theatre in April.

She is also simultaneously developing a brand new show that is in its very early stages but focuses on the theory that humans are evolutionarily descended from fish.

As well as that, she and her crew are also still scheming the future of ‘The King of All Birds’, especially bringing it international again.

Martha would like to thank her team who have helped bring this from a wild idea to a real thing and accompanied her around the world with this show.

She would also love to thank all the programmers who have taken this show into their venues; the shows at the Civic mark the end of a small national tour.

She would love to thank Donal, Sandra, Niamh, Dermot and all the gang at the Civic for their support of not just this show but her work for so many years.

The Dublin Fringe, Project Arts Centre, field:arts, Smock Alley, and the Arts Council all provided invaluable support in the creation of the show in 2023. Lastly, Martha would like to thank the whole arts community in Tallaght – “I would be nowhere without it – it really is such a family, and I’m so lucky to be part of it.”

‘The King of All Birds’ performs in the Civic Theatre on March 25 and 26 across three performances, including an 8.15pm performance each night, as well as a 1pm performance on the latter date.

It is presented by Martha, produced by Ois O’Donoghue, with lighting design by Jess Fitzsimmons, costume and set design by Jack Rogers, and drone operation by Phillip Jebb.

Be sure to check for more details and book your tickets on the Civic website.