Many cities, many voices

People from around the UK will tell their stories about summertime in a new piece of multilingual theatre, developed as part of interdisciplinary research from the Universities of Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and London (Birkbeck and UCL).

Summer Times has developed as a dynamic collaboration inspired by the Translation and Translanguaging: Investigating Linguistic and Cultural Transformations in Superdiverse Wards in Four UK Cities project (also known as the Tlang Project) with Birmingham-based Women & Theatre.

In the research, four UK universities are working with partners in the public, private and third sectors to develop new understandings of multilingual interaction in UK cities to support policy-makers and communities at local, national and international levels. The innovative four-year project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Transformation and superdiversity

Project Co-director in Wales, Dr Frances Rock, of Cardiff University’s School of English, Communication and Philosophy explains: “In our research, we have examined how people express themselves across languages about a range of topics and this production brings that theme to bear around the topic of summer. Building on our research themes of transformation and superdiversity, Summer Times uniquely expresses stories gathered from around the UK.

Reflecting different communities’ memories, customs and cultural heritage, Summer Times is an engaging collection of stories, celebrating the common experiences and joys of summer.

Summer Times is touring the UK during July, with one Cardiff date at the Oasis Centre on Friday 21 July (performances at 2pm and 7pm). The show is free and all are welcome. For more performance information, call Oasis on (029) 2046 0424 or just come along.