“The language of birds is very ancient, and, like other ancient modes of speech, very elliptical: little is said, but much is meant and understood.”

Gilbert White, Letter XLIII to Daines Barrington 9 September 1778

Jizz is a lifetime, recognised in a series of glances.

Thoughts from a periphery. The everyday sublime.

According to Wikipedia, jizz refers to: ‘the overall impression or appearance of a bird garnered from such features as shape, posture, flying style or other habitual movements, size and colouration combined with voice, habitat and location.’ For example, “It definitely had the jizz of a thrush, but I couldn’t see what kind.”

Of course, jizz does have other meanings, one of which leads to the word being blocked in safe searches on the Internet. In this instance, jizz refers to semen or sperm. In Ireland it tends to be used to mean ‘spirit’, as in Paul Durcan’s wonderful poem A Man with a Bit of Jizz in Him.

The poems in the show are all taken from Jizz, John’s new and selected poems from Kingston University Press. They move from birth to death, from ‘sperm to worm’ as they say in the insurance business, and aim to capture the jizz of a particular moment or experience, the variegation, zest, piquancy and poignancy of life itself.

These moments are intensified by Helen Lunt’s accomplished improvisations and recitals on cello, keyboard and flute, weaving words and music into an aural textile. And the dancers (Jennifer Grant and Joe Garbett from aKa Dance Theatre in Street, and Harriet Morris and Rosa Firbank in Brighton) bring the exhilaration of movement to lead the collaboration of words and music to dance.

You can see the Brighton show as a 360 VR (virtual reality) recording here. HD video segments of the show will be linked here soon. You can read an article by Dan Evans, Creative Director of Tilt, about the VR recording here.

On the left you can see some of the wonderful pictures from the show taken by Andrew King.

Developed with dramaturg and performer Chris Fogg, the show is ideal for rural touring and smaller or unusual venues. Please get in touch if you would like more information. And if the title is of concern don't worry. It can also go out under the title Nest.

As part of the show’s development all the marketing and promotional material was designed and tested. You can download examples of all the promotional material below.

And you can see the results on our audience research here.