Recorded live at the Royal Shakespeare Company 26 June 2016

Welcome to the Picnic of Love at the Royal Shakespeare Company, 
curated by Derek Nisbet

Thanks for joining us for this afternoon’s musical feast! We’ll be serving up songs new and old, from near and far that celebrate “what 'tis to love”. 

We’ll also be asking you to tell us your definition of what “LOVE IS….” and our favourites will be included in the penultimate musical number (cards will be circulated for you to write these down - small prize for everyone who takes part!)

Please also tweet us your comments, pictures and “LOVE IS…” definitions to:
@TheRSC @DerekNisbet10 

So, without further ado, if music be the food of love - let's have a picnic!
Derek Nisbet, Curator

Derek Nisbet is a Coventry-based theatre composer/musician who specialises in creating music for unusual situations. These have included a Cattle Mart in Ireland, a decommissioned hospital in Coventry and a vast underground car-park in Scarborough. His work has been performed in major venues in the UK, Sweden, Canada, Russia and Australia and broadcast on BBC Radios 3 & 4.  Derek changed his A levels after seeing the RSC in his home town of Bridlington in the late 80s and went on to be a founder member of Talking Birds, one of the UK's foremost experimental theatre companies. He has worked extensively with Stratford's Orchestra of the Swan, most recently creating Ant & Cleo - The Musical! with pupils from Welcombe Hills & Bridgetown Schools. www.dereknisbet.info twitter: @DerekNisbet10 

Jake Oldershaw is a Birmingham-based actor and singer who has worked with Stan’s Cafe, Talking Birds and under the banner of his own company Untied Artists. He plays Al in Al Bowlly’s Croon Manifesto and played Antony in Ant & Cleo - The Musical! with Orchestra of the Swan and Talking Birds at Stratford’s Artshouse. twitter: @jakeuntied

Elinor Coleman is a Birmingham-based actress and lead vocalist with Cumbia/Balkan band Manos Pa’Arriba. She has worked with Theatre Absolute, Talking Birds and Interplay.
twitter: @ElinorMidz

Juwon Ogungbe is a composer, singer and pianist whose unique musicality reflects his upbringing in both Nigeria and the UK. He has worked at the Royal Court London, Royal Exchange Manchester and the RSC. twitter: @jimvon

Karen Street is one of the UK’s most well known and respected accordionists; she is also highly regarded as a saxophonist and and as a composer for both instruments. She has played with a host of well known performers, including Ute Lemper, Grace Jones, Martha Wainwright, and with the RSC, BCMG, Rambert and Talking Birds. twitter: @KarenStreet2

Erica Newton is a Solihull-based freelance musician and has been teaching the cello at the King Edward VI Foundation Grammar Schools in Birmingham for nearly twenty years. In the past she has played cello in orchestras for the Bolshoi Ballet, RSC, CBSO, Orchestra of the Swan and enjoys coaching/playing in chamber ensembles and theatre companies including Talking Birds.

Picnic of Love

Picnic of Love Part 2

Live recording of piece for organ composed by Derek Nisbet working with KS5 pupils from Sherbourne Fields (SEND) School as part of the Moonlight Medley - created to accompany the finale of Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon at Coventry Cathedral, performed by Kerry Beaumont on the organ. Part of the Festival of Imagineers, 30th Sept 2017
Photo: Andy Moore

Sea of Souls

Sea Of Souls

A Talking Birds production performed live at EGO, Coventry, December 2013. 

Starring: 
Craig Stephens as Hans Christian Anderson
Sam 'Frankie' Fox as the Little Matchseller
Nick Walker as Trevor Goose / Trefor Neilson
and Corinne Emerson

The Band:
Piano and MD - Derek 'Fingers' Nisbet
Bass Clarinet - Kate 'Brigitte' Luxmoore
Accordion - Mirek 'Gravlaks' Salmon
Percussion - Matt 'Herr Grün Green
Sound Engineer - Jonathon 'Der Bungle' Blackford

Music composed & arranged by Derek Nisbet
Book & lyrics - Nick Walker 

Publicity image: Andy 'Ørusund' Moore

Contains occasional gratuitous expletives and grotesque caricatures of Danish accents.

Trevor Goose and his Dark Night of Lights

Trevor Goose LIVE

Composed & arranged by Derek Nisbet for The Mysteries 2003 (A Belgrade Theatre/Macnas Production)on a theme by Zoltán Kodály.

Performed by Kate Luxmoore (Clarinets), Simon Pembery (Percussion)

The Mysteries 2003

Johah and the Storm

Jonah and the Storm (on a Theme from Háry János)

Vocals: Amy Kakoura @AmyKakoura
Lyrics: Liz Mytton twitter.com/@lizmytton
Music/Piano: Derek Nisbet twitter.com/@dereknisbet10
Guitars: Mark Patton twitter.com/@v8_mark

Bullets in the playground
Shrapnel on the swings
Trying hard to hold on 
To simple childish things

Dressing up in fragments 
Found amongst the dirt
Finishing our costumes 
As daddy’s getting hurt

We’re sick of manifestos
And easy flowing tears
Don’t act like you’ve been broken
Until you’ve touched this fear

I could be the owner
Of a fancy fashion store
Don’t know if it’s still okay
To be dreaming anymore 

Walking the red carpet
Winning an award
Daddy’s at the banquet 
Though sipping through a straw

We’re sick of manifestos
And easy flowing tears
Don’t act like you’ve been broken
Until you’ve touched this fear

You can say that I don’t matter
You can fill me full of lead
You can take away my future 
Exchanged for yours instead 

You can say it had a purpose 
Wringing hands before the courts 
As you turn me from a teenage hope 
To a cynical report 

Think it’s time to get my head out 
Of the glossy magazines 
Think it’s time to give our focus 
On fleeing from the scene 

So we’re taking our ambitions 
To the land beyond the seas
And we’re praying that your hearts still move
For children on their knees

We’re sick of manifestos
When deeds are overdue
Just act like human beings
Cos we are human too

Your privilege moves mountains
So open up the doors 
For children living far away
Who bleed the same as yours 

So sick of manifestos 
And easy flowing tears
Don’t act like you’ve been broken
Until you’ve touched this fear

Bullets in the Playground

Interviewed by Dave Marshall Barrett about my 'Art-e-Facts' on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Radio

Derek On BBC Culture Club

Composer & Sound Designer specialising in music for unusual situations* with renowned theatre experimentalists Talking Birds. 

Writer of intergalactic operas and musical epics for Orchestra of the Swan (Space Odyssey, Troy Story, Ant & Cleo - The Musical!), the Volgograd Children's Symphony Orchestra (Twin Song) and creator of songs for and with young people (eg the Frank Whittle Songbook, The Auctioneer's Anthem). 

As heard on BBC Radio 3 & 4 and in venues from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London to the Palladium, Malmö, to the Cultch, Vancouver.

*(eg Cattle Markets, decommissioned hospitals, Tightrope Walks between church spires)

Derek Nisbet

Popular tracks