The Paper Birds
The Paper Birds is a devising theatre company, with a social and political agenda. Established in 2003, we are an Arts Council NPO and recognised as UK leaders in devised verbatim theatre. We’re artists, investigators, entrepreneurs, educators. We pride ourselves on taking complex, multi-faceted subjects and making them accessible. The artistic and participation branches of our activity have equal importance to our social purpose and identity.
48 Thoughts Per Minute
48 Thoughts Per Minute is the latest devised verbatim production from The Paper Birds: an inventive, laugh-out-loud celebration of the many ways we think and experience the world inside our heads. Fast-paced, funny, and hugely relatable, 48 Thoughts Per Minute is developed in collaboration with current UK comedians. The show blends new writing by The Paper Birds’ Co-Directors Jemma McDonnell and Kylie Perry, with verbatim testimonies from a diverse range of people living across the UK; from exercise clubs, to mother and baby groups, elders’ dance groups, and mindfulness groups, to name a few. The average human brain generates 48 thoughts per minute, translating to approximately 70,000 thoughts per day.* Through this show we invite our audience to reflect on the private space inside each of their heads, capturing the hilarious, vivid and sometimes intrusive thoughts that shape our inner worlds. F r o m mirror - based self - reflection, to 3am catastrophising, 48 Thoughts Per Minute is a high- speed journey through one woman’s unstoppable cascade of thoughts. Staging, sound, and visuals shift as rapidly as her mind, leaping through memories, imagination and internal conversations at breakneck speed.
48 Thoughts Per Minute - The Paper Birds : The Paper Birds