“Innovative, ingenious, challenging, life-enhancing are all words that should be applied sparingly unless describing the 'real deal'. Having watched and been part of this company's work I've been amazed by the depth of their imagination and their ability to bring it to fruition through their theatre practice.”
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Created by award-winning theatre and digital art company ZU-UK in response to the increase in suicides rates across the country, Pick Me Up (and hold me tight) is an interactive audio event experienced through all 34,000 UK public pay-phones. The project pilot was launched on 1st January 2020 in Leeds, and will continue to develop leading up to the national launch on 1st January 2021.
WE DID IT!
In summer 2018 we successfully raised £15,000 on Crowdfunder to secure the creation of Pick Me Up (and hold me tight). The pilot version of the the project was launched in Leeds – where one of the highest suicide rates in the country is observed.
LEEDS PILOT
At 11am on 1 January 2020, the public pay-phones in Leeds started to ring in unison. Leeds currently has one of the highest suicide rates across England and Wales. Participants in the first public pilot of the project picked up one of the ringing phones in the area and experienced an interactive audio work designed to encourage us to think about our ability to listen in a world which is growing noisier by the day.
The Leeds pilot transformed my relationship with the public phone box, turning it into a site of gentle activism and a reminder of our responsibility to take care of one another.
Anna Turzynski, Compass Festival Senior Producer
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
If you didn’t manage to get involved in the pilot, but would still like to be part of the project’s development, please write to Janet K Howe on the following e-mail: info [at] zu-uk.com
ABOUT THE NATIONWIDE PROJECT 2021
At 11am on New Year’s Day 2021, the date and time when a significant peak in suicide rates is observed, public pay-phones across the UK will start to ring simultaneously. When the first call is answered the experience begins, with participants being invited to interact via the keypad to find out what kind of listener they are.
For those who can’t be at a public pay phone on New Year’s Day morning, Pick Me Up (and hold me tight) can also be experienced online via an audiovisual map that will track – in real time – which phones have been picked up and which ones are still trying to make a connection.
Pick Me Up (and hold me tight) offers an opportunity to engage in a mass act of contemplation about changes in the fabric of our communities, the shrinking of public space and contact between fellow humans – on an ambitious yet intimate scale.
“ZU-UK is a lot more than a theatre company — with a rigorous, and yet always celebratory set of approaches, the company has helped many artists find new ways of thinking about and making their work. With cross-cultural collaboration at the heart of its practice, ZU-UK encourages everyone who works with the company to explore surprising juxtapositions, new methods of working together, and original ways of inviting the audience into the work. Meanwhile, as a theatre company, ZU-UK produces bold, joyful experiences that transform perceptions and take audiences on unforgettable journeys.”
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