From our Artistic director - LCDO the conference of the Birds

Hello Hounslow!  The sun’s been shining and it’s feeling warm, isn’t it?  So it’s time to get outdoors at Bell Square again!

Image from LCDO - The Conference of the Birds, Bell Square Sat 24 May 2025, 9.30pm (Free to watch)

We’re back this Saturday for the start of the season. As ever, we’ll bring you a different show every other Saturday right through to the autumn – and we’ve got lots of amazing dance, circus, theatre and music lined up for you. As always, every show is completely free to come and watch.

This Saturday also launches Hounslow’s fabulous Summer of Culture festival. This is the fourth year we’ve had this explosion of culture around the borough and we can’t wait to see all the different things going on. And we are really excited that the show at Bell Square this Saturday will get the festival started.

It’s a rather special show that we have for you, too. It’s with our old friends Insectotropics from Barcelona, who have performed many times at Bell Square over the years. And we have commissioned this new show especially for Hounslow. This will be its premiere performance in the UK so you are going to be the very first to see it!  It is so new that, as I write this, the artists are still putting the finishing touches to it in their rehearsal space in Barcelona.

I can tell you, though, that the show is called LCDO The Conference of the Birds, based on the 12th century poem by Farid ud-Din Attar. This great mystical poem is among the most significant of all works of Persian literature and is concerned with the search for truth in our lives. It talks about the conference of all the birds of the world, when they meet to begin the search for their new king, the Simorgh bird. When hearing that to find him, they must embark on an arduous journey, the birds start to lose faith. But their leader, the Hoopoe bird, calms their fears and takes them on the search for spiritual truth.  This magnificent poem encourages us to seek self-awareness and understanding of the meaning of life.

Insectotropics have developed their interpretation of this poem, using their trademark mix of music, theatre, projections and live drawing and painting. Their shows are always epic – so we are all really excited to see it on Saturday night.  After Bell Square, it is already booked to perform at some of the most prestigious festivals in Europe. 

So come and join us at Bell Square - and support this wonderful company performing their new show for the very first time!

The show starts at 9.30 pm when it is dark and runs for 50 minutes.