New audio-guided walk along Longsight’s bustling Northmoor Road launching this weekend
- Free audio tour of Longsight released this Saturday
- Project came out of 'people watching' during quarantine and tour will be available on smartphones
A theatre company is releasing a free 60-minute audio-guided tour of the diverse world of a Longsight street.
The project, called The People Of, will guide listeners along a mile stretch of Northmoor Road, hoping to provide “an extraordinary walk through familiar streets.”
The audio-tour, created by Qurantine theatre company, will bring to life what could easily be passed as a regular main road in the outskirts of a city, painting a colourful yet “gently provocative” picture of a road walked by many each day.
Frances Richens, comminucations manager for Quarantine, told The Northern Quota that the project “came from an interest in how our daily lives depend on, and collide with, people we don’t really know – the people who make us coffee, sell us groceries, cut our hair.”
The tour promises to provide an insight into the history of the street and provide a voice to the people who work there.
From greengrocers to cake makers, to cleaners and saxaphone players, listeners will hear how important the Longsight community is to everybody who lives there.
The audio-guide is easily accessible – in both English and Urdu – on smartphones, meaning it can be experienced at any time between 5 and 20 February.
Devices and headphones can also be borrowed for those who need them, making the tour available to all. Qurantine suggests visiting during the day to experience the authentic bustling life of Northmoor Road.
Artist Sarah Hunter, one of the creators behind The People Of, said the project was curated out of a love for people watching.
“It’s presented on a busy street where people are working, shopping, living and travelling through. You’re listening to the audio, but what’s happening around you is also part of the experience,” said Sarah.
The project has had a long-awaited release after it was postponed last year due to “some serious technical challenges” that Quarantine faced while making the app needed to listen to the audio tour.