NOMA, the neighbourhood that hands you the microphone

22 April 2026

A few weeks ago Sadler’s Yard filled with words.

Some were written down. Some were spoken thoughtfully on stage. Others were improvised on the spot by people who had not expected to find themselves speaking in public that afternoon. Some were even eaten.

It was all part of WORD PLAY, a free gathering to mark World Poetry Day. The event was built around performance, participation, and the simple pleasure of language shared out loud. A neighbourhood is a conversation, the question is how you get it started?

This is where Talkaoke came in. A travelling talk show that has appeared at festivals and public spaces around the world. Its Manchester debut happened at NOMA. The format is disarmingly simple. A host sits at the centre of a round table with a microphone. Anyone can pull up a chair and join the conversation. There is no script. No stage. No formal audience. Just a group of people talking. It doesn’t sound like it should work, but it was packed out all afternoon. It’s good to talk.

Poetry in the city

We worked with a brilliant local poet, Tom Branfoot, to help us curate an afternoon of performance poetry. In typical NOMA style, we weren’t satisfied with the idea of people being positioned as an audience. We believe in active participation. So, whilst we had some brilliant poets lined up to perform their work, we left a few slots open, just in case anybody wanted to join in.

To encourage people onto the stage, Tom ran a workshop earlier in the day. Most had never written a poem, let alone performed on stage. Every single participant in the workshop performed, it was truly brilliant and inspiring. We even had a couple of people casually passing by who put their names down and blew the place away with their performances. Twenty-one poets in total, Manchester is a city of poets!

We built around these activities with a pottery-based word game and a giant pot of alphabet pasta minestrone, but the main event was really about involvement and empowerment, seeing members of the public getting on stage or sharing their thoughts and ideas with each other. The result was an afternoon that felt less like a performance programme and more like a conversation slowly spreading across the square.

Participation in public space

Events in public squares often follow a familiar pattern. A stage is built. A programme is scheduled. People arrive to watch. WORD PLAY tried something different. Instead of asking people to gather as spectators, the event invited them to participate. To take a seat at the table. To speak if they wanted to. To listen if they preferred. Sometimes the conversation was thoughtful. Sometimes it was funny. Occasionally it wandered into unexpected territory. But that unpredictability was what was most exciting.

A neighbourhood of voices

Looking around Sadler’s Yard that afternoon, it was hard not to notice how many different kinds of voices were present. Experienced performers. Curious passers-by. Families. People who had come specifically for the poetry. Others who had simply wandered into the square and decided to stay for a while. Some people spoke for several minutes. Others just said a sentence or two. Every contribution added to the conversation. A neighbourhood exists between people. And sometimes the simplest way to bring that neighbourhood to life is to hand someone a microphone and invite them to speak.