‘I keep telling you, this isn’t a few birds!'

Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock redefined the horror and thriller genres with his vast filmography, featuring such staples of cinema as Psycho, Rear Window and, of course, The Birds. Who can forget Tippi Hedren’s terror as she sprinted away from vicious flocks of crows, hellbent on causing chaos?

Barcelona’s Agrupación Señor Serrano certainly did not forget. The theater company drew inspiration from The Birds when developing their new piece, Birdie, a rousing multimedia performance that probes the disconnect between two very real existences: one in which societies are plagued by war and economic turbulence, and another in which civilians enjoy a life of leisure and economic prosperity.

Pau Palacios, co-artistic director at Agrupación Señor Serrano, shared how Hitchcock’s perspective on how the crows were utilized in The Birds shaped the company’s approach to developing Birdie.

“During the promotion of the film in 1963 and the following years, Hitchcock repeatedly stated the idea that the birds were secondary in the film,” Palacios explained. “For example, in an interview with Herb A. Lightman in American Cinematographer, Hitchcock stated, ‘The birds themselves are secondary. What matters is the fear they provoke. You could remove them and keep the tension if the characters believed they were under attack.’”

“This seemed very pertinent to us regarding the perception of migration today,” Palacios noted. “The very fact that the birds in the film "migrate" to Bodega Bay and terrorize the proper, white citizens seemed very pertinent to us. So we thought this reflection had to be central to our piece. In our research to prepare the show, we also happened to find several videos online in which the film had been digitally altered to show The Birds without the birds, and we thought it was perfect.”

Inspired by how others have perceived the birds in The Birds, Agrupación Señor Serrano made their “own intervention. At two different points in the show, we project the same scene from The Birds. In one, a group of children flee a school as hundreds of birds threaten their safety. In the other, we see the exact same scene, but without the birds, so we can focus on panic, the irrational reaction to a perceived threat, which doesn't necessarily mean it's a real threat.” 

With the help of this reappraisal of The Birds, three performers set out to explore our messy world with wit, criticism and commitment with humankind.

“Hitchcock never said he was talking about migration in his film, but this is the greatness of universal films, which open up numerous interpretations and lend themselves to play and paradox,” Palacios reflects.

Today, on Hitchcock’s birthday, we salute the filmmaker for creating narratives that have created wells of inspiration for generations to come. 

“Happy birthday, Alfred,” Palacios concludes. “And thank you very much.”