Projects
The Fields Beneath
Set in 1896, The Fields Beneath involves its young participants in the tensions between Londoners’ sometimes conflicting needs for open spaces and for new housing, all in the months leading up to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Children take on the roles of a Victorian school group on a nature walk, and are asked to make their own judgement about some topical questions.
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Ultima Britannia
Set in London’s earliest years, Ultima Britannia is set in the building site that will one day become the Roman villa whose floor survives three metres under the modern floor level of All Hallows by the Tower.
Participants become Roman Londoners, and enter a city where no building is more than a quarter of a century old, where an alien culture is being ruthlessly imposed on the indigenous population, who are now expected to speak Latin and obey Roman law, and yet where it is dangerous to go out at night. more ...
Baited Hooks
It’s 1533, Henry VIII is king, and about to marry for a second time. In the City of London beside the River Thames a company of boatmen is unpicking one woman’s initials from a beautifully decorated barge and replacing them with another’s. The same is happening at Hampton Court.
Around the City of London, the Lord Mayor’s officials are knocking on doors, cajoling, threatening and imploring for co-operation and cash. In desperation, they may resort to blackmail.
In the south-east of the city, a pub landlady considers a new business venture. And a much more questionable personal one. more ...
Hackney Tudors: Common Ground
This project aims to build up an imagined yet historically based picture of life in Hackney in the past from a child’s perspective. Groups of primary-age children focused this year on the 1530s when Henry VIII was king, Hackney was a village and the country was in the midst of a period of radical change.
A combination of drama, music, dance and the results of new historical research enabled the participants and workshop leaders to work together towards a performance day, also producing artwork and written reports Most of the workshops took place in the Tudor Sutton House, with visits to Bromley Hall, then one of the king’s hunting lodges, and the mediaeval St Augustine’s Church Tower. more ...