We are celebrating the award of project funding which will see the Jubilee celebrated in an innovative community project with Ripon Museums this June. Jubilee at the Workhouse is a living history project being developed by Fell-Foss Theatre Company, under Writer and Director Mark Cronfield, in which community performers and Workhouse Museum volunteers will bring to life biographies of former Workhouse inmates. Examining how the lives of the poor brush with key moments in history, the culminating performance will reflect on previous royal celebrations in Ripon as audience members encounter colourful characters whilst moving through the museum’s historical spaces.
Could you take part in this community production and help to bring the stories and people to life? A series of fun and creative drama sessions are the core of the project, but along with scriptwriting, performing, set design and props, there’s a role for everyone. Want to find out more? Pop along to the Open House at the Workhouse Museum on Allhallowgate on Saturday 30 April, 11am-1.30pm.
Participants will develop scripts with the museum’s Volunteer Research Group alongside local writers and specialist script writer Simon Kirk of Time will Tell Theatre Company, long-time collaborators with English Heritage.
Jubilee at the Workhouse will be presented on the final afternoon of the Festival on Sunday 26 June. The promenade performances will be staggered across the afternoon and tickets will go on sale in May. .
We are so pleased to include this project in our plans. The Festival aims to celebrate the unique city of Ripon through live performance. Our ambition has always been to programme original and site-specific work alongside visiting companies and this is a creative and thought-provoking way to begin. Community Curator at Ripon Museum Trust, Dr Laura Allan says: “We are thrilled to be working alongside Ripon Theatre Festival on this site-specific performance. The historic spaces of the Workhouse Museum will be transformed into a stage with volunteers and the local community at the centre of the story. We are asking the local community to give it a go and get involved with this special Jubilee performance”.
Please register your interest by emailing anna.cross@riponmuseums.co.uk
Jubilee at the Workhouse is entirely funded by a grant awarded from the Grassroots Fund, the Bousfield Fund and the North Yorkshire Reward Fund, administered by the Two Ridings Community Foundation.
