On Saturday, September 17th, Empath will meet with members of the public and help them creatively respond to historical fact files about some of Upper Westgate’s most interesting characters, including discovering a lady on Drury Lane whose liking for cheese and tarts meant she had to dispense with her doctor; walking a mile in the always hard-working Thomas Gissings’ shoes; and imagining what it was like to have a zoo where the Orangery now stands, complete with a ferocious bear that, in a tragic incident, got free of its pit! Taking this research, which has been compiled by historians like our very own researcher Helga Fox and members of the Wakefield Historical Society, among many others, we will help participants bring to life these characters by writing monologues about their stories.
Then, on Sunday, September 18th our new group of thespians will perform their monologues in, or directly outside, the buildings where those famous and sometimes infamous characters lived, worked and, for some, where they met an untimely end. Our audiences will start at the Theatre Royal, Wakefield, at 11AM or 2PM that day, and together we will move up Westgate for a further two stops at Westgate Studios and the Gissing Centre for our quick performance tour.
Chaperoning will be two of Empath’s professional actors in character as Wakefield memoirist Henry Clarkson, and writer Lady Mary Green.
To Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/402674840287
More information: https://empathaction.org/this-building-tells-a-story/