The Turbulent Times Revue: celebrating work in progress and performance
Our WEA students participating in creative writing, film making and song writing classes have been hard at work developing pieces which they showcased at Gateshead’s perfectly era-appropriate Prohibition Cabaret Bar on the evening of Monday 22nd January.
Pop-up Reading Room and event: History, Heritage & the Environment – day school and performance by ‘THREE ACRES AND A COW”, 20th January
As part of our pop-up reading room exhibition and event, at Newcastle City Library, we teamed up with the WEA NE Green Branch and the WEA NE History & Heritage Branch to develop a day school exploring the links between history and the environment – how each shaped the other, and how they both in turn mould what we consider to be our heritage.
Better still, on that afternoon, we had a performance by the magnificent Three Acres and a Cow – telling the history of housing and land rights in folk song and story.
Our First “Pop-up Reading Room”
So, what is a pop-up reading room? Those of you who have seen our earlier posts about why we were fascinated by these spaces of informal working class education will have an idea of the kinds of reading rooms from which we’re drawing inspiration. Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be taking our pop-up reading room on tour, each one featuring a special ‘study group’ style event. This will echo the inquisitive nature of ordinary people in the decade after the First World War.
Our first of these exhibitions will be at Saltwell Towers, Saltwell Park, Gateshead. The pop-up reading room will be on show from 1st to 6th November from 9am to 3pm. And 10:30 am on Saturday 4th November will feature a discussion led by Nigel Todd on North Eastern responses to the Russian Revolution, and how this looks from the perspective of a century later.
Come along, to see the exhibition and reading room, or, better still, to also join in the debate!
Our Street: 1926
Our new play, devised by Michelle Lindsay and Robert Baharie for the All-Stars Theatre Company (a drama group made up mostly of adults with learning difficulties and complex needs), will be entitled Our Street: 1926. Focusing on the events of the 1926 General and Miners’ strikes, the play will also provide a sequel to the lives of the characters who featured in our WWI play, Our Street: 1915.
Performances:
- Tuesday 24th October 2017, 1:30pm, Alun Armstrong Theatre, Stanley Civic Hall [FREE but ticketed event: please contact the box office on 01207 299 110]
- Tuesday 5th December 2017, 1:30pm, The Band Hut, Beamish Museum
Impacts of the First World War on Adult and Higher Education –
special event at Lit and Phil, 7 Oct 2017, 2:30pm
Working with partners at Northumbria and other universities via community engagement funding from AHRC and University of Hertfordshire, we’ll be showcasing the collaborative work undertaken so far on this project exploring the educational upheavals after the First World War.
Further details in this post: Impacts of the First World War on Adult and Higher Education: special event alongside university partners, 7th October 2017
Turbulent Times 1918-28 