The Small Performances team was so thrilled to host a unique performance of ‘Make Your Mark’ a theatre piece researched, written and performed by Theatre(ish) our wonderful theatre collaborators, from Birmingham.
Theatre(ish), the brilliant and talented Marcus Paragpuri and Antonia Parker Smith, worked extensively with schools in Birmingham taking the Baskerville story and his work into the classroom and discussing his life, legacy and the role of communication in our everyday lives. The performance was partly shaped by the response of the children. Students on the BSc Digital Film Production course at Birmingham City University also made a series of short films about Baskerville’s life, performed by Theatre(ish), which were also shown at the performance. It made a fascinating and informative show about both the life and legacy of John Baskerville and the life of the Small Performances project.
‘Make Your Mark’ was performed in Cambridge at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Science (where part of the research is based) on the 18 September and two days later, on 22 September, it was again performed to a full-house, this time at the Hexagon Theatre at the Midland Arts Centre (MAC) in Birmingham. Both events were timed to coincide with Open Cambridge and Birmingham Heritage Week. It was fantastic to have the performers completely reconfigure both performance spaces and turn them into a showcase for the work of the schools and the Small Performances team.
The audience, which comprised people of all ages and with an interested in history, craft, printing, typography and the eighteenth-century, stayed on afterwards to pull a proof on the Adana hand-press that Theatre(ish) had borrowed from Winterbourne Press at the University of Birmingham. This was a very special touch to the show and everyone enjoyed getting inky fingers.
The show generated some great feedback from the audience: ‘engaging, informative, witty, mesmerising: a superb performance’ typifies the audience response. If you were there and would like to send any feedback in, we’d really love to hear it. Please email: [email protected]
We thought you might enjoy a blog from another project in Cambridge, from a colleague who saw the show: The Foundry of the Baskervilles – The VIEWS project
Finally, we would like to thank Open Cambridge, Birmingham Heritage Week and the MAC for promoting our event and it was a privilege to be part of these vibrant festivals.