LIVING HISTORY PROJECT 2020

BA Acting and BA ACTING INTERNATIONAL (First Year), East 15 Acting School

The Living History Project is one of the cornerstones of training at East 15 and a key part of its BA (hons) acting course. A specific historical period is chosen and learners engage in intense research. The learners then create this world on campus, each becoming specific characters from the period and improvising around that framework. Watch the short video that I’ve created below for more information about how the Living History Project model works in normal, non-lockdown circumstances.

In April 2020, Gerry McAlpine, Head of First Year Studies and Course Co-coordinator for the Certificate of HE in Theatre at East 15 Acting School, invited me to devise and then manage a remote learning version of the project, that would enable a cohort of 50 learners to share their research and to begin to embody and experience living the life of their character, whilst in lockdown conditions.

First, in teams, the learners created inventive research movies using free video making software and shared them to their peers within Zoom classes. You can see the creative brief that I created for the learners below:

Next, each learner created a short film that focused on a day in the life of their character. All content generated within the process was archived within a bespoke web platform, using PADLET collaboration software, which I organised and managed. Watch the films below to experience a tour of the learning platform and to see examples of these amazing short films and presentations.