Actors recreate servants’ daily lives during a Living Histories event the National Trust’s Ickworth House in Suffolk, UK
LIVING DRAMA Heritage is such big business because it’s a principal driver for tourism around the world. Millions of people visit heritage sites every year and they do so to connect with authentic experiences of past lives. The National Trust has been on a
mission in recent years to reinvent its properties by breathing life back into them. No more are our properties mere relics of yesteryear, frozen and lifeless. Instead, we’re growing the appeal of our places by introducing much more interac- tivity and engagement. Fires are being lit, pianos are being played and visitors are
No more are our properties mere relics of yesteryear, frozen and lifeless. we’re introducing much more
interactivity and engagement. Fires are being lit, pianos are being played and visitors are invited to interact
encouraged to interact with what they see far more than they ever were before. In our larger country houses, we’re try-
ing to make people feel as though they’re house guests, able to sit on the furniture and read facsimiles of old newspapers and books – sometimes the real thing, if
conservation standards allow. Sometimes actors help recreate scenes from the past. At Ickworth House in Suffolk, UK, we’ve
invested in a visitor experience that brings the basement rooms back to life. Ickworth Lives is an innovative hands-on experience that focuses on the period between 1911 and World War II – a time which saw huge changes in society, marking the start of the gradual decline of life in service and the role of the country house. Visitors have the chance to explore and
experience what life would have been like for the servants at this magnificent coun- try house, home to the Bristol family for centuries. They can explore the maze of corridors and rooms, the living quarters and the kitchen where the luxurious meals were prepared for the marquess and marchioness. During Living Histories, a monthly event, actors portray servants to give visitors a taste of working life in the kitchen and basement rooms. As the National Trust’s chair, Simon
n The National Trust uses actors to create a more engaging experience for its visitors AM 4 2014 ©cybertrek 2014
Jenkins, puts it: “The point is that you’re using the place not as a house but as a stage set for explaining history.” l
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