This summer history looks set to be brought to life in dramatic fashion at Castle Rushen in Castletown.
A meeting was held to gauge the interest in the formation of a group to perform living history techniques at historical sites across the island.
Manx National Heritage community engagement officer Katie King said: ‘The History in Action Performance meeting went very well. We had more than 50 people attend, who all expressed an interest in helping to bring the island’s heritage to life through creative performance and living history techniques.’
At the meeting Manx National Heritage outlined that the overall aim of the group was to reveal stories from the island’s past at the places where they happened, and it was agreed to trial the new group at an event weekend planned for this summer.
The History in Action Group will be performing at an event called Unlocked to be staged at Castle Rushen on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July.
The event is about unlocking some of the hidden stories from Castle Rushen’s history, through dramatic theatrical tours of the castle keep – to be titled Labyrinth Tour – and through re-creating a multi-period Living History Village within the castle grounds.
Katie said: ‘The meeting was attended by a real mixture of people, including experienced living history enthusiasts, people passionate about history, talented amateur dramatic performers and a number of script writers, costume makers, producers and directors. In order to harness the varied talents of the group the Unlocked event will include a mixture of theatrical performance and historically authentic re-creations of the castle’s history.’
Anyone interested in getting involved can contact Katie on 648035.
