Haunting Ashton Court: An Evening of Performance
More details: https://bit.ly/3B5PIGZ
What are the stories we tell about history? Who has permission to write them? What does it mean to recover those we have forgotten?
Join us for an evening of performance interrogating the gaps in our archives, and the richness of a collective history not written down through a reclamation of plants, people and stories in the grand music room at Ashton Court Estate. Devised by a company of young Bristolians, invoking mediums from poetry to film to theatre, Haunting Ashton Court finds the threads of working-class stories, queer stories, Black stories and pulls on them…
Register for your ticket to the event by clicking HERE.
The second half of the evening will feature a screening of Dan Guthrie’s film ‘black strangers‘, currently touring UK cinemas as part of the Independent Cinema Office and LUX’s Right of Way programme, followed by a panel discussion between Dan and the young creatives of Haunting Ashton Court.
Synopsis: After seeing him mentioned on a Bishop’s Transcript held in Gloucestershire Archives, Dan goes for a walk in the woods in search of Daniel, a man buried in Nympsfield on the 31st December 1719 and described on the document as ‘a black stranger’. Whilst walking, Dan talks directly to Daniel, speculating about the parallels between him and his namesake and wrestling aloud with the problems that come with trying to read the archive at face value and fill in its gaps.
Haunting Ashton Court is a collaboration between writer/participatory artist Jack Young and theatremaker Elinor Lower and a group of young people from across Bristol. It uses theatre, poetry, music, movement and film to excavate the forgotten narratives of Ashton Court Mansion buried beneath centuries of ‘history-making’.
Parking at the event: Parking is available in the public car park at Ashton Court. Parking charges are as follows: £1 for 1 hour, £2 for 2 hours and £3 for 5 hours. The annotated image HERE has details of the car park locations.
Free transport to and from the event is available for those based in Bristol: please identify on booking form whether you require this and where you will be coming from. Please note: transport can only be provided if it is requested by Friday 6th January 2023.
This event is Pay What You Can, with a suggested donation of £5 to cover our costs, although no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Please message Jack Young on jackyoung820@gmail.com if you would like to come but don’t have the funds. Following on from our sold-out first event in September 2022, we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment!
Only one ticket can be booked per transaction. If you need more than one ticket, you can click on the booking link again. We are unable to provide refunds for tickets already bought.
Brought to you by Artspace Lifespace and Haunting Ashton Court.
This is the second event in a new programme called Haunting Ashton Court, taking part throughout Autumn/Winter 2022 at Ashton Court in partnership with Artspace Lifespace and supported by Acta Theatre, Bristol Ideas, Brave Bold Drama and Bath Spa University. Kindly made possible through generous funding from Arts Council Project Grants.
Artist Bios
Dan Guthrie is an artist, researcher and writer whose practice often explores representations of Black Britishness, with an interest in examining how they manifest themselves in rural areas. In the last year, he has been a participant in East Bristol Contemporary’s Day School programme, a panel member for Stroud District Council’s review of streets, buildings, statues and monuments, and a part-time librarian. His work has been shown at the Whitstable Biennale, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Focal Point Gallery, Obsidian Coast and the ICA, and he is an Associate Programmer for the upcoming edition of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, having previously worked as a submissions viewer for London Short Film Festival and Glasgow Short Film Festival.
Accessibility Information
Wheelchair access to the Music Room is via the West Lawn Entrance. There is also a disabled access toilet on this side and there are wheelchair ramps that can be used too, as some wheelchairs find the 1cm lip at the entrance difficult. The ground floor is wheelchair accessible via the West Lawn Entrance. There is a 1cm gap between the tarmac and the entrance so please let us know if you need additional wheelchair ramps put in place. There is a wheelchair-accessible toilet (with baby change facilities) and a gender-neutral toilet in the North West wing. The toilets beside the Music Room are not accessible toilets. There are Blue Badge parking spaces in the Kennel Lodge Road car park. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are very welcome. There are no induction loops in the building.
