My last performance of July was to be at the Huntingdon History Festival. The venue? Pepys House, aka “Home”.
Unlike our Christmas event, though, this one was being produced by the Trust who own the House. Ermma and I were consulted, but the brunt of the organisation fell to the Trust’s newly appointed Project Manager, Louise.
We’d all agreed it should be a family event, and it was promoted as such. But whether it was the advertised lack of parking or just the historical focus, all 50 tickets sold out – but to 44 adults and only 6 children.
The challenge, then, was to keep an entire audience engaged despite a minimum 20-year age gap between the majority and the minority…
To make matters more fun, we only learned these numbers early this very week. Consequently, I couldn’t really start planning how my show would look till Tuesday, by when I had a very limited timeframe to gather the resources I’d need for whatever I planned…
But Amazon Prime would save the day, right?
Meanwhile, Tuesday involved providing a tour for the wonderful local U3a Architecture group. 11-strong and lively, they were our largest group yet, and as joyfully engaging as they were engaged. ‘Twas good practice for the slightly larger groups we’d be showing around Sunday as part of the History Fest.
The Pepys theme continued on Wednesday, when more architects arrived. These, though, were the academic kind, popping up from Cambridge University to do a much-needed in-depth analysis of the House’s construction.
Thanks to their efforts, we should soon have a better idea of how the House looked in Sam’s time, including colours. I can’t wait!
For Friday, Ermma had booked us a tour of the Pepys Library at Magdelene College, Cambridge. It was a long overdue day out, because we learned much more than Sam’s diary could tell us alone. Fo example, his unique library organisation: not by subject or author, nor even colour… but size! Kinda want to try that myself now…
Our guide, Jane, had a go at building rapport with the group of 8 or so, but always moved on before speaking with us. At one point, though, she mentioned Sam’s cousins once living in Hinchingbrooke House, “which is now a hospital.”
Towards the end, I sidled up to gently correct her. “Just so you know for future, Hinchingbrooke House isn’t the hospital, it’s actually a school.”
“Oh, thanks for reminding me,” she replied. “And do you know, if you ever go there, just down the road is the house that Pepys inherited after his uncle died.”
“I know,” I said, sheepishly. “We live there.”
“Oh, I’ve been wanting to talk to you! Can you stay for five minutes at the end? In fact, let’s talk now!”
That five minutes soon ran beyond the end of the tour. Jane only noticed when the others were leaving – but she gave them a quick goodbye, then returned to Ermma and me. We were all just too excited about the potential links between the House and the Library!
The next day, Amazon Prime let me know it would not save the day: a key prop couldn’t be delivered to schedule.
Turns out it’s quite hard to get a toy/replica musket. The best I could find was a toy flintlock rifle from Party Mania, Cambridge.
After my purchase, I turned to leave with the gun in my hand – and paused.
The shopkeeper read my expression with perfect accuracy. “Would you like a bag?” he asked.
The rest of Saturday was spent preparing the garden for the event, which was titled Digging for Gold. The Trust had loved my idea to rotavate a patch of the garden and bury some Pepys-themed ‘treasure’ for the youngest audience members to uncover, inspired by Pepys burying gold here during the Second Anglo-Dutch War – a portion of which is believed to still be buried here somewhere…
There’s no way I would have got this done in time without the rotavator generously loaned freely by our friends the Hills, and help finishing the turf removal from DadDad Sutcliffe.
Everything came together perfectly on Sunday. Our entire audience was smiling and participating throughout. I shared some local history and folk tales with links to the House, a broadsheet ballad for the Great Fire of London, and two tales from the Anglo-Dutch Wars referenced in Sam’s diary.
The digging activity also went down a treat. My one regret is that an essential item got forgotten: official photos. The photo here was one of just a handful shared by a member of the audience.
As well as being a thoroughly well-received afternoon of entertainment, then, it was also a chance for both the Trust and us to learn some valuable lessons for future events…
Do you have any advice for us on managing future events at Pepys House?
If so, please reply to this post – I’d love to discuss your thoughts with you!
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Do you have any advice for us on managing future events at Pepys House?