Being Human festival
In recent years, Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins have run a variety of events as part of the national Being Human festival to share their knowledge of the prisoners of war at Portchester Castle. in The Being Human festival is the UK's only national festival of the humanities, taking place in November each year. It is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see https://beinghumanfestival.org/
Being human festival 2024
Family Photography Workshops at Portchester Castle
Visitors were invited to create their own responses to the site of Portchester Castle using photography with artists Eva Louisa Jonas and Maya Brasington.
Suitable for everyone aged 8+, workshops began with a brief introduction from Kate and Abigail with knowledge of the story and the experiences of the Black prisoners of war held at the castle. This was followed by simple photography activities that explored creative and sensitive ways to use photography to record traces of history within the castle grounds.
Being Human festival 2023
The Ancestors
Written by Lakesha Arie-Angelo
Directed by Jade Lewis
Starring young talent from the National Youth Theatre.
Screening and Q&A, Warwick Arts Centre, Saturday 11th November 2023
Being Human festival 2022
National Youth Theatre, English Heritage’s Shout Out Loud and the University of Warwick presented an exclusive first look of an original new film captured on location at Portchester Castle:
The Ancestors
Written by Lakesha Arie-Angelo
Directed by Jade Lewis
Starring young talent from the National Youth Theatre.
The screening was preceded by a Q&A with some of the academics and creatives involved in the project.
Being Human festival 2021
The Ancestors: exploring Black History through theatre
Online Panel discussion, 15th November 2021,Youtube link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDVyG7_YLA0
Photo credit Myah Jeffers
The panel discussion reflected on Freedom & Revolution, a joint project by the University of Warwick, English Heritage and National Youth Theatre exploring the hidden Black history of Portchester Castle near Portsmouth through a new play that re-thinks race and gender in the French Revolution. The play, The Ancestors, written by Lakesha Arie-Angelo and directed by Jade Lewis, was rehearsed, staged and filmed at the Castle in August 2021 with a cast of young performers aged 18-25 from National Youth Theatre’s network of creative young people. The Warwick contribution to the project was funded with support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The streamed discussion during the Being Human festival 2021 illuminated the power of theatre to communicate humanities research to new audiences. It explored how the partnership can be a model for creative collaboration and how combining research and co-creation can be empowering for young Black people.
Being Human festival 2020
Free online event streamed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vJIkc88fajYLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window
This was a discussion between National Youth theatre staff and Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins whose research has enabled the amazing stories of the French and French-Caribbean prisoners of war who were held at Portchester to reach new audiences. It offered an insight into the creative process of taking archival material as the basis for a powerful new work of theatre about freedom, race and gender.
The project addresses issues of enslavement and revolution in the haunting setting of Portchester Castle, drawing on the site's unexpected history to give space to the unheard voices from the past which demand creative expression.
Being Human festival 2019
Researchers Kate Astbury and Abigail Coppins were joined at Portchester Castle by sound artist Elaine Mitchener to discuss the creation of the sound installation |Les murs sont témoins| These walls bear witness| which was housed in the castle during the summer of 2019.