These images of a Victorian class room layout, immensely strict rules for women teachers, information about women at war and heartfelt letters from the Beechey brothers, are what we found the most interesting and inspiring, sparking ideas for our site-specific performance. We found that the rules for women teachers including “you will not marry during the term of your contract” and “you must be home between 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function” were extremely restricting but I am intrigued to find out more as to why the rules were so firm. However, it would also be useful to learn more about the rules that Victorian children had to follow during school and what the schedule of an average school day would have included. Furthermore, learning more about the roles of women during the war would be interesting as their previous expected role was to be a housewife and take care of the children but when war was declared, the jobs of women were extremely contrasting as some had to work in factories making bombs, become mechanics or engineers. A story I found heart-breaking is the story of the Beechey brothers, a Lincolnshire family involving a mother who had eight sons that fought during World War I with only three of the brothers returning. My group and I found these topics inspiring and agreed that a war or Victorian related performance could be a creative and excellent idea, especially if the audience members aren’t exactly interested in theatre but are interested in historical events.

Amy Clarke