Professor Helen Brooks (School of Arts) has recently designed a new pop-up exhibition, which is accompanying the touring pantomime production of Mother Goose, starring Ian McKellen and John Bishop.
The exhibition opened at the Ledwood Centre, Brighton’s LGBT+ community and cultural centre in December, coinciding with the pantomime’s run at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, and will accompany Mother Goose as it continues its tour in theatres across the country until April 2023. Helen Brooks was interviewed by Joe Talbot and Jeff Thomson on BBC Radio Sussex/Surrey in December to mark the exhibition launch. The exhibition forms part of the AHRC-funded ‘Beyond the Binary’ project, led by Helen Brooks (Arts), Olly Double (Arts) and Karen Brayshaw (University of Kent Special Collections).
The project brought together students, public researchers including people from all backgrounds and from across the gender spectrum, performance-makers, archivists and academics to undertake original research into historic music hall and pantomime archives. Through this research, an exhibition and a performance-lecture, the team are uncovering and sharing new perspectives on performance and gender, both in the past and today.
Congratulations to Helen on this achievement.