New Histories

New Histories is a participatory community project inspired by historical statues from Britain’s past.

A collaboration between Applied Stories, Worldmaking Beyond SOAS, Phakama and the GLA's Untold Stories fund, New Histories brought together theatre artists, academics and students, to design a workshop empowering local people to have their say about statues in their area. The results inspired four short audio installations, professionally scripted, and performed by community casts.

For the 2022 pilot, we used the statue of William Gladstone outside Bow Church, E3 as our inspiration. After making the four short audio dramas above, we held some in-person listening parties to share the results with a live audience.

All the sound files are now free online, to listen in situ at a time of your convenience, or remotely (though the experience is enhanced by being there).

If you would like to attend future listening parties for this or other projects, please join the Applied Stories mailing list to be the first to hear...

New Histories does not make any recommendations or draw any conclusions about the statue's future. It aims instead to bring people together, from all walks of life, to make their own mark on a public space belonging to them all.

To hear a podcast interview with Fin Kennedy about the inspiration for New Histories, click here.