Hobart's History Comes Alive

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the two days’ teaching I did for the Tasmanian Polytechnic Eco and Adventure guiding students.  We had a ball and I think I learned as much from them as they did from me!

There is a lot to teach about guiding but most of it cannot be taught; how to connect emotionally with your audience, how to have a vibrant, engaging personality, how to care passionately about your topic and the list could go on………

The two days I spent with the students covered most of the topics from voice production to story telling but the rest is really up to them.  Their passion, creativity and inventiveness is something I cannot teach.  However, we can inspire by what we present on Louisa’s Walk and today, this is what they saw.  From the theory in the classroom to the reality on site.

For once the weather was kind – traditionally it turns really feral for the Polytechnic’s visit!  But, after a weekend, when the conditions turned very nasty indeed, the sun shone and the thermometer reached balmy temperatures of around 15 degrees.  This may not be showcasing the reality of being a tour guide to the students but you have to take the rough with the smooth and today was smooth!

They were a great group and made an empathetic audience as we told Louisa’s story.

Here’s a photograph taken afterwards.

Tasmanian Polytechnic Tour Guide Students Visit Louisa's Walk

As any actor will tell you – you should never work with animals or children on stage or film set.  Why?  Quite simply they will upstage you!  The fascination of animals or children seems to be a draw-card few can resist.

On Louisa’ s Walk today our actor Chris Hamley had a double dose of being upstaged.  Chris was working with me and we had a lovely group of nine on the show.  The weather was kind and the Autumn colours so vibrant at this lovely time of year.  We were walking back up to the top of the Cascade Gardens when we stopped at the flood mitigation device so that Chris’s character William could explain the origin of the Cascade Brewery and the reason why the area, known as the Cascades, is so named.  Suddenly I spotted the platypus!  We haven’t seen him for 2 years and I was so excited.  The pond is full at the moment as we have had a lot of rain and that’s when he seems to play around, when he’s got plenty of depth.  Poor Chris was trying to explain the origins of the Cascades and the Hobart Rivulet but all we could do was watch the playtpus as he dived and rippled.  He manfully ploughed on but I am not sure how much the audience absorbed!

As if that wasn’t enough, and we had shared several jokes about not performing with children or animals, we reached the end where William explains how he came to work at the Cascade Brewery, a family group was passing by.  A dear little girl of around three detached herself from their group and came over to join us.  She kept handing me fallen leaves until I had a lovely “bouquet” of leaves.  All eyes were on her and very few were listening to poor Chris.  Upstaged again Hamley – ah -  an actors’ lot!

Louisa Holds Her Bouquet of Leaves.

Her Story has been running at the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site for just over three months and we couldn’t be more pleased with our audience numbers or the feedback it is generating. We created Her Story at the request of the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA), who have taken over the administration of this World Heritage Listed Site.  PAHSMA are as pleased with the success of Her Story as we are.

We, at Live History Productions, are passionate about using drama and storytelling to interpret history. As Louisa says at the beginning of Louisa’s Walk ” I am going to take you into the heart and the soul and the spirit of my story.  At times, we might make you laugh and at times we might make you cry.  And if we do, we’re not going to apologise – that means we have done our jobs as good storytellers – we’ve engaged with your emotions.”

Her Story also engages your emotions but in a different way; we were thrilled to receive the following email -

Mary awaits the Overseer in the Crime Yard

Dear Female Factory people,
We are not into Twitter or Facebook, but we do want to let you know how much we appreciated today’s 9.30 tour with Cassie and, especially, the performance of “Her Story”. Today’s inclement weather provided a perfect setting for “Her Story”, but obliged the actors to perform in the most trying of conditions! To their enormous credit, they did so without missing a beat, or even hinting that they, like us, were freezing!  And in doing so, they enabled us to gain a far deeper understanding and appreciation of the daily plight of the Factory inmates. The whole production is at once very informative and most entertaining. We were particularly impressed that the script brought out so many of the social forces that were central to “life” in the Factory.
We can think of no better way of bringing history to life than dramatic presentations such as this one: you are really there with number 71 in the Female Factory in 1833!
Kindest regards
Frank and Jan Nicholas

I sometimes wonder if the success of Louisa’s Walk is that it is so personal and, at the end, we come out of character and really get to know our audience members?  It means so much more than just walking away, after receiving some applause.  We do engage people’s emotions on Louisa’s Walk and, having experienced quite an intense roller coaster of feelings, it is good to spend some “ordinary time” coming “down” afterwards.

Last Monday, April 23rd was Chris’s birthday (yes, it is also Shakespeare’s and perhaps that is where Chris gets his writing skills from?).  We had no advance bookings for Louisa’s Walk so, having performed Her Story for a good group in the morning, we decided to go and have a look at a textile exhibition at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (what a gem these are – I  always forget how lovely).  We loved the exhibition and our dear friend, Ros Minchin’s wall hanging/quilt was the standout for us; we would have bought it but where would we have put it? Then we had a delightful lunch on the verandah.

The next day it was back to work and, after Louisa’s Walk was over and we were having our “de-brief”  I happened to mention that the previous day had been Chris’s birthday.  One by one, four members of our audience (of ten) came forward and said ” Really? It was my birthday too!”  I am not an expert in statistics but surely this was a huge co-incidence?  I hope they all had as happy a day as Chris?

Four out of Ten people Share a Birthday on Louisa's Walk!

Our business, Live History Productions does more than interpret convict women’s history as many of you know.  We can be commissioned to research, create and perform a play on any topic, at any site, any time.  Remembering that history can be defined as “anything that happened more than a second ago” this gives broad parameters!

Three years ago we were contracted to write a short history of hydro electric power in Tasmania by Hydro Tasmania, for the Heritage Festival.  The theme that year was Water, Our Island’s Life Force (a gift for the Hydro).  Using Heather Felton’s excellent book Ticklebelly Tales and Other Stories from the People of the Hydro Chris shaped this big challenge into a thirty minute play.  Called Ticklebelly Tales (you can’t go past that for a title surely?) he created a series of short vignettes which graphically illustrates the need, the invention and the hardships of producing hydro- electric power in this State.  We performed Ticklebelly Tales, in a short tour around Tasmania, in Tarraleah, Hobart and Queenstown.

This year, Hydro Tasmania has contracted us again to reprise our play, Ticklebelly Tales; the theme for this year’s Heritage Festival is Innovation and Invention.  This time the performance venue is the Waddamana Power Museum right in the very centre of Tasmania in the Central Highlands.

We travelled up there last Monday, to view the performance space, as we need to work out the logistics of producing the play in a different place.  I suspect that, like us, the majority of Tasmania’s population has never visited this amazing museum tucked away in the hidden valleys of the Centre?  We lunched in Bothwell (do visit the wonderful craft shop behind the church but take cash as they don’t have EFTPOS, also it is closed on Saturday).  Have a coffee/lunch at the Elm Cafe further along the street and browse through the collectables.

From Bothwell it’s around 24 kilometres of dirt road to Waddamana but a good surface meant we could travel quite fast and it took us forty five minutes.  Winding, misty roads enhances the feeling of mystery and isolation until it opens out into a delightful village with large pine trees and some charming wooden cottages – we had arrived.

The Power Museum itself is housed in the original station.  Steps took us up to the entrance where we met Bernadette, the attendant, who made us welcome.  We will have more time on the performance day to look around the fascinating array of turbines and immaculate machinery all imported from the UK or the USA.  We decided on the performances spaces and said our goodbyes – we had a dirt road drive back to Hamilton where we were staying overnight, it was getting close to the end of the afternoon and we didn’t want to hit native animals as they came out of the bush at dusk.  As it was we nearly collected a kamikaze wallaby but a huge dead wombat in the middle of the road hadn’t been so lucky.

We stayed at Emma’s Cottage which is the oldest in the Uralla collection run by Judy Madden in Hamilton.  We couldn’t recommend this enough!  The cottage is beautifully restored to its 1830′s character and made a lovely stopover for the night.  We drove back into Hobart the next day to perform Her Story with the memories of Waddamana fresh in our minds.

Want to go?  Ticklebelly Tales will be performed at 11.30am, 1.30 pm and 2.30 p.m on May 5th.  I couldn’t think of a better combination: a drive to Tasmania’s centre to see the birthplace of our hydro electric scheme told dramatically against the backdrop of  fascinating machinery.  Then, if like us, you want to treat yourself to a night away, a stopover in one of our delightful Highland towns like Hamilton or Bothwell.

Emma's Cottage Kitchen, Hamilton

A Bedroom at Emma's Cottage, Hamilton

Our business name is Live History Productions and, as you would expect, our aim is to bring history to life.  We do that, mainly, via our core business Louisa’s Walk and, lately Her Story. We have other strings to our bow in terms of income streams, performing plays at other venues, about other aspects of history, being one of them.  Another, is instructing others in the basics of tour -guiding and public speaking.  With more than twelve years in the tourism industry and with a  course at a London drama school under my belt, I am more than qualified to deliver this.

So, around once-a-year I find myself spending two days in the classroom at the Tasmanian Polytechnic here in Hobart instructing prospective tour guides in the art of tour guiding.  Last week I delivered my annual sessions and was privileged to meet 16 delightful, students all of whom hold a passion for this lovely State of ours.  When you have a passion for something you want

The Lion's Roar Facial Exercise Encourages Clear Speech.

to tell others about it and that is what these students long to do.

We did everything from vocal exercises to storytelling.  There was lots of laughter and some honest sharing of feelings, hopes and dreams.

Did you know that the most common fear is having to speak in public?  There is a feeling that most people would rather be the one lying in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy!  There are tricks of the trade to get over this but the best advice is simply, to practice.  Once you speak in public a few times and realise it wasn’t the end of the world, you know your fears are groundless.

I was so impressed with the 16 students I met.  We had lots of fun and I know that they  will all follow their hearts and  their dreams to become the best they can be, whatever path they take.

Hi everyone, as from March 29th we have put up our ticket price for Louisa’s Walk (just on the adult’s ticket) to $35.00  This is our first price rise on the adult’s ticket for a couple of years.  The single child’s’ ticket and the family ticket remain the same.  We are confident that Louisa’s Walk gives good value for money and many have commented to this effect on our TripAdvisor reviews.

Now is a lovely time of year to experience Louisa’s story.  The Cascade Gardens are starting to show their vibrant, autumn colours and the weather just lately has been superb.  With still air, golden light and warm, gentle sunshine it has to be my favourite time of year.

We look forward to meeting you on Louisa’s Walk.

Mary James is Sent to the Infamous Crime Yard

If you read the Home Page of our web site you will see we are offering an alternative to Louisa’s Walk – Her Story.  This is a sister production to Louisa’s Walk; it takes place entirely around Yard One of the Female Factory and lasts for just forty five minutes.  Her Story leaves from the Visitor Centre of the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site at 11 a.m every morning and tickets are just $ 20.00.

Since January of this year, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA) have taken over the running of the Cascades Female Factory and have developed a strong relationship with us at Live History Productions.  I love the word “symbiotic” and I think it describes what we have developed with PAHSMA – we supply the script and the talent and they supply the marketing and other support.  So, you will be seeing quite a lot of advertising for Her Story in the weeks to come.

Her Story tells the tale of Mary James (not her real name) who was convicted in 1832 for stealing a square of silk.  She got seven years.  She came out on the transportation ship the Frances Charlotte in 1833.

Whilst there are strong similarities to Louisa’s story Her Story stands alone and many people elect to experience both.  We have been surprised by the reaction from our audience members at the end of Her Story as the stories are quite different yet equally powerful!  In contrast to Louisa’s Walk the audience doesn’t befriend Mary James.  Indeed she is a “private person who doesn’t share her hopes or her dreams” (her words).  Yet, at the story’s conclusion, people are often so moved they need a few moments to recover!

Louisa’s Walk is still growing in numbers and popularity and we continue to love what we do in telling Louisa’s story as well as Her Story!  However, if you are short of time then Her Story gives you a shorter  option.  Bookings and further information -  Phone the Cascades Female Factory on 03 62 336656.

"When you are in this place you do not speak!"

The Outer Wall of the Cascades Female Factory

It has been  several weeks since I have posted a blog which I can only put down to the very busy summer we have had. Despite the struggling tourism sector, Louisa’s Walk is still growing.  Thank you to all our loyal supporters!  There is much to talk about including our new sister production Her Story and our  fabulous, new actors we have working for us but, I’ll leave that for another post.  This one is about our first school visit for the year.

Last Wednesday Angela Hade Harris brought her Grade Fives for the second year running together with the other Grade Five class at St Michael Collegiate School.  As last year, the students had gone to a lot of effort to dress and look the part; there were all sorts of mob caps, shawls and long skirts – no doubt mum’s wardrobe had been raided!  The weather was chilly but as I

A Creative Maths Lesson.

have often said, that helps to make the atmosphere more vivid.

The girls asked some great questions afterwards during the question time we offer immediately the performance is finished.  These questions are a good guide to the fact the students have not only taken in the information but have thought it through.  A couple of days later Angela  sent the montage shown here which she and her class had made during some creative use of a maths session.  Who says maths has to be boring?

Our First School for the Year - St Michael's CollegiateThe Montage of St Michael Collegiate's Work after Louisa's Walk