Paston Footprints Performance Series

Paston Footprints, June 2018In the summer of 2018, Maples created a series of immersive heritage performances at historic sites in Norfolk for the Heritage Lottery-Funded Paston Footprints project, a regional heritage festival. The Pastons were a powerful Norfolk family from 1380-1730 who provided the largest collection of English domestic letters from the medieval and early modern period. The letters document the daily life of members of the Norfolk gentry, alongside war, disease, and, eventually, the family’s financial ruin. As Drama Lead on the project, Maples was commissioned to research, write, and direct several interactive performances combining historical archival material with participatory theatre techniques. Aiming to fulfill the Paston Heritage Society’s plan to “unsettle their audiences’ prior assumptions” of history, Maples used audience research to investigate the project's success.A promotional video of the Paston Footprints Project is available here: The Paston Footprints Project: an introduction - YouTube帕斯顿足迹（Paston Footprints）项目，2018年6月。 2018年夏季，为配合由遗产彩票基金（Heritage Lottery Fund）资助的区域遗产节庆项目——帕斯顿足迹，梅普尔斯（Maples）在英国诺福克郡的历史遗址打造了一系列沉浸式遗产展演作品。 帕斯顿家族是1380年至1730年间诺福克郡的显赫望族，留存有中世纪至近代早期规模最大的英国家庭书信档案。 这些书信详实记录了诺福克郡乡绅阶层的日常起居，同时也记载了家族历经的战乱、疫病，乃至最终的财政破产。 作为该项目的戏剧总监，梅普尔斯受委托开展研究、撰写剧本并执导多部互动展演作品，将历史档案素材与参与式戏剧手法相结合。 为落实帕斯顿遗产协会提出的“打破观众对历史的既有认知”的目标，梅普尔斯通过受众调研评估了该项目的实施成效。 帕斯顿足迹项目的宣传视频可通过以下链接观看：《帕斯顿足迹项目简介》——YouTube