THE GREAT MIDDLEMARCH MYSTERY
Part-immersive theatre experience and part-mystery game, The Great Middlemarch Mystery put a modern twist on George Eliot's Middlemarch and its story of the hopes, dreams, disappointments and scandals lived out within a Midlands town.
"Immersive ingenuity.. that stretches the vocabulary of the stage. Suddenly theatre is firing on its newest cylinders."
- SUSANNAH CLAPP, THE OBSERVER
Photography by Ikin Yum
Thursday 7 - Sunday 10 April 2022
Step into the reimagined world of one of the greatest English novels ever written, on the streets of Coventry.
Follow the interwoven lives of the townsfolk of Middlemarch as they meet with triumph and ruin, and help them unearth a terrible secret at its heart. Who is the stranger with unfinished business in Middlemarch? And what is the meaning of his untimely death?
Gather clues as the drama unfolds between four historic venues in central Coventry before coming together to solve the mystery in this interactive adventure from Dash Arts.
“Really cleverly done - a very different kind of performance”
Dash Arts spent 2 years adapting George Eliot’s Middlemarch to be performed across 5 locations in central Coventry in 2022, brought to life with a cast of professional and non-professional actors as part of Coventry City of Culture 2021
The Making of The Middlemarch Mystery
From the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot
Adapted by Josephine Burton with Ruth Livesey
Directed and created by: Josephine Burton
Research Lead, also newspapers writer & editor: Ruth Livesey
Assistant Director: Connor Alexander
Production Designer: Alex Podger
Costumes by: James Reeves
Associate Designer: Bryan Woltjen
Design and Costume Assistant: Siena Tone
Graphic Design: Paul Smith Art & Design (Newspapers), Desk Tidy Design (Concept Image Artwork), Siena Tone, Natalie Sired.
Sound Designer: Wes Finch
Cast: George Beach, Andrew Cullum, Mollie Garratt, Tom Gordon, Amanda Hurwitz, Aimee Powell, Deborah Tracey, Ryan Van Champion, Joan Walker
Ninjastudies: Mollie Garratt, Jess Hobson, Liv Linley
Company & Production Manager: Rachael Head
Deputy Stage Manager: Emily Davies
Assistant Stage Manager: Bethany Barrington-Davis
Community participants (as Middlepeople) & newspaper contributors: Norma Bell, Anne Bevan, Sandra Brownbridge, Shirley Anne Burnham, Robert John Chaston, Victoria Cowell, Louise Day, Naomi Day, Steve Hands, Ashley Hayward, Bernadette Howarth, Angela Keen, Isaac Lee, Judith Roberts, Francesca Rogers, Adam Rowley, Bengy Speer, Cecelia Stower, Tracy Villiers, Cathy Webb
Lead Production Supporters: Rab and Denise Bennetts, Hamish and Sophie Forsyth, David Isaacs
Production Supporters: Sir Michael Burton, Marion Cohen, Laurie Elks, Jonathan Grant, Jill Kowal, Tony and Sue Leifer, Vivien Lewis, Emma Sharp
Praise for The Great Middlemarch Mystery:
A Dash Arts production.
Supported by the UK Research and Innovation Arts and Humanities Research Council, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry City Council, Coventry Cathedral, Arts Council England, The Garrick Charitable Trust, Royal Holloway, University of London, The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Three Monkies Trust, Middlemarch Giving Circle and The Thistle Trust.
With special thanks to The Very Reverend John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral.
Photography by Ikin Yum. Videography by Rachel Bunce
“Excellent, energetic, fun, great gathering all the gossip and evidence. Amazingly well-orchestrated”
PODCAST
Welcome to a podcast mini-series dedicated to the creation of The Great Middlemarch Mystery. In conversation with the creative team, we explore the ideas, themes and processes involved in bringing George Eliot’s Middlemarch to life.
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