Character Of Home

Fairfax House/York Civic Trust/Written by Paul Birch/Directed by Thomas Frere/Performed by Edith Kirkwood & Julian Finnegan/Digital Content Inkblot Films/Historian Rachel Wallis/Funded by Arts Council, England/2020

My house is very fine on the outside but, if you know where to look, full of trouble and secrets on the inside… 

The past is a puzzle and Fairfax House invites you to walk through its doors and investigate the private lives of its disturbed inhabitants. Step back in time and into the sumptuous world of 18th Century York in this intimate promenade performance staged in the finest Georgian town house in England. 

The 9th Viscount of Emley, Charles Gregory Fairfax bestows a magnificent gift upon his only surviving daughter, Anne. He builds her a resplendent house filled with beautiful things so that she might have a bright future in a glorious society…but this place is wrestling with darker concerns

and the household is haunted by the ghosts of its past.  Strip back the finery to discover who wanders the house at night, uncover the secrets of the staircase, and explore the private lives of two fascinating historical characters who find themselves struggling to cope with the anxieties of their troubled time.

Your task is simple. Enter a room and choose an object. Each object triggers an alternative version of the past and from a different historical perspective. Your choices not only change the drama but will even change your route through the house and the order of events.  You, the audience,  become co-creators of this historical drama which fuses theatre, curation and digital technologies to not only unveil the people of the past but to reconsider our own place in the modern world.