By Amara Thornton (Co-Investigator)
When we applied for funding way back in 2020, we developed a strand within our public engagement programme that included working with Vanessa Woolf on four specially commissioned stories, based on our research. This storytelling strand would commence in 2023 and end with the stories being performed at a workshop at the Society of Antiquaries on 8 March 2024.
The development process started in May 2023 with a long-list – a mix of women specialising in different disciplines, from different parts of the UK (what made up the UK for the majority of our project period, anyway) and with different family circumstances. We wanted to have a good range of experiences represented in the project, and also be able to connect to cultural institutions holding collections that were directly or indirectly relevant to these women. After discussion with Vanessa, we settled on five women for whom Vanessa would craft stories: Alice Gomme, Elizabeth Hodgson, Jessie Mothersole, Edith Blake, and Charlotte Stopes. Jessie Mothersole and Elizabeth Hodgson would be featured together in one story.
The stories evolved through a series of conversations and meetings between Vanessa and I, and through our meetings with other experts relevant to each story. As Vanessa worked on drafts, shaping the stories organically to suit the themes we wanted each story to cover, we discussed how the source material available might be best utilised to inform the creative narrative she was developing. At the end of the day, the story had to work for her as a creative practitioner as much as it needed to meet the themes we as a project team had outlined. It wasn’t always easy! Links to Vanessa’s personal blog posts which reflect on the creative process for each story can be found on our previous post: https://beyondnotability.org/events/stories-of-women-and-the-past-international-womens-day-2024-2/
The storytelling strand of our project was always meant to be an oral performance. You can hear Vanessa performing the stories at our International Women’s Day workshop. You can also hear Vanessa and I discussing the story development process (timecodes for each performance and our Q&A are on the link above).
There are also two other versions of the stories – an audio-only recording and a text version. For two stories, “Changing Times” and “Five Stones for Alice”, the text and audio won’t be the same as the oral performance. That’s because Vanessa performed these two stories as oral stories – she told them from memory, using the frameworks she had developed for the narratives but drawing on the reception of the audience to shape the story within those frameworks through tone and gesture.
Vanessa’s separate audio recordings for each story have been turned into audio-only videos for YouTube, and are now accessible through the Institute of Classical Studies Podcast page.
“Changing Times” (Charlotte Stopes) https://ics.sas.ac.uk/podcasts/changing-times
Suggested citation: Woolf, Vanessa, 2024. “Changing Times”. Commissioned for the Beyond Notability project (AHRC Ref: AH/V01384X/1) [Audio recording] School of Advanced Study YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZucmZSfsXjs
“Five Stones for Alice” (Alice Gomme): https://ics.sas.ac.uk/podcasts/five-stones-alice
Suggested citation: Woolf, Vanessa, 2024. “Five Stones for Alice”. Commissioned for the Beyond Notability project (AHRC Ref: AH/V01384X/1) [Audio recording] School of Advanced Study YouTube: https://youtu.be/GCXU0Y1kj3w
“Island Song” (Edith Blake): https://ics.sas.ac.uk/podcasts/island-song
Suggested citation: Woolf, Vanessa, 2024. “Island Song”. Commissioned for the Beyond Notability project (AHRC Ref: AH/V01384X/1) [Audio recording] School of Advanced Study YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZEm2oTxRaLA
“Wall of Stories” (Jessie Mothersole and Elizabeth Hodgson): https://ics.sas.ac.uk/podcasts/wall-stories
Suggested citation: Woolf, Vanessa, 2024. “Wall of Stories”. Commissioned for the Beyond Notability project (AHRC Ref: AH/V01384X/1) [Audio recording] School of Advanced Study YouTube: https://youtu.be/Hvt3mQ8Drmk
We will publish the text versions of these stories in a separate post, so stay tuned!
