Have I seen you somewhere before?

We’re delighted when clients get creative with content we developed for their visitor experiences.

Back in 2015, we created characters such as George Hodnet the cook, Sister Sybill Hall and Ann Henbage the Bishop’s servant for the Masters House museum in Ledbury. They help tell the story of what life was like working for the Master of St Katharine’s hospital 500 years ago. You’ll see them engraved in glass and stone, on talking heads and on printed fabrics.

In the basement waiting room at Buxton Crescent you’ll find Lady Bridgewater, who has diabetes, gout-ridden Alexander Clapham, and young Rose Hathersage, who’s suffering from scrofula, coughing and spluttering in the waiting room waiting to see the dodgy apothecary who’ll prescribe some ghastly remedies.

But after we’d finished at both sites, the client teams have used these characters to great effect for lots of other bits ‘n bobs.

Over at Masters House, the characters have been brought to life!

Ledbury’s theatre-goers snap up the tickets for promenade plays in the Masters House, featuring our original cast of characters.  The Visit (2016) is a farce about the time when the Bishop came to visit, Between the Lines (2018), set during World War One, dramatises the daily joys and sorrows of those living and working in the Ledbury landmark as war raged on with devastating consequences. Finally, waiting in the wings, The Appointment (2021, hopefully) is another farce centring on the time when Masters House was a doctor’s surgery in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, over in Buxton, Lady Bridgewater stands cross-legged on visitor leaflets, on bubble tickets and in social media posts. The characters have been given back-stories too and will appear as virtual guides when the site re-opens after lockdown.

A wider range of people connect to heritage when stories are delivered by people – fictional or real. But once the characters are created, why not make best use of them.