Fun with Fossils
The Mantell-Lyle Legacy is a project from the puppet and theatre iDOLRiCH Theatre Rotto, a charity-based company in Hastings.
The first in the series of workshops, Mrs Mantell’s Tooth, took place on 1 November. The rest of the series are open for booking.
Sunday 15 November: Geology and Shadow Puppet-Making Workshop
Meet Phil Hadland, palaeontologist, who will show and talk about the geology of fossils from the Museum’s collection. Those attending the workshops are invited to design and make creatures from the Jurassic and Cretaceous in landscape settings. The session will conclude with showings bringing characters to life for the whole group. 11.30am-2.30pm
Sunday 22 November: Paleo art Through the Lens of the Magic Lantern Workshop
Keith Leech BSC will introduce this session describing how the Victorians came to comprehend the reality of deep time. This is followed by an introduction to the Magic Lantern – an early technology that projected coloured images painted on glass. Dinosaurs and landscapes from prehistory had to be imagined, and this was an ideal vehicle for illustrating the hitherto unknown. Participants design their own paleo artistic impressions on slides, to create a Victorian parlour ‘sharing and showing’ with the group. 11.30am-2.30pm
Sunday 29 November: The Line-up of Victorian Scientists Workshop
Phil Hadland gives an introduction to the early geologists who made the first discoveries from the iguanodon of Gideon Mantell in Sussex, and the conclusions drawn by Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology. Lyell was a prime influence on Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Also to be considered are lesser recognised female scientists, from Mary Anning and MaryAnn Mantell onwards, who brought these realisations to fruition.
This is a puppet making and performing session where participants create 2D characters from the Victorian toy theatre. 11.30am-2.30pm.
iDOLRiCH Theatre Rotto is an award-winning company that has toured widely throughout the UK and Europe but in recent years has focused on productions, events and training closer to home, in connection with Sussex and its prehistory.
Workshops are fully accessible and suitable for children 8+ and accompanied younger children although the scheme has a wide age range. There will be a short lunch break in each session for packed lunches. Coffees and teas will be provided. Puppets and artefacts which participants have created can be taken away for future enjoyment.
Places limited. Bookings through the HMAG website. Individual workshops £9 per session, 3x workshops £25, children under 10 £5. For more information email [email protected] phone 01424 203944 or visit theatrerotto.co.uk
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