Let us take you back to 1665. A plague creeps ever towards Eyam, a rural English village, Derbyshire.
An isolated village in lockdown brings out the worst and the best in its people (mostly the worst). Wise woman Granny Dankworth, speaks a muddled truth but holds no authority within the village hierarchy. Village gossip, George Gribble, blames the fairies for all misfortune, while young Godfrey Berrycloth, confined to a wheelchair, could be best positioned to ride out the inconvenience – his rich interior world within a moment’s reach…
In which characters will you recognise yourself? What similarities exist between their world and ours?
Our Plague Year is an alternative retelling of the Eyam Plague of 1665-66. Conceived and created by artist Nick Burton in response to a provocation by HOME curator Bren O’Callaghan. This contemporary narrative explores the many facets of human behaviour in the midst of a crisis. Fear, anger, paranoia, bravery and hope.
