Sketch for the Faculty of the Arts, University of Liverpool

Whose History?

Whose History?, a series of four films created by production company Sidelong Glance, tells the stories of people who have lived, worked and studied on or nearby the University of Liverpool’s South Campus over the past 200 years.

The series considers individual lives and collective experiences. It examines relationships between place, memory, and forgetting. It asks questions about identity, exclusion, and belonging. And it does all this through the words of many brave, creative, and dedicated people who have walked the streets of this global city at different times in history, and whose influence – even if we can’t see it, or haven’t always known where to look for it – continues to shape the area and its cultures today.

 

Let Her Witness It Drawing of Mary E. Webb

Let Her Witness It

Reimagining the celebrated performances of Mary E. Webb, the African American actor whose tour of Britain in the 1850s also saw her voyage through literature, exploring questions of identity, power and representation which remain vital in our own time.

2600 Image of the Irish Famine Trail plaque on Mulberry Street

2600

Hundreds of people pass up and down Mulberry Street every year. Thousands once lay beneath their feet. This living memorial remembers 2600 people, victims of the Irish Famine in the 1840s who managed to make the journey from their homes in Ireland to Liverpool, but no further.

eJoy of Cooking A striking view of one of the XJTLU campus buildings

eJoy of Cooking

Every meal tells a story. A meal can bring us home when we’re away, or transport us to new places with every bite. Visit the kitchen, the supermarket and the restaurant with Richard and Sherry, as they reflect on the food cultures of China and the UK. It’s a chance, as Sherry says, to see a different world…

Hey Joe The memorial to Black merchant seamen in Falkner Square Gardens

Hey Joe

To feel that history belongs to you, first you have to know that it recognises you. Joe’s always understood that – and he’s spent his life in Liverpool 8 making sure people know the same is true of the here and now. In Falkner Square Gardens, he’ll explain why.

Cast and Crew Videographer Jenny Collins and director Eleanor Lybeck review the script on the set of ‘Let Her Witness It’, July 2021

Cast and Crew

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Acknowledgements The Old Welsh Chapel on Chatham Street provided a dramatic backdrop for ‘Let Her Witness It’

Acknowledgements

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Photograph of a performer looking into a hand mirror.

Sidelong Glance

Sidelong Glance is a research-led production company directed by Rosie Lavan (Trinity College Dublin) and Eleanor Lybeck (University of Liverpool). Founded in 2008, it is committed to delivering innovative performance through theatre and film.