Traces - Geraldine Pilgrim with pupils from the Blue Coat School, Liverpool

Girls on the March. Image courtesy of Liverpool Blue Coat School Foundation

Date: From Saturday, 08 November 2008 to Sunday, 09 November 2008 | 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Location: the Bluecoat.

Ticket Prices: Free

The clatter of a plate, a glimpse of children in the corridors and the toll of the dinner bell... The school room of yesteryear becomes the museum of today as the spirit of Blue Coat girls haunts the building during the installation and performance produced by Geraldne Pilgrim, working with pupils from the Blue Coat School.

Erected in the early 18th century, the building was a charity school, becoming a centre for the arts when the school moved to new suburban premises in 1906. Traces of the school's history are revealed in this new work by Pilgrim, commissioned to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Blue Coat School.

Traces was inspired by the discovery of a document listing the names of 52 girls who left in July 1949 when the Blue Coat became boys only. At the same time the school decided its unique uniform would no longer be worn.

There had been girls at the Blue Coat since its founding in 1708, and their passing eded an epoch in the school's history. "This break with the tradition of nearly two and a half centuries has become inevitable and the blank left by the departure of the girls will never be completely filled" (quote found in the school's archive). In 2001 the school once again became fully co-educational.

Performances will take place around the building between 12.00pm - 4.00pm on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 November, but the installation of the museum and other 'traces' of the old school can be viewed between 10.00am - 6.00pm from Friday 7 - Sunday 9 November. 

Geraldine Pilgrim, co-founder of influential visual theatre company Hesitate and Demonstrate, is now Artistic Director of performance company Corrido, which creates site-specific events, often involving young people, older people and community groups working with professional practitioners. She creates installations, theatre based performance and large scale events in unusual buildings where the architecture provides the narrative.

Recent projects include:

2008 - The Green Houses of William Turner for Castle Morpeth Northumberland.

2007 - site specific performances Enchanted Parks for Gateshead and Newcastle, and Dreams of a Winter Night commissioned by English Heritage at Belsay Hall Northumberland.

2006 - Sea View for the National Review of Live Art, Tramway Glasgow.

2005 - Deep end in the empty Marshall Street Baths, Soho, London, and Star Dust for the restored De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill.

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