DASH ARTS ANNOUNCES IMMERSIVE THEATRE EXPERIENCE THE GREAT MIDDLEMARCH MYSTERY AS PART OF COVENTRY CITY OF CULTURE YEAR

International arts organisation Dash Arts today announces a brand-new production The Great Middlemarch Mystery, bringing to life the world of George Eliot's Middlemarch as an immersive site-specific theatre experience in Coventry as part of its City of Culture year in April 2022.
Part-theatre production and part-interactive mystery game, The Great Middlemarch Mystery puts a modern
twist on Eliot's iconic novel about the hopes, dreams, disappointments and scandals lived out within a
Midlands town and will take place between four historic venues in central Coventry. Audience members will
be immersed in a world that is a mash-up between Eliot's Middlemarch and modern-day Coventry, drawing
echoes and parallels between the two.
Eliot's narrative will unfold throughout a series of immersive scenes and newly devised encounters with
audience members, who will witness medical crises, financial ruin and industrial change. Audiences will
ultimately be tasked with gathering clues and nuggets of information to help solve the mystery at the heart of
the story and bring it to its dramatic conclusion.
Tickets will go on sale at coventry2021.co.uk in January 2022.
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS
Dash Arts are inviting culturally and socially diverse community groups in Coventry and the West Midlands to
be part of the development of The Great Middlemarch Mystery and play a key role in shaping the story it tells
about Coventry by joining their cast of 'Middlepeople'. Part-actor and part-steward, the Middlepeople will
guide audience members through the experience.
In a series of inclusive research and development workshops starting in September 2021, Dash Arts will
work with these participants to devise roles for themselves and develop methods of interacting with
audiences, using a variety of role-play, script-writing, movement and performance.
Dash Arts would like the Middlepeople to be representative of the cultural and social diversity of Coventry
and would particularly welcome participants from communities that are often underrepresented. Participants
will be empowered to give voice to the stories they wish to tell and step into a role they have chosen for
themselves. Dash Arts hope that some will choose to continue this journey and perform as the Middlepeople
in the production itself, from 1 - 10 April 2022, alongside the professional cast, with all expenses paid for.
Those who work with community groups in Coventry and the West Midlands are invited to register their
interest by 16 August by emailing info@dasharts.org.uk.
Josephine Burton, Artistic Director of Dash Arts, said:
"Coventry was the inspiration for George Eliot’s Middlemarch, and its communities, stories and buildings are
at the very heart of this production. The Great Middlemarch Mystery will invite people to step into a world that
is at the same time both 19th-century Middlemarch and 21st-century Coventry and to rediscover this classic
novel as a work that on so many levels still resonates today".
The Great Middlemarch Mystery is supported by the UK Research and Innovation Arts and Humanities
Research Council, Arts Council England, The Garrick Charitable Trust, Royal Holloway, University of London,
The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Three Monkies Trust, and the Middlemarch Giving Circle.