Yesterday on Sunday 11 November, Birmingham Hippodrome marked the centenary of the end of the First World War with Homecomings, a schools’ performance project set in New Street Station.
Homecomings saw over 300 pupils from the Hippodrome’s Education Network (HEN) entertain crowds with their specially-created emotive pieces underneath the departure board. These performances were developed with the support of Learning Officers from Hippodrome Projects, the theatre’s programme of indoor and outdoor live performance, community work, and transformational learning projects.
Elsewhere in the station, performers dressed in full military uniform caught everyone’s attention with a moving dance routine which ushered people to a Virtual Reality pop-up installation, Empire Soldiers. The unique immersive installation looked at the untold stories of Caribbean and South Asian soldiers.
Homecomings presented different stories from WW1, engaging new audiences and highlighting untold experiences. The project was supported by The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Sir Robert Gooch Charitable Trust.
Zaylie-Dawn Wilson, Head of Education at Birmingham Hippodrome commented: “It was an amazing day for everyone involved. For the overall project we worked with over 640 children, teaching them about World War One and the impact it had on so many lives.
“There was a real buzz in the station on Sunday and the children thoroughly enjoyed performing in front of family, friends and passers-by.”
