The Lesser Spotted Collectors Club Summary: Site responsive piece to celebrate 2010: The International Year of Biodiversity [Please note this section will be updated soon] Research & Development Background In February 2008 Full Beam Visual Theatre assembled a group of science communicators, artists, performers, and two experts: in the history of evolution and Darwin (Joe Cain - UCL) and the philosophy of biology and evolution (Samir Okasha – University of Bristol) for a week of workshops focussing on Darwin’s life and the impact of his theory of evolution from its first publication to the current day. We used different theatrical forms and media to explore these themes and how they might be turned into a show. Theatrical forms included puppetry, physical theatre, music and sound, animation and film. One of the critical points for the R&D was to play with how the different forms could be layered together to explore the complex, rich and exciting idea that is the theory of evolution. The other equally important aspect of the R&D was that it acted as a forum for the sharing of skills and ideas between science communicators/scientists and performers/artists. Full Beam is committed to the use puppetry and theatre as vital artforms that are relevant and interesting for creating/provoking discussion and debate in society: this is why we make theatre. This means that creating opportunities for dialogue whether through an R&D or post show discussion is a important part of all our work and this ethos will be carried through the rest of our Darwin project. The Performance – What is it about? One of the strongest and most interesting ideas coming out of the R&D was around collecting and the role it played in the formulation of Darwin’s theory. We were particularly drawn to the ways in which so simple a process could be the starting point for the paradigm shift that was marked by the publication of The Origin of Species. In addition, collecting has good theatrical potential as we are able to play with ideas of character (e.g. people’s different motive - “it looks nice”, souvenir from travels, it’s rare, it’s commercial etc) and excellent visual theatre potential as we can use objects/animals collected to imbue the performance with further layers of meaning around bio-diversity and the idea of science as methodical observation not just experimentation. We are also interested in the potential of transitional forms such as the archaeopteryx and how we might use them to explore how the act of collecting leads to scientific theory through the interpretation of fact. The Performance – What is it? We are planning that the production will be promenade style and that it will use the locale of each performance to create an experience that is unique to each place. Our intention is to make each place seem strange, stimulating and unusual and, therefore, to encourage our audiences to see each place anew and engage with exhibits etc in fresh and exciting ways. At this stage, we anticipate that there will be quite a high level of audience participation in the performance and that they will have a certain amount of control as to the outcome of the performance. The performance is aimed at the general public aged 14+.

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