Tressell’s Children Immersive Experience

Book your tickets for Tressell’s Children here. Some tickets also available on the door. 

An immersive sound and art experience telling the stories of Hastings people. Tressell’s Children draws links between the stories of life in the interwar period and the earlier work of Robert Tressell. It returns for another limited run at St Andrews Mews, Hastings, on selected dates between 23rd November and 10th December. Find full details here, and go here to learn more about the new accompanying virtual reality experience. 

Weekday sessions run hourly from 3pm–8pm. Weekend sessions run hourly from 11am-4pm. 

Visitors put on a headset and are transported by the memories of men and women who grew up between the wars. The exhibition includes new research that uncovered fascinating new facts about our town, and enjoy art inspired by the real lives of everyday people.

The exhibition includes ‘The Song of Shadows’, a film by local filmmaker, Rebecca Marshall inspired by one of the oral history accounts.

It also draws on the brilliant new adaptation of the book as a graphic novel by Scarlett and Sophie Rickard and included original works by Mary Hooper, Aram Zarikian and Susie Warren.

Listen to all the recordings from the exhibition and additional sound pieces here.

Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund the project is inspired by Robert Tressell’s groundbreaking 1914 book, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, which drew upon Tressell’s life as a painter and decorator in Hastings. Tressell’s ‘children’ are the participants in a 1980s oral history project. Their stories were re-discovered and interrogated by local researchers and creative artists. Tressell’s Children drew links between the stories of life in the interwar period and the earlier work of Robert Tressell.

This project builts on the momentum of MSL’s previous work before and during the pandemic, used archives as a springboard for new creative work, and harnessed the skills of local researchers and creative practitioners.

MSL is committed to revealing the intangible heritage of place. Our starting points are the hidden, lost or threatened narratives that help to make up the identity of each area.

Venue: Beyond the door Gallery, St Andrews Mews, Waldegrave Street, Hastings, TN35 1SJ. 

 Images courtesy of Rebecca Marshall and Kate Hodges