Medical History, Immersive Museum Theatre, and 'The Last Women'. (360G-Wellcome-084188_Z_07_Z)

The project will pursue three, inter-related areas of research. The first is the role of medicine in the processes, humanisation, reform, and abolition of capital punishment in nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain. This will entail analysis of secondary and primary sources, with particular attention to medical journals, parliamentary reports, and archival papers. The research will result in an article for a journal in the history of medicine. Secondly, we will undertake historical research o n additional medical themes that arise as a result of the 'Immersive Museum Theatre' process. This will involve surveys of secondary literature but also the identification of primary sources that will act as prompts in the creation of theatre. Themes include infanticide, the history of poisoning, the insanity plea and medical evidence in trials, the effects of long-term imprisonment on body and mind, and the uses of the executed body. Our goal is to contribute to the creation of theatre that eng ages with but also challenges the history of medicine. The third area of research is the study and evaluation of the collaboration. Here, our goal is to contribute to the development of a closer relation between research and public engagement within history of medicine.