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Consultancy: My Interpretation Experience
My experience in interpretation
The term live interpretation covers a wide range of activities, and includes room stewarding and education work as well as the costumed work which is my specialism.
In fact, absolutely anyone who a visitor might potentially meet on site and interact with – even if it’s just to ask the way to the loos – can be regarded as interpreting the site in some way. Equally, anyone who claims to offer information about a site is an interpreter, no matter how far-fetched their interpretations might be…!
I’ve worked as a costumed interpreter for the entire duration of my PhD and for a year before it. My experience has predominantly been with Past Pleasures, the largest and oldest provider of costumed characters in the UK. Beyond that I have also worked at a variety of sites, both in and out of costume.
I have experience of working with the public in heritage environments at a number of different levels, of varying degrees of historical accuracy and seriousness (!) My first steps into costumed work were through the Cambridge Drama Tours, run every year by the Tourist Information Centre. I then progressed onto guiding for the Ghost Trail of York, which saw me through my Masters degree. I’ve been a room steward at Castle Howard and Wimpole Hall, as well as working in the education department at the Castle Museum, York. I also had a brief stint working in interpretive planning and heritage consultancy, before returning to working more directly with the public.
Throughout my PhD I maintained part-time work in costume, culminating in 2008 with the opportunity to lead the Audley End team on behalf of Past Pleasures. I have also worked independently on both research and live interpretation projects, while successfully completing my doctoral thesis.
