Edgar : A Hidden Life at Elsecar Heritage Centre

Edgar – A Hidden Life is the story of Edgar Bower, who, after half a century in silence, hidden away in an asylum, just wants to return to his beloved home in Wentworth village. Hope is lost until social worker Lily Fletcher resolves to solve the mysteries of Edgar’s past.

Edgar is a play about secrets and shame, poverty and prejudice – but most of all it is a play about the sustaining power of love

Edgar – A hidden Life is a site-specific performance based upon a story local to the area it is performed near Barnsley.  It is part of the Hidden Histories series which covers a local story in each of the areas they are performed in, Bradford, Elsecar, and Halifax

This is the kind of local story that is so easily overlooked, as it concerns a single person from a nondiscript family long ago.  Yet the themes of abandonment, heartbreak and otherness make me so glad that these stories have been found and brought to life  The performance fits the area perfectly as we traveled around the site and it was well acted throughout.  This is a show that is engaging and surprisingly emotional.  Despite being only 40 minutes long there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the end and I was really impressed with how well the story unfolded.

The show was put together in collaboration with Mind the Gap, England’s leading learning disability performance and live arts company, and this made this central story in this performance, the mistreatment of someone with disabilities, be all the more poignant.  It’s a show which really took me by surprise with the emotion of it and I’d highly recommend catching it if repeat performances are booked in the future.

Learn more about the hidden history’s performances here.