An art exhibition about Berrow’s shipwreck is on display at Burnham’s Princess Theatre this week to mark the 125th anniversary of the stranding of the boat.
Free to access, it is open from Monday 28th February to Saturday 5th March on weekdays from 9am until 4pm, and Saturday 9am until 2pm.
It comes as a new arts project centered around the Berrow wreck has got off to great start after receiving positive feedback and local engagement.
The Nornen Project is in partnership with the Princess Theatre & Arts Centre,
and is supported and commissioned by Seed Sedgemoor.
Between October 2021 and January 2022, we have delivered five community activities, along with two weeks of theatre research and development with a professional Cast and Creative Team. During this time, they explored the history and story of the Nornen, the ship wrecked on Berrow Beach in 1897.
Spokeswoman Corrinne Curtis says: “Thank you to everyone who took part – we have had an overwhelmingly positive response and some wonderful feedback.”
“It was fantastic to see people engaging with both our local history and theatre, as well as each other.”
“We’ve seen new friendships bloom, new interests kindled and a whole host of excitement about the creation of a brand-new play.”
“We will now be taking on board all of your feedback and suggestions and building towards the creation of a new show to celebrate this part of our history and our community.”
“We’ll be spending the coming months reviewing our recent activities, and planning and fundraising for the next phase.”
“We really look forward to the next part of our adventure and finding more ways to bring you along for the journey!”
Beccy Armory from The Princess Theatre adds: “It has been great for the theatre to have the Nornen Project company resident for 2 weeks.”
“Our ambitions for the future are to continue partnership work with local producers.”
“It is an important part of sustainable theatre and raises the profile of regional theatre. Working with material that is personal to the community really helps with this.”
“The process of working alongside the community builds anticipation and gives a level of ownership to the audience. We cannot wait to see the future production.”
BBC Somerset and BBC Points West are featuring the story of the wreck this week in their programming.
