the cut project, platform, 2016

Many people know that the Young Vic was a Butcher’s (you can see the old meat hooks in box office), but not everyone knows it stands on a bomb shelter which took a direct hit during WW11 on 17th April 1941, killing all of the families sheltering below aged from 2 months to 81 years old. There is a small plaque behind the Main House door but once it is opened - as it is when audiences go in - it is hidden. I was fascinated by the history of the building, of The Cut, by the families and businesses and individuals who had come before. I had a mobile story collecting trolley designed and with writer Anna Beecher we tugged it (it was heavy) all over Southwark and Lambeth, meeting people and collecting stories which we exchanged for beautiful postcards. We held an exhibition at Platform in Southwark and developed some of the stories into spoken word performed by their owners. I wish I still had some of the postcards but alas they all vanished from the theatre long ago.

Conceived by Lily Einhorn

Facilitators: Lily Einhorn and Anna Beecher

Cut Cart Designer: Joanna Scotcher

Postcard Designer: Alex Simpkin