Development
I saw Copenhagen performed as a dramatic reading (i.e. the actors reading from their scripts on stage) at the ESOF conference in July 2012. It made me realise that by doing it in this way, the play was within our reach, whereas previously I had considered it to be too complicated for us to stage. I decided to bring the event to Oxfordshire as part of the Science Festival. Abingdon is the closest town to Harwell, the birthplace of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme, but the town’s connection with that part of scientific history is today little known to its inhabitants.
The rights to the play were bought in autumn 2012 (£73). Abingdon School were approached to host the play in their Amey Theatre, and a local amateur dramatic group (with whom we had an existing contact) was approached to perform the play.
Publicity
The event formed part of the Oxfordshire Science Festival in 2013, and was featured in the Festival brochure. 30,000 of these were distributed around the county in the weeks running up to the Festival launch on 9 March.
The event featured in Science Oxford’s Spring brochure, distributed to 1,000 people.
The event featured on Science Oxford’s Twitter feed (4,000 followers) and Facebook page (700 likes).
In order to attract people who are not already engaged with Science Oxford, or the Oxfordshire Science festival, the event, and Abingdon’s role in scientific history, a 400 word feature appeared in the January “Science Matters” column in the Oxford Times (text attached). It was also featured in Science Oxford’s regular slot on Radio Oxford’s Drivetime programme on 19 February.