Natalie Logan's Solo Blog

When exploring different ideas and routes for my Solo performance I always knew I wanted my heritage of Liverpool to be a part the performance.

I believe my idea has changed significantly compared to the first couple of weeks, as I hated the idea of doing a political performance, but I can slowly feel myself coming round to the idea. I want my performance to be set between 1900-1940’s but also echo the problems that were common then and can still be seen in todays society. I want the audience to question whether this is a modern piece or a look back in history, or at least to see if they can find any correlation between the present and past.

This is still a struggle though, I have no idea what part of  Liverpool’s history I want to explore.

Of course the biggest issue then  was the Suffragette movement, which could be still compared to todays society as women’s rights are still often questioned.

I also really would like to stick fairly close to home in the sense that I came from a relatively low-income family, and poverty in the 1940’s was at an all time high.

All images were sourced from Google.com

When I was thirteen or so I remember a series of books passed down to me, all written by Helen Forrester.

One that stuck out to me was the first of a series of four books ‘Twopence to Cross the Mersey’.

This is a true account of a young Helen being forced to move to Liverpool after her father had became bankrupt following the Great Depression. It shows just how poverty-ridden Liverpool was during the 1930’s. The only words I can use to describe this book was how miserable it was to read.

• There were often 7 children to a bed – with coats or rags to use as blankets. Some of the children were younger than four, and not fully toilet trained so would often have accidents in the night.
•  Helen’s Mother would come into her work and ask to have her coat and would later pawn it for cigarettes
• Helen was forced to miss school and look after her younger siblings, often going without meals so they could eat.
•  Her father was always in debt with creditors so they never had any furniture.

Those were the key moments that always stuck out for me, and as a child from a low income family, I was just glad that I never had it that bad.

Perhaps This could help my research in learning about just how poverty changed Liverpool, and the effect it had on those going through it first hand.

All images used are sourced from Google.com