Interpretation

Introduction

For many years, the public has become increasingly aware of historical and archaeological topics, a phenomenon to which large-scale and well-attended exhibitions, so-called ‘medievalmarkets’, the continual success of historical TV-documentaries, and a booming market in specialized books and magazines may attest. Living history formats on television or historical docu-soaps also attract millions of viewers (see, for example, Schwarzwaldhaus 1902, SWR 2002; Steinzeit– DasExperiment, SWR 2007).

Presenting the Discussion

The majority of the people Scott Magelssen interviewed were museum curators and historical interpreters, and their answers were broken up into three main categories:

1. No (mainly because there is no script), 2. Yes, it is a form of theatre, 3. Of course it is theatre. (Magelssen 106-119)

7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The idea for this paper came, as these things often do, in a bar. The interesting twist was that instead of being an inebriated patron, I was actually working behind the bar observing the scenes of intoxicated students with a bemused expression. What began as a joke...