Somerset Council and arts company Emerald Ant, are opening up the Iguanodon Restaurant, a quirky piece of free street theatre coming to Ham Hill Country Park on Saturday 26 July.
A furious romp through 50 years of ground-breaking scientific discoveries that changed how the world is seen, ‘Iggy’ the Iguanodon provides family fun for dino lovers of all ages.
Imagine it’s New Year’s Eve, 1853, and in Crystal Palace Park a group of eminent professors and geologists are holding a sumptuous banquet in an unusual venue – inside the concrete cast of an Iguanodon.
Fossil-fuelled fun ensues as the dinner guests in the Iguanodon Restaurant, famous dinosaur hunters William Buckland, Gideon Mantell, Mary Anning and Richard Owen wrangle over their amazing fossil finds.
Is it a bird? A giant fish? An ancient crocodile? They debate questions around extinction and evolution – why do dinosaurs no longer exist? What does the stone beneath our feet tell us about the world? And what’s really in that blancmange? Find out in this highly visual, funny and peculiar performance, which will have British Sign Language interpretation.
“This is a fabulously fun way to learn more about our ancient past in the glorious setting of Ham Hill Country Park and tempt people into our local museums to see prehistoric finds for themselves,” said Councillor Graham Oakes, Lead Member for Public Health, Climate Change and Environment, at Somerset Council.
Perfect for families, the Iggy performances will be accompanied on the Dino Day by a drop-in workshop – children (aged 4 to 104) can learn more about fossils, dinosaurs and of course about their local museum.
The event is part of Emerald Ant’s project ‘Iggy for All’ for schools and museums in Somerset and Dorset, funded by Arts Council England. The event is also supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of Ham Hill’s £2.2 million project; ‘Uncovering Ham Hill’s past for its future’. Join us in celebrating 50 years of Ham Hill Country Park.
Full details can be found on the Emerald Ant website: https://emeraldant.com/iguanodon-restaurant/
