My wife and I attended the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle Upon Tyne last Thursday evening to see David Olusoga present his "show" - A Gun Through Time. On the stage were a Brown Bess, SMLE, a Thompson SMG, and a tripod mounted Maxim. The blurb for the show stated it would not be just discussing the technical aspects of, mainly the latter three guns mentioned, but would focus on the "cultural narratives and hidden social histories associated with these weapons."
After the introduction, David said it was going to be very interactive with polls throughout the show. A QR code was shown on the screen for everyone to scan and then three questions were asked (interestingly, 9% of the audience were gun owners) but then there were no more polls. The first hour discussed the Brown Bess, the SMLE and the Thompson. After the interval, he talked about the Maxim for about 20 minutes and that was the end of the show.
I would have said he hit the brief with the Thompson, focusing on it's adoption by the 1920s gangsters and police rather than by the military, and hence that had a "hidden social history" but I'm not sure on the others. It was quite interesting hearing peoples reactions to statements he made, such as the rate of fire of the Maxim. I was pleased it wasn't staged as an anti-gun protest but as someone who has been interested in guns and military history since a very early age, I am not sure what he was trying to achieve. Funnily enough, I met a guy on the way out who I used to be in a pheasant syndicate with he felt similar.
After the introduction, David said it was going to be very interactive with polls throughout the show. A QR code was shown on the screen for everyone to scan and then three questions were asked (interestingly, 9% of the audience were gun owners) but then there were no more polls. The first hour discussed the Brown Bess, the SMLE and the Thompson. After the interval, he talked about the Maxim for about 20 minutes and that was the end of the show.
I would have said he hit the brief with the Thompson, focusing on it's adoption by the 1920s gangsters and police rather than by the military, and hence that had a "hidden social history" but I'm not sure on the others. It was quite interesting hearing peoples reactions to statements he made, such as the rate of fire of the Maxim. I was pleased it wasn't staged as an anti-gun protest but as someone who has been interested in guns and military history since a very early age, I am not sure what he was trying to achieve. Funnily enough, I met a guy on the way out who I used to be in a pheasant syndicate with he felt similar.
