Still The Hours is a audio-led journey through Hampton Court Palace after hours. Conceived from the stories of women who lived or worked in the palace from 1541 to 1925, the promenade experience blends binaural audio with site-specific spatial sound across the palace’s rooms.
Produced in the centenary year of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, Still The Hours is inspired by the novel’s exploration of time as both linear and circular. It is said that though the palace’s astronomical clock has functioned to mark the passage of time over 500 years, on certain occasions the clock has paused or stuttered, as if within the palace gates, time is unreliable.
Featuring the voices of Kathryn Hunter (Black Doves, Harry Potter, Poor Things), Miranda Richardson (Good Omens, The Hours), and Ayesha Dharker (The Father), alongside an ensemble cast of established and emerging actors, students from the Rose Youth Theatre and staff at Hampton Court Palace, Still The Hours listens in to women’s lives at the palace, their struggles for survival, their triumphs and losses over five centuries.
Still The Hours was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces.
Written and directed by Claire Doherty Co-created with composer James Bulley
Voices Giorgia Ciampi, Ayesha Dharker, Mary Doherty, Olive Gray, Molly Jenkins, Kathryn Hunter, Miranda Richardson, Kate Sissons Rose Theatre Youth Company (Mahmouda Ali, Hannah Casati, Sara Fatihi, Hannah Grigg, Electra Jackson, Emily Kearney, Jana Maklad, Jasmine Proctor-Tarabanov, Amelia Sandy, Issy Skinner, Amelie Tu, Abigail Woodward) and members of staff at Hampton Court Palace.
Singers Havva Bulley, Polly Hunt, Lori Secanska, Yarlinie Thana, Emily Wasp
Executive Producer: Eva Koch-Schulte (Historic Royal Palaces) Assistant Producer: Eden Richards (Historic Royal Palaces) Sound Design: James Bulley and Simon Hendry Lighting Design: Emma Chapman Dramaturg: Kaite O’Reilly Technical production: Arron Smith for Artists & Engineers Producer (Recordings): Matthew Schmolle With thanks to: Kerren Harris and the Conservation team, Matthew Storey, Brett Dolman (Historic Royal Palaces), Sara Beer and Gareth Churchill, James Doherty, Sara Elman, Roger Davidson, Lewis Gibson, Alice and Ruby Prior and friends.
