Click the link to find out more about our
events programme. Or for a flavour of the
kind of events we can stage, please visit our
photo galleries of
past shows.
As a visitor attraction, a colourful historical event is hard to beat for excitement and entertainment value. But successful events don't just happen, they have to be planned. And with a wide variety of historical eras and hundreds of groups available, the latter all with differing displays, skills, standards, requirements and costs, it helps enormously to call upon the experts to help choose and co-ordinate appropriate performers. EventPlan can source and advise on the best groups to meet clients’ specific needs, as well as organise and manage the event(s) if so wished.
Our planning is always very careful, and our standards high, so you can be confident of a superb event. We can also write an event programme, complete with vital health & safety information for visitors.
We can offer different types of event depending on your requirements, circumstances and budget. It may be that one particularly suits your venue, or perhaps a combination if you wish to plan a programme of several events. Over the years, historical re-enactment has evolved into several different types of display, the five main categories being;
multi-period events including large "Spectaculars"
battle re-enactment
military displays
living history
historical entertainment
Larger events can include historical traders’ markets, offering demonstrations of fascinating period crafts as well as a myriad of unusual items on sale. And at all our events, we seek to maintain the highest standards of authenticity to ensure visitors are seeing as accurate a portrayal of the past as possible. Entire events or elements from them can also be staged for corporate hospitality or at themed weddings and parties.
Multi-period events
For a truly spectacular event, consider a
multi-period
show! Offering a huge choice of displays and activities covering the history
of the world from the Stone Age to WWII, you can't beat a well planned
multi-period for audience enjoyment, which is probably why we are asked to stage
so many of them! A mixture of arena displays, living history and other
activities creates a "time
line" for visitors to explore, putting historical dates in context and making
sense of how things changed from era to era. Children are particularly
captivated, although these events are hugely enjoyed by all the family as - at the risk
of using a cliche - there really is something for everyone!
Multi-periods feature a mixture of all the different types of display described on this page, and can even include tanks, aircraft, boats and much more....yet they need not cost as much as you might think. Click the link above to find out more.
Battle Re-enactment
Perhaps
the best known form of re-enactment and one of the most spectacular, with
simulated combat often featuring hundreds of participants. Battles require quite
a lot of space but offer colourful mass action. To best entertain an audience,
battles need to be carefully sited, planned, scripted and directed, a service
EventPlan specialises in providing. Multi-period events (above)
often include “battles through the ages”, very popular with audiences of all
ages and backgrounds.
Battles of most eras are regularly refought, from the Dark Ages right up to World War Two, each offering a different type of battle from hand-to hand fighting, through massed musketeers and pikemen to armoured vehicles and even air power. Sieges (for example, our hugely successful Against all odds - the final siege of Newark 1646) represent another exciting form of battle re-enactment. Temporary fortifications for gun batteries and besieging troops (dug or free-standing) create an extremely unusual and visual battlefield, especially when recreating an actual siege that happened on a particular site. Re-enactments of sieges are quite rare and if well organised will attract and appeal to large audiences. Both battles and sieges can be accompanied by military displays and living history for added visitor enjoyment, and at little additional cost.
Military Displays
Generally
smaller scale than battles, but often incorporating a small-scale skirmish, these displays
(which can offer groups representing virtually any era from Classical Greeks to
the present day) offer colour and excitement but with smaller numbers. Suited to
venues of most sizes, these displays usually demonstrate period drill and battle
tactics in detail, with an audience closer to the action than possible with a
big battle.
Military displays are cheaper and take up less room and resources than a battle, so often appeal to smaller venues with limited budgets. These displays are often combined with living history shows and/or battles, and usually form an important part of multi-period events
Although
battle re-enactment and military displays are very popular, living history can
depict a much wider range of subjects, from everyday domestic life such as a
C17th gardener and his world, to early music, or from cooking on an
inglenook fireplace to life in a civil war soldiers’ garrison or encampment.
Just about every era, from the Stone Age to C20th life, can be depicted.
Living history offers an intimate, fascinating, face-to-face visitor experience
where numbers of performers are not as important as content, knowledge and the approachability. Children in particular learn so much, yet find the displays
hugely enjoyable.
Non-military living history is increasingly gaining in popularity, being especially suitable for roofed historic houses or castles where period activities can be authentically recreated within appropriate room settings, or on religious sites. However, non-military living history isn’t so convincing in an open field, where larger (especially military or equestrian) displays are usually more appropriate.
These displays are particularly effective within a building if the performers have access to or can bring in furniture or period household items. A working historical kitchen, for example, can prove absolutely fascinating for visitors. The scope and variety of living history displays continue to grow every year. EventPlan can arrange all kinds of living history events to entertain and educate visitors of all ages and backgrounds.
Whereas
living history needs to be as authentic as possible to be truly convincing, historical
entertainment is ideal where the emphasis is more on family fun. Standards of
authenticity are not so important (although the chances are that as its one of our events, they will
be very high anyway). The precise cut of clothing or whether it is hand-stitched or not
(if appropriate) doesn’t really matter, because these displays - for example, a medieval
tournament, historical comedy or 1940s music and song - all primarily aim to
entertain. Such displays are equally successful on a stand-alone basis or part
of a larger multi-themed event. They often consist of a set performance around a
"stage" area, although an actual stage is rarely required, thus
keeping things simple for venues.
Historical entertainment usually allows a greater degree of audience participation, for example, with music and dance or Civil War soldiers’ drill. Children's entertainments can include dressing up in costume for children, puppet shows and even safe "battles" against Viking warriors etc. Ideal for festivals and family days out.
Tell us what you'd like
If you have an idea for an event, just let us know and we'll offer you options on performances and costs to suit. There's a huge variety of displays available and we always aim to please! Alternatively, we are happy to suggest types of event that from our long experience we know could work for you. Please contact us for a no obligation chat.
A brief history of re-enactment
Historical re-enactment as we know it today is a relatively recent development, only commencing in the UK during the late 1960s. Despite this it has become hugely popular with audiences and participants alike and a well-known visitor attraction, particularly at historic houses and castles.
Interested in how and why re-enactment has become so popular in recent years? Click on the link to read a history of re-enactment.
Back to Event planning and management services
Links to Events EventPlan Home Page Explore EventPlan
Updated 4 January 2007