Journal of a Plague Year

Journal of a Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.

Adapted and Directed by Clara Bloomfield and Ashling Findlay-Carroll Music by Jon Beales

Set against the backdrop of Edinburgh’s old Town, HN1 Acting and Performance students from PASS at Edinburgh College have collaborated to create a new immersive geo-location audio performance* of Daniel Defoe’s ‘A Journal of the Plague Year,’ for our socially distanced times. Transporting you back to the 1600’s this tale is not to dissimilar to the one we face some 350 years later.

The Plague, a great leveller for Society or indeed more divisive?

Download and discover a new audible world that lives hidden in the streets of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

*This digitally responsive performance is thought to be the first of its kind from students in a Further Educational Context.

Run time approx 1 hour _

Head to St Giles Cathedral

Show instructions:

Install the free ECHOES app from either your ios or Android store.

Download the walk ‘Journal of A Plague Year.’ To avoid using data and battery. This also avoids the performance being affected by potential signal droppage.

The instructions can be found by on clicking on map, finding each chapter in chronological order and making your way there.

Head to St Giles Cathedral press ‘start’

Using ECHOES:

You are represented as a blue teardrop on your Echoes map, it moves as you move.

You will see on the map a series of blue dots, these are the various chapters of our tale. By clicking on them you will reveal the chapter number and location, accompanied by a photograph of your next destination

Follow the chapters around the route to unravel the story

When you reach your next echo, take a moment to stop and look around you as you listen, immerse yourself fully in the audio experience and physical environment.

Health and safety: do be aware of your surroundings, please take care when crossing roads.

Please note: Due to built up environment of Edinburgh old town, regretfully this performance is not accessible to wheelchair users or individuals with mobility aids.

Troubleshooting If you are experiencing issues hearing the sound but are standing in the centre of the Echo try clicking "stop walk" and "start walk" this should resolve the issue

Design by Henderson Tees