Mosquito Day goes down a storm in a tea cup
8 September 2010
More than 100 staff and students, friends and family filled the library at LSHTM on 20th August to commemorate Mosquito Day * and revive the traditional Ross Institute Mosquito Day Tea Party. The event served also to launch an on-going collaboration between the School, The Malaria Centre and new multi-media artist collective, Fruit for the Apocalypse (FFTA) who are working together to uncover the hidden treasures of the School's archive, to celebrate the School's unique cultural heritage and position within the history of Tropical Medicine and to strengthen the links between art and science through live performance, broadcast media and the visual arts.
After a medicinal glass of Gin and Tonic to ward off the threat of any vector-borne diseases (any excuse!), the afternoon began with a theatrical reading of Ross's lyric verse play The Marsh, performed for the first time in its 100 year history by a cast of professional actors and performers from the school staff. As well as co-producing the event, Rebecca Tremain from the ACT Consortium took on the role of Evaid - the enigmatic woman encountered by the protagonist Melfort (actor Leigh Kelley) as he stumbles through The Marsh of the title. Disturbed by the strange, spectral woman but unable to leave her as she lies feverish and dying, the hero is counselled and tormented in equal measure by the creatures of the Marsh - a Greek-style chorus of toads, frogs, flies and efts, brought to life by Dr Alison Grant of CRD and Dr Becky Wright from Contracts, alongside actress Eleonora Russo. The Director, Harry Ross of Fruit for the Apocalypse says:" In this reading Malaria can be seen to be represented by Eviad, with the intensity of the drama following Melforts' fever fit. Malaria was prevalent in the marshy areas of the UK throughout the early modern period, and the next work will deal with this in more detail." Helen Scarlett O'Neil, also of FFTA, designed the production, website and flyers using visual images from the Ross Archive. The action was counterpointed throughout by a live performance from sound artists mimosa|moize who had spent the preceding fortnight at the School capturing the unique sounds and atmosphere of the Malaria Centre and the wider school community, from the Insectaries to the laboratories, and recording Rebecca and Helen as they interviewed staff for a special Mosquito Day Radio Hour transmitted live that evening on Resonance FM (104.4).
An Anglo-Indian high tea (courtesy of The Malaria Centre) was served by a willing army of volunteers from the Malaria Centre and beyond before Professor David Bradley (former Director of the Ross Institute) gave an incisive and entertaining overview of the significance of Mosquito Day and the leading role played by Ross in the fight against malaria.
For more information about the collaboration between LSHTM and Fruit for the Apocalypse, or if you would like to get involved in our performance and research, please email mosquito@fruit-for-the-apocalypse.eu or contact Rebecca Tremain at LSHTM 020 7927 2043. We are working towards a site-specific piece to be performed on World Malaria Day, 25th April 2011 and would love to hear from you
FFTA details - www.fruit-for-the-apocalypse.eu
MM details - www.mimosamoize.com
Resonance show link - http://db.tt/mr4qNRv
* 20th August 1897 is the date on which Sir Ronald Ross made the discovery of malaria parasites in the intestine of a mosquito which lead to the understanding that they are the vectors of this disease.