About Four Lives

Storytelling is one of life’s essentials. And who better to tell stories than writers? Given the poor rates of pay for playwrights, it’s not surprising that for more than a couple of decades writers have found work in other sectors: education, health and welfare. And also in museums. A great example is an audio installation at the British Museum, where writers Hassan Abdulrazzak, Anthony Anaxagorou, Fin Kennedy and Nada Sabet have made an in-gallery storytelling experience for Four Lives, a new display in the ancient Egypt gallery. The result is Eternal Telephone, an imaginary hotline to the past in which long-dead characters call your smartphone. These ten mini-monologues feature an Egyptian priest, the daughter of a mercenary soldier, a Phoenician merchant and Alexander the Great — along with other characters such as a modern day refugee. The project was conceived by Applied Stories, set up by Fin Kennedy, former Artistic Director of Tamasha. It’s a good way of time-traveling to the Med of two thousand years ago.

© Aleks Sierz

• Eternal Telephone is at the British Museum until February.

Alexander the Great ancient Egypt ancient history Anthony Anaxagorou Applied Stories audio play British Museum Eternal Telephone Fin Kennedy Four Lives Hassan Abdulrazzak immersive theatre monologue Nada Sabet narrative playwrights refugees storytelling Tamasha time travel