COVENTRY.- Five actors from the award-winning performance company Triangle will be encouraging passers-by to visit the new History Gallery at The Herbert.

The ground floor gallery will feature artefacts relating to Coventry’s Medieval, Victorian and 20th century history at the venue in Jordan Well in Coventry city centre.

Kathryn Bond, who lives in Hillfields, along with fellow actors from all over the UK and abroad Rahil Liapopoulou, Sharon Aviva Jones, Steve Purbrick and Fionn Gill will be focusing on The Herbert’s George Eliot Collection in their inter-active performances.

Richard Talbot from Triangle, which is based at The Herbert, said the actors would be performing in Coventry city centre and hopping on buses heading to Foleshill, Edgwick, Willenhall and Aldermans Green to promote the new History Gallery on October 18 and 25 and November 1.

“We were inspired by the items in the History Gallery such as the costumes, wigs and beards because there are some comical and eccentric items that were part of Victorian life,” he said.

“The five actors will be rehearsing at Drapers Hall and will then head towards the fountain by the Lower Precinct, the library in Smithford Way and Warwick Row where George Eliot was educated before going out and about on buses.

“They will hopefully be like a pied piper and will bring shoppers to the History Gallery where they can have their photos taken by putting their heads through cardboard cut-outs of Victorian characters.

“This has been inspired by the George Eliot Collection which is part of the Victorian section of the History Gallery.

“We hope this inter-active project will encourage people to ask the actors questions about George Eliot, the costumes they are wearing and Coventry’s Victorian heritage.

“It will be a fun way of letting everyone know that the new History Gallery is open and that The Herbert is a great place for families to visit.”

The History Gallery which traces the history of Coventry from medieval times to the present day is adjacent to the new covered court entrance.

It will feature the medieval period from 1450-1509, the Victorian period between 1840-1900 and the 20th century from 1939 to the present.