A talk by theatre historian David Powell followed by a live toy theatre performance of the famous nautical melodrama 'Black Eyed Susan'

London's West End is the world centre for theatre today, but its past is equally vivid. Performances in the early Victorian age of spectacular scenery, quick change comedy, wilting maidens and ranting rogues were captured in the miniature cutout prints that many children had at home, and used to recreate the experience of adult theatre, grandly known as Juvenile Drama, or more popularly as Toy theatre. Benjamin Pollock of Hoxton survived into the 1930s with his shop selling prints first issued around a hundred years before, that reflect an even longer tradition of Renaissance stage illusion and Romantic fantasy.

This tradition has never died, and is represented still in London today. With a selection of items from Westminster City archives, private collections and holdings of Pollocks Toy Museum, we offer a glimpse of the riches of this little known heritage.

See the Burlington House Courtyard like never before and discover the six learned societies that reside here, furthering the study of art, history and science and sharing it with audiences around the world.

As 2019 is the International Year of the Periodic Table we will be exploring elements through art, history and science each society has a unique programme to offer audiences of all ages, and great food and drink on offer, too!

Please check individual Society pages for further details and information on how to book.

ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS

Our doors will be open until 10 pm. Visit our website to find out which exhibitions and events will be on.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY

TBC

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Join us for a free behind-the-scenes tour of the Geological Society Library. This is a chance to see rooms of the Society not usually open to the public and some treasures from our collections. The tour includes a visit to our Map Room with its collection of 40,000 geological maps from around the world. To mark the Geological Society’s Year of Carbon and the courtyard theme of ELEMENTS, we will look at a few items from our archive that throw light on the importance of the coal industry to the development of the science of geology in the 19th Century.

Booking essential as space is limited – Book online

LINNEAN SOCIETY

Join us for an evening of detective work to discover how life survives in the most extreme environments.  Activities will focus on different animals and plants and how they survive in environments where certain elements/ nutrients are lacking. Activities will include an escape room themed event in our discovery room, talks on carnivorous plants in the meeting room and games of life in the library.

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Hydrogen (H),  helium (He) and oxygen (O) are the three most abundant elements in our universe, so it is appropriate that our event is all about the Sun (75% H and 25% He) and the Moon (42% O). We will focus on photography and cartography as we welcome Mark Holborn, who will be talking about his book Sun and Moon (Phaidon, 2019). Many of the sublime photographs which feature in the book will be on display in our Library.  Sign up for a free ticket

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON

You are invited to join us at our Research Showcase for an engaging afternoon and evening event, providing our grant recipients the opportunity to present their work at Burlington House through table-top displays, talks and interactive workshops.

The aim is to raise public interest in and awareness of the Society, history and archaeology by showcasing significant research that the Society has supported. Admission is free and open to all.

We look forward to seeing you there …

Sunday Assembly London is part of a global community that celebrates life, and everyone is welcome to join us.

They meet twice monthly on Sundays for inspirational events which combine inspiring talks, sing-along pop songs and a touch of mindfulness, all followed up by tea and cake. In between these gatherings there’s loads of community activities to get involved with.

The theme will be:
"EMBRACING YOUR WEIRDNESS"

The outsider’s time has come! In a society that is stuck in loops of common sense where we have an unhealthy attachment to expertise and logical, linear thinking, something counter-intuitive is needed. It is time for a creative revolution. One in which the outsider sits at the table alongside the experts. Where the passionately inexpert play a vital role in unsticking stuckness. All that you need to bring is your own unique and beautiful weirdness!

Our speaker for this assembly is the wonderful Steve Chapman! Steve is an artist, writer, philosopher and speaker who is interested in creativity and the human condition. He has spoken around the world on creativity, written a couple of books and exhibited his art alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and David Shrigley. He spoke at Sunday Assembly London way back in 2014 and is very much looking forward to returning. He is at his best when he does not know what he is doing.
 

Please remember, Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can't. You can become a supporter here:  

What does it feel like to be at the top of Mount Everest? How can you achieve the impossible?
Melanie Windridge is a physicist, speaker, writer… with a taste for adventure.

She has travelled the world, worked in fashion, gained a doctorate in fusion energy, made inventions for technology companies, appeared on TV, climbed mountains and written books. She works for Tokamak Energy, a fusion start-up working towards commercial fusion power. She has skied out across Arctic Svalbard to see the northern lights. She has climbed Everest to highlight the science that makes it safer.

Following Melanie’s journey from childhood to the present day, we find out how Melanie has built a career around her two passions of science and adventure, and how she has come to recognise that the common theme in the elements of her career is the notion of achieving the “impossible”.

Attending this event
Please register in advance for your place - tickets will be checked on entry to the event.

On the night, please arrive before 18.55 to secure your seat. At this time, if you have not arrived, we may give your seat to someone else as we expect there to be high demand.

After experiencing September 11 in New York, I started studying paranoia as a collective phenomenon. Among mental illness, only paranoia can literally make history, as it did through Hitler and Stalin. Paranoia can take hold of events directly because, unlike the rest of psychopathology, it is contagious. Its dynamics can be self-replicating, devouring entire societies. A leader can foster paranoia, but then lose control of the phenomenon. Once infected, the collective madness acquires an autonomous life. Its basic archetypal pattern consists on finding scapegoats and projecting all personal or collective shadow contents on to it. As such it tends to repeat itself in very different epochs and countries.

Masquerading behind false logic, paranoia is fatally attractive, far more seductive than any political, religious, or ideological discourse, and looks for victims. Paranoia relied on “spokesmen” but with modern mass communication and simplification, it can easily be multiplied at low cost, endowing collective aggressiveness with an amplifying self-feeding power. My talk looks at the use and misuse of paranoia throughout Western history from Ajax to Trump. I reflect upon paranoia through psychopathology, history and literature to better understand its power over the individual and society. Through a combination of circumstances, leaders, history and the power of social media this task is very timely and necessary

.In collaboration with the Society of Analytical Psychology.
Chair: Martin Schmidt

This event will be held in English.

Luigi Zoja, PhD, is a training analyst at the C.G. Jung Institut – Zurich, past president of the International Association of Analytical Psychology and former lecturer at the Universities of Palermo and Insubria (Italy) and at the University of Macao. Visiting professor at Beijing Normal University, he has a private practice in Milan, having previously worked in New York. He has published several books including Ethics and Analysis (A&M Texas University Press, 2007; Gradiva Award 2008); Violence in History, Culture and the Psyche (Spring, 2009); Paranoia. The Madness that Makes History (Routledge, 2017). Many have been translated into other languages

Indulge yourself in a unique experience a journey that brings together quality and passion, Italian aromas and flavours.  Lots of samples and cooking demonstrations.  Bring a large strong bag for all the free goodies and the food and wine you will fall in love with and purchase.

Free entry but registration is required.

Welcome Italia is the event organised by The Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK dedicated to all food lovers that wish to discover and explore the best of Italian Food & Beverage.  Indulge yourself in a unique experience made of Italian aromas and flavours, in a journey that brings together quality and passion.  

There will be plenty of opportunities to meet producers and attend extraordinary cooking shows. The most famous Italian chefs will skillfully prepare delicious recipes.