Feats of Engineering
Audio transcript:
WSI always described themselves as “engineers of the imagination” as previously mentioned. Their most ambitious performances weren’t just visually spectacular: they required real technical ingenuity to pull off. Raising the Titanic, staged across twelve performances in August 1983 at Limehouse Basin in London, meant designing and building an enormous replica ship, made from salvaged material, that could be lifted out of the water by cranes, with lighting and pyrotechnics carefully coordinated around it. John Fox described it as “an allegory about the state of Western culture.” The plans, schematics, and technical drawings they produced to make it happen are extraordinary to look at, including drawings by artist and engineer Tim Hunkin documenting the various failed attempts along the way. WSI embraced trial and error as part of the process. They show, in very concrete terms, how a wild creative idea gets turned, through patience and problem-solving, into something that can hold thousands of people completely spellbound.
Parliament in Flames brought its own set of challenges. It was staged five times on the 5th of November, between 1976 and 1981, in Burnley, Ackworth, Tamworth, Milton Keynes, and finally Catford in London, under the direction of Boris Howarth. It had grown out of two earlier productions called Civic Fire, and by the time it reached its final form it featured a seventy-foot wooden replica of the Houses of Parliament built to burn, a sixty-foot giant skeleton puppet of Guy Fawkes, and a dragonfly-like effigy of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Staging all of this, safely, in public, with fire, meant mastering crowd management and large-scale construction all at once. WSI developed their own practical guides and manuals for this kind of work. And then they shared them freely. The knowledge they’d built up wasn’t something to guard. It was something to pass on, so that others could use it to make extraordinary things of their own.
Raising the Titanic (1983)
Raising the Titanic was a large-scale production staged across 12 performances in August 1983 at Limehouse Basin, London. The performance involved a replica of the Titanic made from salvaged material which was raised from the Thames, whilst pyrotechnic displays, musical numbers and carnival dances continued into the night. One of their more explicitly political works, the production was described as “an allegory about the state of Western culture”, by John Fox [John Fox in Baz Kershaw, Engineers of the Imagination]. As nuclear submarines sunk ships during the 1982 naval conflict in the Falklands, and Thatcher’s government pushed the richest and poorest further apart, the notorious shipwreck became a symbol by which contemporary anxieties over nuclear warfare, attitudes towards nature and class inequality could be discussed.
The Titanic skeleton
This image depicts the Titanic wreckage that was raised from the Thames in the production. It required diligent preparation and engineering to construct. This photograph is part of a collage, where several images were cut up, decorated and stuck to card by members of the group, reflecting the WSI’s characteristically charming, DIY style.
Drawings of failed attempts to raise the Titanic structure
As it was such a complex feat of engineering, raising the ship structure out of the water required numerous attempts. These drawings show “some notable failures” which were encountered within the process.
Original artwork for Raising the Titanic, Tim Hunkin, 1983, WSI/5/3/47/1/5
Parliament in Flames (1976-1981)
Parliament in Flames was a set of five productions that took place on 5th November between 1976 and 1981, first in Burnley, then Ackworth, Tamworth, Milton Keynes, and Catford (London). Under the direction of Boris Howarth, these developed from two earlier productions of Civic Fire. Parliament in Flames builds on Bonfire night, celebrating the day in 1605 when a group led by Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament. WSI created an evening long spectacle that featured a replica of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and large puppets of different characters, including Guy Fawkes, Margaret Thatcher, Skeletons and Storks, amongst others. Touching on both historic and contemporary mistrust with the government, WSI highlighted the political potential of community and creation.
Construction of puppets and sets for Parliament in Flames
Taken in November 1981, these images capture the construction of puppets for WSI’s Blythe Hill production of Parliament in Flames. They include giant hand-made figures of skeletons, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, storks, Guy Fawkes, and Big Ben. This performance transformed political disillusionment into a shared act of defiance with community collaboration at its heart.
‘Hints on Making a Guy’
Playfully illustrated to provide step-by-step instructions for families to be able to make their own flammable Guy Fawkes, this quirky instruction manual exemplifies the immense creativity of WSI. This leaflet could be used by all, whether in attendance in the festivities WSI held themselves or celebrating individually.