The Barrington Hippo

A geological story for children and adults

Performed at Cambridge Science Festival 2018

Shadow-painting: Sally Todd
​Storytelling: Steve Tiplady
Soprano: Héloïse Werner
Cello: Corentin Chassard

Director: Sinéad O'Neill
Composer: Kate Whitley  
​
Photographs by Claire Shovelton

This project is a collaboration with St Andrew's Primary School, Soham
Thank you to all the Year 5s, also Mrs Cole, Mrs Dakin and Mrs Cooper!

This fossilised hippo is part of the ‘Barrington Beds’ find, a collection of bones found in a village near Cambridge and dating from the most recent Ice Age.  Our short performance imagines how hippos came to Cambridgeshire, how they died out, and how the fossilised hippo was discovered and brought to the Sedgwick Museum, where it can be visited today.  Through the story of the hippo, we explore the life of an individual, the passage of generations, cycles of ice, geological time, and our changing climate. ​

Find out more about The Barrington Hippo and other fossils found nearby.

---

We are proud to be supported by The Ambache Charitable Trust, The Bernarr Rainbow Trust, The Golsoncott Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation, The Radcliffe Trust, The RVW Trust,  and the UK Friends of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

​Cambridge City Opera Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation                                                    Registered in England and Wales, Company No: 07954358