RCP Museum Late – December

Royal College of Physicians Museum

7th December 2023 | 5:30PM

Discover exhibition ‘Fortitude: healthcare workers’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic’ and our fascinating collections after hours. Plus a festive craft cafe!

As well as a chance to explore our striking building after work you can also enjoy:

Exhibition talks

There will be specialist curator talks on the current exhibition ‘Fortitude’ at 6pm and 7pm.

In 2021 we began collecting the experiences of healthcare professionals working in the COVID-19 pandemic. With their permission, the RCP is privileged to share their experiences, in their own words.

Please be aware this exhibition contains images, descriptions and audio recordings relating to illness, death, grief and trauma.

Craft café

Inspired by the craft-making activities that provided solace for healthcare workers and many others during the pandemic our December ‘Craft café’ will be both historically and festively themed. Learn to create decorative pomanders, once used to protect against disease they also make fabulous festive decorations – all materials provided.

The Regent’s Perk café will also be open for refreshments.

Explore our collections

Take the opportunity to explore the rest of our museum after hours including:

• fine art portraits and ceremonial silver
• the fascinating Symons collection of artefacts which would have been used by physicians and for self-care in the home
• the Prujean chest of 17th century surgical instruments
• an extraordinary set of rare 17th-century human remains

A Christmas Carol: A One-Man Performance

Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garret

13th December 2023 | 6:00PM

Sink into the classic tale of Victorian Christmas and the redemption of London’s most memorable miser, as we follow Scrooge through his encounters with the spirits of Christmas. This captivating one-man performance brings the story to life with its abundance of much-loved characters and familiar scenes that usher in the geniality and joy of the festive season. Sit back and take in this quintessential Christmas tale, reinvigorated from the author’s original words, performed in the atmosphere and history of Europe’s oldest surviving operating theatre.
Written in just six weeks and published six days before Christmas of 1843, its first print run of 6,000 copies had sold out by Christmas Eve and ‘A Christmas Carol’ has never been out of print since. In 1853 Dickens adapted this hugely successful text for public readings, the first of these readings being held at City Hall in Birmingham to more than 2,000 people. With nothing more on stage than a reading desk, carpet and gas lights, and working from his own annotated copies of the text Dickens brought his tales to life. It’s this text from which our own performance comes.

About the performer:

Mat Jones is a seasoned performer of classic tales, bringing stories to life straight from the author’s original words. His performances are not adaptations or contemporary retellings but a means to rekindle and indulge in the stories just as the author would have known them. A Christmas Carol is his longest running show and, as it approaches its second century, his passion for the tale is as infectious as it is heart-warming. As one guest recently noted “I would recommend anyone to go and watch this man, he’s brilliant at what he does.”