For Open House London 2007, two co-existing activities will take place within the Beaconsfield venue at 22 Newport Street, each performance reflecting the respective characters of two linked sites: a 19th century school building that now houses Beaconsfield in its remaining wing and the adjacent double railway arch.

The former Lambeth Ragged School, Lower space – Luis Carvajal and Annie Davey: Puss and Mew London Dry Gin
Puss and Mew London Dry Gin is an inter-disciplinary project by Luis Carvajal and Annie Davey who have collaborated since 2004, exploring the relation of gin to English social history through the recreation and reinvention of cultural artefacts and phenomena.

The artists speculate that the Lambeth Ragged School (opened by the Beaufoys in 1851) was perhaps built as an act of philanthropic guilt, by a family that had made its fortune distilling. It is said that they made gin until one of their members saw a copy of Hogarth's Gin Lane and resolved to have no more to do with this 'destructive force', turning instead to the production of vinegar.

A Puss and Mew London Dry Gin bar will be in operation in the former girls wing over Open House weekend.

The Arch space – 15mm Films: The Way In
A semi-fictional film set in a festering railway arch squat. A disability-led collective rehearse scenes inspired by 1970's terror factions, contemporary reality TV and lo-fi spontaneous performanace art, for a disability terrorism film they seem to be about to make.

15mm Films work collaboratively on a project basis and are linked by a willingness to describe themselves as “disabled”.

Artists: Katherine Araniello, Chloe Edwards, Charlie Fennell, Laurence Harvey, Simon Raven, Juliet Robson, Philip Ryder and Aaron Williamson. http://www.15mmfilms.com/