Be kind. Be brave. Be true.
Petra Tabarelli
I help the cultural and creative sectors tell stories you can feel.
About Me
As an archivist of a municipal archive, I connect thousands of people with their local history and pioneering new projects like weekly social media posts and historical contests for students.
Along the way, I learned how to make complex subjects come alive on stage and in front of a camera. I’ve performed as a speaker and singer and I’m just as comfortable in front of a crowd as I am with a single person.
My fascination with English culture and how memories are staged was sparked by my Midsomer Murders passion project MidsomerMurdersHistory.org.
And yes: I’m also a former football historian who worked with the DFB and The IFAB.
Atmosphere. Memory. Staging.
What remains with us is not only what happened, but what resonates within us.
In my main profession I’m an archivist, but in my spare time I work with heritage sites. I’m now looking to expand this into independent consultancy.
Picturesque Pasts is for those who work with history — not to explain it, but to give it a shape that can be felt, heard, and remembered.
My work is a conversation between past and present. I believe that history is more than a sequence of events; it is a living mood that can be staged and experienced.
I’ve spoken and sung on stage, curated a scenic choir performance, and brought lectures to life by stepping into character — from the calm, factual, slightly chaotic Detective Inspector Carla Conker to the curious, quick-witted traveller Martha Robinson of 1845.
Before that, I also spent time in the world of football — one of few women there — giving interviews in front of microphones and cameras.
My focus lies where history, aesthetics and emotion meet, with a particular eye for Englishness. I work with atmosphere and emotional scenography to make the past tangible — creating settings in which memory already lingers, waiting to be brought to the surface.
I help shape narrative depth, visual and tonal coherence, and an awareness of what happens in the space between stage and audience, between place and visitor: tone, meaning, resonance.
Whether in theatre, museums or heritage sites — my aim is that what is shown does not simply pass, but leaves a trace.
With attention to subtext.
With care for atmosphere.
With a sense for the past.
Let’s make your story resonate.