Great Theatre Archive
I’ve come across this brilliant archive resource at the British Library.
In their words:
Project overview: This website accompanies a five-year project (2003-2008) to reinvestigate British theatre history 1945-1968, from the perspectives of both the theatregoer and the practitioner.
You can now access:
a unique oral history of British theatre 1945-1968, with transcripts (sound extracts will be added later)
a description of the contents of the British Library’s theatre archives of key post-war figures, such as John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Michel Saint-Denis and Cedric Hardwicke.
There are great interview transcripts for instance:
Michael Frayn, Harold Hobson, Arnold Wesker and Timothy West; Leo Kersley, Bernard Hepton and Thelma Barlow.
Check it out here
The BL also holds an archive of most modern British plays.
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I came across it as I discovered after my first play, Lemon Love, was performed at the Finborough Theatre that the 1968 Theatres Act as well as ending the Lord Chamberlain’s power to pre-censor theatre…. also stipulated that a copy of every new play performed in a licensed venue in Great Britain should be deposited at the British Library!
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About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
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Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
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Nakamitsu
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Yellow Gentlemen
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