16

The Director, University of Bristol Theatre Collection, Department of Drama, Cantocks Close, Bristol BS8 1UP

Tel: 0117 33 15086 Email: theatre-collection@bristol.ac.ukWebsite: www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection

Recent highlights include:

Robertson/Vercoe Design archive

[donated by their daughter, Teresa Robertson]

David Hughes Live Art Archive including Live Art Magazine[donated by David Hughes]

BDD Production Photographs 1999-2009

[in digital format]

Additions to the Berta Freistadt Archive

[via her executors]

Raymond Ingram Collection[bequeathed]

Volunteer Sessions:

Preservation preparation in the Theatre Collection

A new project for 2010—preservation of the John Vickers

glass plate negatives requires help in creating specialist stor-age for this unique collection.

Tuesday February 9th 10-12.30

Followed by volunteers’ “thank-you” lunch—open to all current,

future and past volunteers

Wednesday March 17th 2-4.30

Wednesday April 21st 10-12.30

Phone Jo, Bex or Heather on 0117 33 15086 or email

theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk

Tea and biscuits provided!

This session is open to both exist-ing and new volunteers, there is no commitment following this session although we would be delighted to have new volun-

teers at any time.

THEATRE COLLECTION MAILINGS

Please note: if you have received this newsletter by mail it means that your name and address are stored on the Theatre Collection contacts database. These details may be used by the Theatre Collection, and also more widely by the Uni-versity of Bristol. Should you wish your details to be removed from the database, please contact us.

Forthcoming EventsNew Accessions

Winter 2009/2010 Issue 22

Theatre Collection staff and volunteers pose with colleagues from the University’s Special Collections for a unique film by Terry Flaxton, a creative research fellow in the Drama Dept.Made on 20th May 2009 (Charter Day), to mark the 100th anniversary of the University receiving its royal charter which granted it university status, the film shows groups of staff and volunteers reflecting the diversity of the University today and had its première at Arnolfini, Bristol on 10th November. In the TC grouping staff and volunteers were filmed, standing still looking at the camera, holding props from the archives. The film can be viewed online at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/centenary/look/art/portraits-film.html.

Photo courtesy of Terry Flaxton

2

2009 saw the centenary of the University of Bristol. The University College Bristol first opened in 1876 but it wasn’t until May 1909, 32 years later, that the King signed the royal charter giving Bris-tol full University status.

The University has cele-brated in a number of ways during 2009, including the centenary film shown on the front page, creating a cen-tenary garden located out-side the Wills Memorial Build-ing for use by staff, students and the public and an online exhibition, the cabi-net of curiosities, from the university collections.

A new public sculpture by artist Jeppe Hein was com-missioned and the work, en-titled Follow Me was opened in October in the grounds of Royal Fort House.

This has been a great year for celebrating the past pre-sent and future of the Uni-versity of Bristol.

Centenary Celebration

The Theatre Collection is still on target to apply for Designated Status from the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).

The application process has changed recently and the Theatre Collection has had to submit an Intention to Apply form as the first stage, to ensure that we are eligible.

MLA have now confirmed we are eligible to apply and so we will be submitting the full application in March.

The Theatre Collection is intending to apply for Designation for all of its collections, including the Live Art Archives, the design collection, personal and company archives and those held on loan.

Designated status would put the Theatre Collection in the top 5% of non-national collections in the UK for quality and significance.

Designation Progress

15

LegaciesBy leaving a gift in your will to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection you can help it to grow and ensure the best care for our collec-tions, so enabling students to access this unique re-source.Regardless of its size, your legacy will live on forever, and it will make a significant impact on Bristol University generation after genera-tion.For further .information please contact Jo Elsworth.

A Reminder ….

It is vital that we keep a re-cord of people using the Theatre Collection There-fore, in October 2009, the Theatre Collection intro-duced a new system where all external researchers (including those only using the library) will be asked to complete a researcher’s form. A visitor’s pass will then be issued and must be pro-duced when signing in each day.

New Procedures

appear together in their play Double Vision which they sub-sequently toured under their own umbrella (later known as Show of Strength).

In the same year a popular nautical venue, the Thekla, was found for a new topical revue, Hair of the Dog. This came to the notice of HTV who gave the show some air time; the Company was then invited to London for an early morning slot on BBC One.

The following year funding was secured for a lunchtime season at Arnolfini. Three scripts were chosen also a selection of members’ work for what was now an ever popular House revue: each production played for a week; there were some stunning performances from Ingrid Hafner and Jill Brassing-ton among others in plays by Mick Martin and Roy Bartley.

David Foot wrote in the Guas-rdian:‘The Cuddy Trap is a notable advertisement for the emer-gent writing this persevering company is encouraging...The PWC will end their season out of pocket but not short of de-served praise.’

Marion ReedVice Chair, Playwrights’ Com-pany, 1982-87

(Continued from page 14)

14

The Playwrights’ Company

The Playwrights’ Company (PWC) was founded in 1978 by ACH Smith who, having seen his two colleagues, Tom Stop-pard and Peter Nicholls escape to London in the sixties, was hoping to nurture a new gen-eration of local writers who might find an outlet for their work and choose to remain.

A Council of Management was duly elected; a director, John Downey and part-time adminis-trator, Liz Keys appointed. As usual a lot of work went into securing a start-up grant from SWA and support from inter-ested parties like HTV.

Initially, readings of new work were fairly ad-hoc; any writer could submit a script for con-sideration; a reading would be organised, cast from a pool of local professional actors ready to meet the challenge of new work. After some try-outs of revue material in various ven-ues, in 1981 a full production was mounted at 35 King Street: Out to Lunch—a topical, satiri-cal ‘living newspaper’. Di-rected by Paul Unwin, the tal-ented cast included recent BOVTS graduates Alex Jennings and Tim Bentink, now house-hold names, working closely with a team of four writers.

One From the Archive ...A link with Arnolfini led to that gallery kindly allowing monthly use of one of their rooms. Council met bi-monthly to se-lect scripts; casts met up for a rehearsal in order to do justice to the script-in-hand perform-ance—a commitment much appreciated considering their modest (£5) expenses. In the

same year, 1982, a Women Live! Festival was inaugurated to celebrate women’s work nationwide. A group from the parent company formed them-selves into Women In Theatre (WIT) West and a season was celebrated in the summer at various venues around the city, including the Hippodrome Bar. Sheila Yeger’s People for Din-ner, Angie Farrow’s Lost Prop-erty, Susan Carlton’s Linda’searned high praise in the local and national press.

In 1985 the PWC was invited by Gill Adams of Made in Wales to participate in their Write On!Festival in the Sherman studio in Cardiff. Sheila Hannon and Nick Thomas were selected to

Pos

ter

for

Ou

t to

Su

pp

er a

revi

ew b

y th

e P

layw

righ

ts

Com

pan

y, c

. 19

80

3

The Berta Freistadt Archive

The Theatre Collection has always been proud to have amongst its collections the work of the lesbian feminist playwright Berta Freistadt.

At the end of 2009, following Berta’s sad death from cancer earlier in the year, at the age of 67, the remainder of her theatre archive was delivered to the Theatre Collection by the executors of her estate.

Berta was well known as an actor, playwright, poet, teacher, and short-story writer and she was well know on the London scene as a performance poet.

The archive held at the Theatre Collection contains her work as a playwright, including many scripts, research notes and books,

New Archives New Archives

as well information about her teaching.

Berta also most generously left a bequest to support the cataloguing and care of her archives and others at the Theatre Collection.

Her poetry archive is held at the Women’s Library.

Berta

Fre

istad

t

Anne Brooke Barnett

It is with sadness that we inform you of the death of Anne Brooke Barnett, the first Keeper of the Theatre Collection.Anne was Keeper from 1966 to 1989. She was a legendary char-acter who developed and shaped the Theatre Collection for more than two decades.The funeral will be held at 1.45pm 4th Feb at Canford Cemetery, Westbury-on-Trym..

4

tre Collection (including the Bristol Old Vic archive), their work helps to build up com-prehensive picture of work at the Bristol Old Vic.

Other BOV designer ar-chives in the Theatre Collec-tion include John Elvery and soon to be donated Gra-ham Barlow.

New Archives

Robertson/Vercoe Design Archive

The Theatre Collection has recently acquired the Rose-m a r y V e r c o e / P a t r i c k Robertson design archive, donated by their daughter Teresa Robertson.

Robertson and Vercoe were a design partnership, with Robertson undertaking the set design and Vercoe the costume design. They often worked together on pro-ductions, especially at the Bristol Old Vic in the 1950s.

This archive contains a num-ber of set models, designs, photographs, slides and

other ma-terial.

Alongside other ar-c h i v e s held at the Thea-

The Theatre Collection holds the Joyce Grenfell archive -details can be found on www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection.search.

Amongst the material are the words and music to many of Grenfell’s songs. However, we can only pro-vide copies for private re-search purposes.

If you intend to perform the song, written permission is needed from the copyright holders for both Joyce Grenfell’s estate (words) and Richard Addinsell or William Blezard (music), vari-ous publishers and re-cording companies. You also need to contact the Performing Rights Society for a licence to perform.

Did You Know …….?

Patri

ck R

ober

tson

d

esig

n F

igar

o, 1

974

Figa

ro N

T, 1

974

13

The Theatre Collection dealt with 151 research enquiries from July to the end of De-cember 2009 and a total of 344 for the year.

Subjects included: family history enquiries; requests for reproductions of John Vick-ers images, including some to be used in a BBC produc-tion; requests to view the Sarah Kane monologues, Bristol Old Vic silver tokens and images from the origi-nal for a new production of Salad Days.

We also had 722 visitors in the Reading Room during the same period. This in-cluded group visits from The Matcham Society, Portis-head Townswomen’s Guild, the cast of BOV’s Uncle Vanya, and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Researchers are also en-couraged to use our online s e a r c h f a c i l i t y : www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection as a first point of reference.

Any questions …? Theatre Collection Opening Hours

Monday 12.00pm - 4 .45pmTuesday to Friday 9.30 am - 4.45 pm

We are closed at weekends and on Bank Holidays and University closure days. We close for 2 weeks in early September for collections management and may very occasionally close for other reasons - please phone us on 0117 33 15086 or check our website for any forth-coming closure dates.

In order to make the most of your visit to the Theatre Col-lection archives, it is advis-able (but not essential) to make an appointment with us, either by phone (0117 33 15086) or email (theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk). We can then discuss your requirements and retrieve any archival material re-quested in time for your arri-val.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

12

Can you help?

This portrait was drawn by Paule Vezelay (born Majorie Watson Williams in Clifton, Bristol) in 1913. She is best known as Britain’s first and foremost abstract artist but her work also included por-traits and theatre scenes.

The Theatre Collection is try-ing to establish who this is and while we have an idea we would welcome your thoughts.

Any evidence to substanti-ate your ideas would also be most welcome.

Please contact Jo, Bex or Heather on: theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk or 0117 331 5086.Thank you for your help.

LMLAG Conference

Earlier this year, the London Museum Librarians and Ar-chivists Group (LMLAG) held a conference at the Na-tional Gallery entitled ‘Not Museum Pieces? The devel-oping role of archivists and librarians in museums’.

Jo Elsworth, Director of the Theatre Collection, was in-vited to give a talk for the session on Special Collec-tions.

Jo’s talk was entitled ‘Engaging with the archive: the experience of a univer-sity museum’ and indicated the unique position that the Theatre Collection holds amongst other museums.

The Theatre Collection is an Accredited Museum which sits within a university aca-demic department, where its main holdings are archi-val.

The presentation was very well received and one of the case studies given has been written up and in-cluded in the National Ar-chives publication Archives Sector Update Winter 2009.

5

Working with Students

With the start of new aca-demic term, the Theatre Collection has been busy working with academics and students in the Drama and English departments to show them the potential of the collections in the TC and how it can relate to their study.

As usual, introductory tours have been given to all 1st

years and post-graduate students. These involve an introduction in the Reading Room, followed by a ‘show and tell’ look round the strong-rooms to let the stu-dents know the range of material we have, and how they can make use of the archives and other specialist material held here - some-thing that no other university Drama Department has.

This year, 3rd year students have also been given the option of working more closely with one of three productions detailed in the collection for an assessed piece of work; Charge of the Light Brigade (film), Tenko (TV) or Look Back in Anger (theatre). We are de-

lighted that a large number of the students chose this option and enjoyed using the archives.

Meanwhile 2nd year stu-dents have been using the John Vickers archive as in-spiration to create their own Film Noir inspired piece Little Sister.

The MA Performance Re-search students are also using the archives heavily for their studies, and their recently presented their findings on a diverse range of archives including Live Art, Don Juan, and Inigo Jones.

In addition, we have three PhD students who are bas-ing their theses on artists and material held within the Theatre Collection’s Live Art Archives.

Working with Students

Post

er p

rod

uced

by

2nd

yrs

For

Per

f2

6

THE NRLA CELEBRATES 30 YEARS!

Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st March 2010

The NRLA reaches a very special landmark in its his-tory when it celebrates its thirtieth festival in March 2010. This special edition fes-tival will present a pro-gramme of work by artists who have been a part of that wonderful history.

Over the last few months, the Theatre Collection has been busy assisting with the supply of film footage, im-ages and other information for the production of a lim-ited edition boxed set of DVDs , and an illustrated book to accompany the festival.

Visit the New Moves web p a g e s a t h t t p : / /www.newmoves .co.uk/national-review-of-live-artfor further information.

Live Art Archives News

The David Hughes Live Art Archive

The Theatre Collection is de-lighted to report that we have recently acquired the David Hughes Live Art Ar-chive, incorporating LiveArt Magazine, LiveArt Listings, and Hybrid Magazine.

Set up by David in 1994, this collection comprises some 120 large boxes of material in various formats, and holds documents, images and art works related to Live Art in Britain from 1978. It is a valu-able addition to the Live Art Archives resources, compli-menting the existing ar-chives such as the National Review of Live Art Archive and the Record of Live Art Practice.

Live Art Archives News

11

Society of ArchivistsSW Region AGM

The Theatre Collection is to host the Society of Archivists South West region AGM in March 2010.

This will give an opportunity to all who work within the archive sector in the South West region (and beyond) to visit the Theatre Collec-tion, have a tour, and hear more about the work that we do.

This will take place along-side the business meeting for the region.

This is a good chance to show others within the heri-tage world what we do so well and to make them more aware of the collec-tions.

The Theatre Collection be-lieves that it is important to partake fully in the cultural heritage sector in the South West in this way.

Oral History Project

This project looks to record the memories of those involved in the theatre, whose memories may otherwise be lost forever, and aims to:

Build up an oral history archive to compliment the collections held here; Provide an enhanced research resource; Provide an alternative way for our supporters to contribute to the develop-ment of the Theatre Collec-tion.

Want to get involved?

We need help to conduct interviews, transcribe re-cordings, or even financially sponsor an interview. We are also keen to interview those involved in the thea-tre in any way.

More details can be found at www.br i s to l .ac.uk/t h e a t r e c o l l e c t i o n /oral_history_leaflet.html.

10

TC Exhibition News

The Life and Work of Arnold Ridley

Arnold Ridley, OBE (1896-1984), the British playwright and actor, is probably best remembered as author of the play The Ghost Train, and for his roles of Private Godfrey in Dad's Army and Doughy Hood in the radio soap The Archers.

This exhibition seeks to cele-brate Arnold Ridley’s prodi-gious life and work by show-casing a small amount of the material from his ar-chive, which is held in the Theatre Collection.

The exhibition also includes items on loan from Nicolas Ridley, Arnold’s son, and so never seen before, includ-ing the ‘Red Book’ from Ar-

Arnold Ridley

TC Exhibition News

nold’s appearance on This Is Your Life, and an arm band from the Dad’s Army televi-sion series.

The exhibition seeks to show all sides to Ridley’s life and work—including those of soldier, actor and play-wright.

The exhibition is open now and will run until February. Simply come to the Theatre Collection Park Row en-trance and press the buzzer for free admission.

Arnold Ridley, c.1970s

Prog

ram

me

for ’

The

Gho

st T

rain

’ at

the

Prin

ce o

f Wal

es

7

The Theatre Collection is pleased to announce that the Live Art Archives web pages have been selected to be included in the Live Art Collection, which is part of the UK Web Archive.

The Live Art Collection was initiated in late 2008 and is maintained by the British Library in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency, London. The UK Web Archive is a corpus of websites selected by lead-ing UK institutions for their historical, social and cultural significance in the UK, for the benefit of researchers.

Snapshots of each title, known as instances, are taken at suitable intervals. The archive is free to view and has already collected over 4,000 selected web-sites since it was set up in mid-2005. The range of

Live Art Archives News

websites in the Live Art Col-lection includes organiza-tions supporting and pro-moting Live Art; artists’ web-sites; artistic or project-driven sites; blogsites and online spaces for critical re-views and commentaries; and online archival sites re-lating to Live Art.

The Live Art Collection re-flects some of the diverse practices and approaches of artists today and the cu-ratorial, cultural and critical frameworks that exist to sup-port, promote and com-ment upon Live Art and the ephemeral nature of this area of practice.

The collection is free to ac-cess and can be viewed by visiting the online portal at http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/collection/26312782/page/1

Live Art Archives News

8

Volunteer News

The Theatre Collection Vol-unteers have been busy working on a number of projects throughout this year, for which we are very grateful - here are a few of the tasks new volunteers are undertaking:

Alessandra - a Volunteer with an Art History back-ground, is undertaking pic-ture research on a number of the pieces of artwork in the collection, collating de-tailed information and cata-loguing them;

Charlotte - a Volunteer with an information background, is looking for archive experi-ence and so will be helping on a number of projects within the Theatre Collec-tion, prior to pursuing a ca-reer in archives;

Rosemary - is working on sorting out the programmes for the Theatre Royal, Bath;

Tim - a Drama student, is

Volunteer News

repackaging, listing and identifying the photographs in the National Student Drama Festival archive;

Tracey - is sorting, re-boxing and listing the RLAP mate-rial.

Of course, a large number of volunteers have contin-ued to number and sort the hundreds of programmes which we receive each year, helping to make this wonderful resource accessi-ble.

Volunteer Sessions

Preservation Work

A new project for 2010—preservation of the John Vickers

glass plate negatives requires help in creating specialist stor-age for this unique collection.

February 9th 10am-12.30pmMarch 17th 2pm-4.30pmApril 21st 10am-12.30pm

Phone Jo, Bex or Heather on 0117 33 15086 or email

theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk

9

Friends News

Public Lecture:

Godfrey’s Ghost: from father to son

The latest Theatre Collection exhibition (please see over) opened on 19th November to coincide with a public lecture organised by our Friends Association.

This lecture was given by Nicolas Ridley, son of Arnold Ridley, playwright and actor subject of the new exhibi-tion and of a new book by Nicolas.

Nicolas talked about his fa-ther and his life growing up; looking at memory and the archive. It was a huge suc-cess with over 90 people attending and a lively ques-tion and answer session.

The book Godfrey’s Ghost: from father to son is a testi-mony and unconventional biography based on mem-ory and the material in the Theatre Collection archive.

Friends News

Friends AGM30th November 2009

On the evening of 30th No-vember this year, the Thea-tre Collection once again hosted the AGM of its Friends Association.

T h e r e was an excellent turn out to hear E m m a Stenning, the new

Executive Director at the Bristol Old Vic. She spoke about her career to date and why she had wanted to work at the Bristol Old Vic specifically.

She also talked about the way in which she and Tom Morris (the new Artistic Di-rector) worked and what they were planning for the next year and beyond for the theatre.

The business meeting went smoothly with the accounts being accepted and Com-mittee Members being re-elected to the same posts.

Emm

a St

enni

ngPh

oto:

Tob

y Fa

rrow