Output details

The Theatre Archive Project website

The AHRC-funded “Theatre Archive project” began in 2003, interrogating and re-interpreting British theatre between 1945 and 1968, providing a comprehensive revisionist critique. The project involved the collection of an extensive Oral History archive of recollections from practitioners and audience members.

The “Theatre Archive project” website first launched in early 2005; however, the Archival sound recordings were added in Spring 2011, and this listing of oral histories is the output being returned.

Overseen by the Project Leader, Professor Shellard, these oral histories sought to extend traditional theatre histories by seeking out the experience of often-overlooked stakeholders, including audience members, repertory and regional theatres, women, stage crews, administrators, funders, box-office staff, etc. and allowed access to subjects who would never have written their experiences down. From the second year of operation the project specifically sought interviews from respondents that were not famous, and identifying these stakeholders was a key element of the oral histories strand.

Another key theme from the overall project was the systematic undervaluing of the contribution from the Theatre Workshop (who pre-dated the royal court, and whose influence could still be felt today). The oral histories strand therefore also sought to find as many surviving members of the Theatre Workshop as possible to give this “hidden theatre a new voice”.

The interviews were often conducted by members of the project team, or by students with a meaningful knowledge of theatre in this period. Interviews generally lasted about an hour and followed a non-prescriptive format meaning key research questions were often formulated during the interview. When the site went live, the oral histories repository held more than 200 interviews. By the census date it was more than 300.

Shellard led the project, providing the intellectual driving-force behind the data collection and conducted a substantial number of the interviews.