No. 6
Newsletter September 2017
Welcome CONTENT
2 ExCom Update Late summer 2017 and our members have had a busy year!
After a successful symposium in Leeds, APAC now 3 APAC Symposium 2017 looks forward to a study day in Colchester—it’s great to see APAC events happening far and wide.
The AGM held in the magnificent Prince of Wales 4 Digitizing the Stage: Theatre, London was followed by a wonderful tour of Rethinking the Early Modern that beautifully crafted building. As always, the Theatre Archive unique opportunity to visit, learn and wonder at the work of APAC members proves one of the joys of belonging to this particular SSN. 5-11 News from APAC Members In this edition of the newsletter you can learn more about our members activities and new acquisitions. Please do investigate and contribute to any requests for feedback—as always, it’s invaluable!
Editor: Karin Brown Next APAC Meeting:
Many thanks again to all who have submitted entries Study Day for this current edition. We hope you find it useful and welcome any suggestions for content and format. Celebrating Anniversaries Mercury Theatre Colchester APAC Executive Committee 13 September 2017, 10.30-3.30 2 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
APAC NEWS
ExCom Update
APAC Study Day 2017: Celebrating Anniversaries
Mercury Theatre Colchester, Balkerne Gate, Colchester, CO1 1PT Wednesday 13 September 2017, 10.30am-3.30pm
Booking is now open for APAC’s annual Study Day, which this year will look at celebrating anniversaries. Speakers include Anna Jarvis, First World War Centenary and Anniversaries Adviser at Heritage Lottery Fund. We will also hear about current and recent anniversary projects from the Mercury Theatre, National Theatre and Southbank Centre.
To view the schedule and reserve a place, visit: https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/apac-study-day-2017- celebrating-anniversaries-tickets-36892087226
The event is free for APAC members and £15 for non- members.
Stephanie Rolt | Secretary www.performingartscollections.org.uk
SSN Network
SSNs are becoming invaluable in a collections climate which is facing economic restraints. They provide opportunities to network and provide professional advice, information, and expertise on a range of subject areas. On Thursday 30th March the Arts Council arranged an event in Birmingham for an SSN Facilitation Session which APAC attended. The stress of the day was on establishing closer links and collaborations between the SSNs so they could support one another and learn from best practice. One of the immediate outcomes has been the setting up of an SSN website which draws together information about all of the Subject Specialist Networks in the UK. This is currently in development but the prototype site can be viewed in draft form at the following address: https://subjectspecialistnetworks.org.uk/ 3 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017 Bridging the Gap: the Role of the Archivist and the Researcher APAC Symposium, 18 July 2017
Report by Stephanie Rolt Records Officer, Theatres Trust
APAC’s 2017 Symposium was held on 18 July at the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, University of Leeds. We heard from both archivists and researchers about their experiences and discussed how we can all work together more effectively. Tim Proctor and Joanna Baines, who both work with University Special Collections (at Leeds and Kent respectively) explained some of the barriers they face engaging students and academics with their collections, and the initiatives that have been successful in starting to overcome them. Both emphasised how archives can often seem intimidating to students. Tim explained how Leeds has run an internship with the school of history, through which “bridging interns” became the link between the history faculty and special collections. The interns wrote a beginners guide to archive research for their fellow students. At Kent, much of their activity has focussed on activities to make students feel more comfortable around archives, including handling sessions and palaeography training. Joanna pointed out that whilst a 400 year old manuscript has an amazing wow factor, it might not be the best introduction to archives if students are scared to handle it and unable to read it! Instead, they use material from the British Cartoon Archive as an informal, entertaining introduction to archives. We also heard from two researchers. Ella Hawkins, a PhD student, explained how her placement as a Research Advocate at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust had been mutually beneficial. Whilst she had discovered material relevant to her research, and gained some valuable work experience, the Trust had benefited from Ella’s contributions to their social media accounts, and gained a valuable advocate for their collections in a local university. Natasha Bonnelame explained how the Black Plays Archive project had been innovative in the design of its website, moving away from a traditional archive catalogue layout to create an engaging, simple to use site that would appeal to creatives and other researchers. The day ended with a provocation from Chris Jones around the lack of relationships between the archive and the academe, which generated much interesting discussion. It was agreed that archivists need to be more involved in academic networks by attending events, contributing to academic journals, or embedding researchers in our work. Hopefully APAC can facilitate this, by hosting joint events and by sharing case studies of effective partnerships. 4 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017 Digitizing the Stage: Rethinking the Early Modern Theatre Archive
10-12 July 2017, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Harriet Reed, Assistant Curator of Theatre & Performance, V&A
The Bodleian Libraries, in collaboration with the Folger Shakespeare Institute, held a major 3 day conference on current digitisation research projects relating to Early Modern theatre on 10th – 12th July 2017. The conference opened with a keynote speech from Dr Tiffany Stern from Royal Holloway, University of London, who discussed the plethora of digital material available and the ‘privilege of text’ (books, manuscripts) which were preventing equally important ephemera (such as playbills and objects inscribed with text) from being given due attention. The conference continued with a broad range of papers covering all aspects of digitization. Speakers presented on the use of digital technology for DNA testing of manuscripts, sonic analysis of live performances, and quantitative analysis of stage props in play texts. Successful projects, such as the ‘Rose Revealed’ project, the Abbey Theatre digital archive at the National University of Ireland Galway, Australia’s Ausstage database, and the upcoming Folger Digital Asset Platform showcased the boundless limits (and challenges) of digital archive search engines.
Presentations from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe also demonstrated the creative benefits of digital technology for theatre companies. The RSC’s ground-breaking use of a motion capture Ariel in The Tempest and the Globe’s development of a digital archive of recorded productions have improved theatre-making for practitioners as well as researchers. The conference concluded with presentations by the two co-organisers of the event, Eric Johnson from the Folger and Pip Willcox from the Bodleian, both of whom emphasised the importance of collaboration between institutions, collections and professionals to create, combine and problem-solve digitisation projects. 5 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
The Michael Bogdanov Archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust by Jim Ranahan, Archivist
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust holds the archive of the acclaimed theatre director Michael Bogdanov. The collection (reference GL22) consists of over 2 cubic metres of Bogdanov’s personal papers from the period 1965 – 2010. This neutral statement provides a helpful summary for collection management purposes. However, it does not communicate that Bogdanov was anything but neutral in his work, his politics and his approach to life. GL22 is a testimony to his contribution to British, Irish and European cultural development. SBT is working hard to ensure that this collection is fully utilised in supporting research into how Shakespeare and theatre generally can be harnessed for contemporary political needs – in keeping with Bogdanov’s own aspirations for the collection he entrusted to us. Michael Bogdanov was born in Wales in 1938 and was educated in London, Dublin and on the continent. He worked for the BBC and the Irish broadcaster RTE. Bogdanov’s theatrical career included work at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus, Hamburg. He co-founded the English Shakespeare Company and was involved with the Wales Theatre Company. Bogdanov pushed boundaries: in theatre production, in politics, in court. All of this is reflected in the collection and SBT, in keeping with APAC’s call for closer partnership between archives and researchers is embarking on a multi-strand approach to bring GL22 to wider attention. As a significant first step, Dr Darren Freebury-Jones will join us as ‘Louis Marder Shakespeare Centre Scholar’ for 2018. Through research into GL22 and relevant other 6 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
collections e.g. RSC productions associated with him, Freebury-Jones will highlight how study of Bogdanov can stimulate and inspire new understandings and presentations of Shakespeare’s work. SBT is also scoping how best to develop and strengthen existing finding aids, to facilitate better access for specialist and general researchers. In keeping with Bogdanov’s commitment to making cultural work available and relevant to all, SBT will also explore how to bring the collection to wider audiences. A good starting point is Bogdanov’s strong Irish dimension, reflected in the archive and which will be highlighted out through a free, public research conversation, supported by blog articles etc to coincide with St Patrick’s celebrations in March 2018. This model will also be considered for showcasing other aspects of GL22. Michael Bogdanov died in April 2017. Colleagues fortunate enough to have known him all refer to his natural warmth and essential humanity. It is clear from written sources that Bogdanov cared passionately about people and how theatre could influence their society. SBT is determined that GL22 will provide an accessible resource for all who wish to understand more about the life and legacy of a remarkable man. A Memorial to Michael Bogdanov will be held in Cardiff on 10th September 2017 and SBT is honoured to be attending. A summary of GL22 is available at http://collections.shakespeare.org.uk/search/archive/gl22-michael-bogdanov-collection/search/ everywhere:michael-bogdanov/view_as/grid/page/5 For further information about the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, please see www. https:// www.shakespeare.org.uk/ or contact [email protected]
Celebrating Karolos Koun Friday, September 22, 2017 - 9:15am, Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, Audio-visual exhibition and one-day conference On Friday 22 September the APGRD will host an audio-visual exhibition and one-day conference to celebrate the life of the Greek theatre director, Karolos Koun (1908-1987). The conference is co- organised with Dr Angeliki Varakis-Martin (University of Kent); with generous support from the Institute of Classical Studies.
The audio-visual exhibition is to be co-curated by the theatre designers and Koun collaborators, Dionysis Fotopoulos and Lily Pezanou.
The conference will be held in the JdP Music Building, St Hilda’s College, Oxford, with lunch and exhibition viewing (12.15pm to 2.45pm) in the Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles’, Oxford.
Registration costs £20 (£10 concession) - this includes lunch, refreshments, and a drinks reception. There will be an optional conference dinner at an additional cost of £35. Register via the University of Oxford's Store website. For enquiries please email: [email protected] 7 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017 Barry Kay Archive
by Michael Werner, Director & Curator Barry Kay Archive
While bringing the website of the Barry Kay Archive in line with current web standards recently, we simultaneously totally overhauled and restructured it as well. The revised version contains a multitude of Barry Kay's designs, previously not available online, and a number of additional articles and written accounts about him and his work.
In the course of this work, all genre indices have been almost completely illustrated, with individual entries featuring either a costume or set design by Kay. We have also introduced several new, richly illustrated production pages. The gradual emergence of further data about Kay's work and professional engagements enabled us to considerably expand the itemized biography.
Any feedback and comments are welcome and very much appreciated! Site visitors are cordially invited to leave their comments, if they so wish, via the link to the Contact Form provided at the bottom of the Comments Page: http://www.barry-kay -archive.org/MORE/FEEDBACK/ comments.html
Costume design by Barry Kay for a Playmate in Kenneth MacMillan's ballet Solitaire, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, 1978. © Michael Werner, Barry Kay Archive 8 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
Welcoming a new archive to the Shakespeare Institute Library
by Karin Brown Shakespeare Institute Librarian
The Shakespeare Institute Library is delighted to be receiving the archive of The School of Night—the improv company which originated in a celebration of Shakespeare devised by the late, great Ken Campbell in 2005 for The Globe.
This initial gift from the company to the SIL by actor Oliver Senton contains publicity material for many of the School’s performances including details of Ken Campbell’s In Pursuit of Cardenio, 2006 – a series of performances inspired by audience suggestions promising ‘Each night a new lost Shakespeare. Never seen before and never to be seen again!’
As actors and audience mingled, a series of semi-spontaneous routines emerged through word suggestions and associations from the audience. Riffing in blank verse, iambic pentameter and sonnet form, Campbell’s troupe of actors improvised in Elizabethan style around possible scenes for Don Quixote that may have formed the original story of Cardenio. The audience participation with the actors at these performances gave them a sense of inclusion in the creation of the work rather than just as spectator. This actor/audience dynamic created something fresh every night, new approaches inspired through that night’s engagement with the performance. Campbell praised his actors: ‘They’re fantastic at improvising Shakespeare, without making it boring because they’re fascinating to watch. It’s Shakespeare delivered with a fresh energy and should be inspirational to the young with new ideas on traditional work.’ As one journalist put it ‘This was an ode to the Bard with audience input.’
Campbell died in 2008 but his troupe continue to ‘channel’ the Bard in his honour. Recent members of the company include Sean McCann, Adam Meggido, Oliver Senton, Alan Cox, Josh Darcy, Dylan Emery, and Joseph Chance.
We’re incredibly grateful to the company for considering us a suitable home for their archive and to Oliver Senton and for coordinating and starting the deposit of material with the University. We hope to receive more contributions to this exciting new archive from the actors who have worked with the company in the upcoming months. 9 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
The V&A’s TheatreVoice relaunches as weekly podcast
Helen Gush
Assistant Curator and PhD Researcher V&A Department of Theatre and Performance
On 14 September the V&A’s TheatreVoice will relaunch as a weekly podcast, featuring interviews with a selection of the most exciting theatre practitioners working in the UK today, as well as showcasing the best of the TheatreVoice archive.
TheatreVoice is an online audi0 resource for British theatre co-curated by theatre critic Matt Trueman and the V&A Depart- ment of Theatre and Performance. Interviews are conducted by leading theatre critics and writers including Dominic Caven- dish, Mark Fisher, Lyn Gardner, Catherine Love, and Heather Neill.
The TheatreVoice Archive comprises 1,500 interviews spanning theatre in the UK over the past 14 years. Highlights include interviews with Glenda Jackson upon her triumphant return to the British stage in King Lear at the Old Vic, artistic director Tim Etchells from experimental theatre company Forced Entertainment, and Juliet Stevenson on her performance as Winnie in the Young Vic’s production of Happy Days.
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/theatrevoice/id1221337499?mt=2
Follow TheatreVoice on Twitter @theatrevoices and on Facebook
To find out more about TheatreVoice and its archive visit: http://www.theatrevoice.com/ 10 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
Dr Phil O’Brien John Rylands Research Institute
On October 15 1979 Pit Prop Theatre Company staged its first production: Secret Society of 1812. It wasn’t on a particularly conventional theme for a fledgling group; it was about a Luddite incident in Westhoughton, a town a few miles from Pit Prop’s base in Leigh. The story gives some indication of the company’s approach to theatre: mining, pardon the pun, working-class and local history for political and radical stories. Additionally, the target audience for Secret Society wasn’t especially conventional: it was aimed at nine-year-olds. The production, according to the group’s promotional material, was ‘based on a local Luddite incident in which a magistrate incited an attack on a local textile mill by planting agent provocateurs’. The approach taken in this first play (or programme as the group preferred to describe the work) would inform much of what Pit Prop did over the next 15 years as professional theatre practitioners engaged in pioneering cultural work. The company’s history is traceable through its fascinating archive held at the John Rylands Library. And I recently spent time working through the 76 uncatalogued boxes. There’s information pertaining to productions on female coal workers, 1970s rent strikes, Moss Side, Nicaragua, the British Raj, and the Anglo-Irish agreement. Many of the productions contain the same four ingredients as the first: 1) a local working-class historical event; 2) a small group of characters often centring on the experience of women; 3) the involvement and collaboration of the audience directly within the performance; 4) a link to wider global and political issues.
Pit Prop was part of the Theatre-in-Education (TIE) movement and one of the company’s starting points is the work of Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre. TIE was first conceived here in the 1960s as a new form of theatre which brought together actors and teachers and worked with schools over a sustained period. Pit Prop’s artistic director Cora Williams started at Belgrade in 1968 as an actor-teacher before moving to Bolton Octagon. She and others from Pit Prop were then involved in Burnley’s TheatreMobile which collapsed in 1978. That first Pit Prop performance in October ‘79 sees the company emerge in the opening months of Thatcherism. Crucially, here 11 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
are a group of cultural workers developing a response from within the working-class communities most vulnerable to the effects of deindustrialisation, privatisation, and state reduction: all features of Britain under Thatcher. Pit Prop took a broad socialist and feminist approach, one which, up until subsidies were withdrawn in 1994, challenged stereotypes predicated on class, race, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity alongside addressing issues around discrimination pertaining to age, physical disability, and mental health. It is clear from the archive that internal issues also contributed to the pressures placed on the company but, as the TES reported in 1994, external forces resulted in the closure of Pit Prop: ‘It is the victim of circumstances: local authority cuts forced by six years of Government capping on central funding, the consequences of the 1988 and 1992 Education Acts, and the market forces philosophy of the local arts council’. So the timing of Pit Prop’s emergence is fascinating, the types of active participation work the group did are compelling, and its funding challenges offer many interesting insights into the role of the arts in Britain. On a more personal level, the geographical area in which it worked is also significant, Wigan being my hometown. And I was in for a surprise when I viewed a film of one of the company’s most successful TIE programmes. Brand of Freedom consists of three parts: a play performed on site in schools, a project book completed by pupils, and a second impromptu visit by Pit Prop. It is set in 1862 during the Lancashire cotton famine and, like Cotton Panic! currently on as part of Manchester International Festival, explores the effect of the cotton blockade on the mills and people of Lancashire. In Brand of Freedom, which features escaped black slave Martha alongside mill workers Morgan and Lucy, the dilemma of supporting either the blockade (with the economic hardship it brings) or the south (and slavery and its expansion) becomes the central focus.
Manchester University Television filmed a performance of the production in which the children, after initially being duped by a southern plantation owner, decide overwhelming to support the north and Abraham Lincoln – a statue of Lincoln across the road from the Rylands is evidence of Manchester’s support for the blockade. On the film is my brother Jim, now 43, then 10. He looks into the camera as the actors, in character, enter the classroom. Jim and the rest of his class soon forget the film crew; they are immersed in a story of which they become a central part. The recording makes for fascinating viewing, not only because my brother and his friends are in it – first as nervous, curious 10 and 11-year-olds and then, within moments, as engaged historical actors – but also because it serves as a demonstration of what were new theatre forms emerging out of a direct engagement with culture, class, history, politics, and education.
Phil O’Brien completed his PhD on class, neoliberalism, and contemporary British fiction at the University of Manchester in 2016. He was recently awarded John Rylands Research Institute Seedcorn funding to work on the Pit Prop Theatre Company Archive at John Rylands Library. Email: [email protected].
Cyril Craythorpe (James Quinn), Martha (Flo Wilson), and Morgan (Ray Meredith) in Brand of Freedom from 1984.
12 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
http://www.henryirving.co.uk/
The Henry Irving Correspondence website www.henryirving.co.uk now contains over 9225 entries. Most are substantial summaries of letters and documents from, and relating to, Henry Irving, his Lyceum Theatre of which Bram Stoker was Acting Manager, and to some extent to the whole Victorian theatre in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Its aim was to draw together and make widely available related material in a wide range of archives and libraries and private collections. Most work and visits were carried out by retired graduate volunteers when the institution concerned could not always provide online item level cataloguing.
John H.B. Irving began the project himself by visiting major collections in the United States and the form of entry was initially established for him by American archivists, although later enlarged slightly. The project was financed by John's small charity the Henry Irving Foundation which initially received some generous benefactions; but following his death in December 2016 the funds, which only provide for hosting the website, are running out.
The Trustees are seeking a new home for the website. It would be very desirable to find a hosting where items could still be added and revisions made. The site is well used with over 1000 visits in some recent months and a daily average around 60 visits. Use is indicated in some 79 countries already this month.
The site operates by date order and could be adapted to receive other material. There is also a large paper archive containing most items and including, more recently, full transcriptions of the letters summarised (some in Irving's very difficult handwriting).
If any APAC member has ideas about a possible future please get in touch with the Chair Frances Hughes [email protected] or the editor (Helen Smith) at [email protected] 13 APAC Newsletter—Issue 6, September 2017
Keeping in touch...
Website: for news on all the latest APAC events, members, developments, blog, twitter feed and other resources keep a regular check on the APAC website: www.performingartscollections.or g.uk/blog/
Blog: our members regularly send in posts for the APAC blog. These are fascinating reads and brief insights into some of the wonderful collections and activities going on far and wide: www.performingartscollections.or g.uk/blog/
Twitter:APACs twitter feed now has nearly 500 followers. It’s a great way of letting the world know what your up to and for keeping up-to-date with APAC activities. @apac_ssn
Facebook: for more detail on APAC events and members activities check out our Facebook page and like us!
Mailing List: if you want to ask members anything, share information, or ask for advice don’t forget the APAC mailing list which only contacts our current membership. Make sure you’ve signed up to it in order to get minutes and notices from APAC.