WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/westminsterresearch A critical history of the Soho Theatre: 1968-1975 Matthew Morrison Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © The Author, 2014. This is an exact reproduction of the paper copy held by the University of Westminster library. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] A CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE SOHO THEATRE: 1968-1975 MATTHEW MORRISON A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2014 1 Abstract This thesis represents the first detailed account of the Soho Theatre’s early history, from 1968 to 1975. During this period, ‘Soho’ was a pioneer of lunchtime theatre, offering a challenge to conventional theatre-going practice and placing new demands on writers, director and designers. Soho quickly established a dominant position on the burgeoning fringe and alternative theatre scene. It did so, however, in spite of critical misgivings about the value of the lunchtime ‘movement’. Commentators often failed to appreciate the innovative qualities of lunchtime work, finding fault with what they saw as a random approach to programming and an apparent lack of clear artistic policy. Many later theatre histories have reproduced this critique. As well as documenting the Soho Theatre’s history, therefore, this study offers a reassessment of the contribution it, and other lunchtime companies, made to the theatrical activity of the time. In my first chapter, I trace the development of the lunchtime theatre phenomenon, situating it within a number of theatrical, political and cultural contexts. I consider its complex relationship with the Arts Council and engage with some of the more dismissive accounts of its practices, revealing the ideological positions on which such assessments rest. In Chapter Two, I examine the company’s first ‘home’, at Le Metro Club on New Compton Street, and show how it quickly became an integral part of the developing theatrical landscape. In Chapter Three, I concentrate on Soho’s time at the King’s Head pub in Islington. Here it mounted a series of productions that challenged traditional notions of the ‘one-act’ play and tested the boundaries of the performance space. In 1972, the Soho Theatre moved again, to a basement on Riding House Street owned by the Polytechnic of Central London. Chapters Four and Five examine the company’s first years at what became known as the Soho Poly. I pay particular attention to the importance of the venue itself, showing how it played a crucial role in Soho’s survival. I conclude by arguing that existing studies of fringe and alternative theatre have underestimated the values of ‘eclecticism’, ‘contingency’ and ‘responsiveness’ that often characterised the Soho Theatre and other companies on the lunchtime scene. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 4 Author’s Declaration 5 Explanatory Notes and Abbreviations 6 List of Images 7 Introduction 8 Chapter One - Lunchtime Theatre 25 Chapter Two - The Soho Theatre, 1968-70 70 Chapter Three - The Soho Theatre at The King’s Head 103 Chapter Four - The Soho Poly, 1972: New Beginnings 133 Chapter Five - The Soho Poly, 1972-1975: New Experiments / Other Voices 160 Conclusions - The Soho Poly Festival 186 Appendix A - List of Plays, 1968 - 1975 196 Appendix B - List of Interviewees 202 Appendix C - Programme for the Soho Poly Festival, 2012 203 Bibliography 211 3 Acknowledgements I would like to offer sincere thanks to the following for their amazing help and support: Emma McEvoy, Alex Warwick, Steve Barfield, Simon Avery, Monica Germanà , Eleanor Paremain, staff at the V&A’s Theatre and Performance archives, Anna McNally, Bryson Clevenger at the University of Virginia, staff at the University of Indiana’s Lilly Library, Sandra Weer, Ben Musgrave, Lydia Thomson, the Miniaturists, all those who have generously given their time to be interviewed for this project, the Dog House writers’ group. Very special mention must also be made of my family - Wendy, Alan and Paul - my partner Sabrina for sticking by me through it all, and Fred Proud, without whom none of this would have been possible. The thesis is dedicated to my son, Luca, born 5 October 2014 4 Author’s Declaration I declare that all the material contained in this thesis is my own work. Matthew Morrison 2 September 2014 5 Explanatory Notes and Abbreviations Unless otherwise stated, dates in brackets given after a play’s title refer to the date of first production or broadcast. Where this isn’t known, I indicate, instead, the date when the play was written or published. ACGB: Arts Council of Great Britain. In references, ACGB is the prefix given for Arts Council records housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Theatre and Performance Archives, Blythe House, London. The archive’s full catalogue is available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/wid/ead/acgb/acgb-41.html#toc0. Specific file references are given below: Client Funding Administration, 1944-1995 (ref. ACGB/41) Drama General, 1944-1995 (ref. ACGB/38) Policy and Information Files, 1928-1994 (ref. ACGB/43) Theatre Writing, 1950-1991 (ref. ACGB/40) EDC: Arts Council of Great Britain’s Experimental Drama Committee. FEDC: Arts Council of Great Britain’s Fringe and Experimental Drama Committee. Note, the EDC was renamed the FEDC in autumn 1972. However, official documents (minutes, etc.) were still occasionally labelled EDC after this point. NDC: Arts Council of Great Britain’s New Drama Committee. THM/317: In references, THM/317 is the prefix given for Tricycle Theatre records housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Theatre and Performance Archives, Blythe House, London. UWA: University of Westminster Archive, held at University of Westminster, 4-12 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7BY V&A: Victoria and Albert Museum WTC: Wakefield Tricycle Company 6 List of Images Figure 1 Table showing funding for the Soho Theatre from the Arts 49 Council’s New Drama and Experimental Drama Committees, 1969-1975. Figure 2 Images from Robert Holman’s play Coal. (Photographer: 166 Nobby Clark.) Figure 3 One of Miki van Zwanenberg’s costume designs for 167 Robert Holman’s play Coal (1973). Figure 4 Photograph of the entrance to the former Soho Poly 195 premises on Riding House Street, London, W1. (Photograph: Sabrina Cammarata.) 7 Introduction Today, Soho Theatre on Dean Street houses a 150-seat main auditorium, a smaller 90-seat studio and a basement ‘cabaret’ space.1 In addition to its commitment to presenting work by emerging British and international theatre makers, it offers attachment schemes, workshops and study rooms as well as administering the biennial Verity Bargate playwriting award. In 2012-13, it recorded visits by 167,000 audience members and during the same period it generated more in tax revenues (£625k) than it received in government funding (£600k).2 It has come a long way, in other words, since its inception in the late 1960s. Then, it was forced to hop from one tiny venue to another, barely surviving on minimal Arts Council grants, often given on a play-by-play basis. Despite such limitations, the early Soho Theatre, founded by Fred Proud (artistic director) and Verity Bargate (general director) in 1968, was to have a critical role within the developing fringe and alternative theatre activity of the time. In particular, it was a pioneer of lunchtime theatre, an innovation which increased exposure to writers’ work, pushed boundaries of form and content and helped to re-imagine the relationship between theatres and their audiences. At its peak in the early to mid-1970s, cultural commentators estimated that there were a dozen or so regularly operating lunchtime theatres in the capital.3 By the end of the decade, however, as Rosalind Asquith notes, there were only two: the King’s Head and the Soho Poly (the name by which the Soho Theatre was generally referred to after 1972).4 During the 1980s and 90s, Soho, too, began to move away from lunchtime productions, but it has continued to make a major 1 ‘About Us’, Soho Theatre website, accessed 20 February 2014, http://www.sohotheatre.com/about-us/. 2 ‘The Impact of Public Investment 2012-2013’, Soho Theatre website, accessed 20 February 2014, http://www.sohotheatre.com/news/soho-theatre-economic-and-cultural- impact/. 3 See, for example, Barry Russell, ‘The Lunchtime Theatre Crisis’ Time Out, 11 August 1972, 16. 4 Rosalind Asquith, ‘Subversion at Lunchtime: Or Business As Usual?’, in Dreams and Deconstructions: Alternative Theatre in Britain, ed. Sandy Craig (Ambergate: Amber Lane, 1980), 146. Asquith does acknowledge that occasional lunchtime productions remained a feature of the London theatre scene during this time. 8 contribution to London’s theatre ecology for almost half a century. And yet, no dedicated histories currently exist. The over-arching aim of my thesis is to produce the first detailed study of the Soho Theatre between 1968 and 1975. This phase began with Proud and Bargate’s inaugural production - an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s radio drama, One Autumn Evening (1956), presented at Charles Marowitz’s Open Space theatre on Tottenham Court Road.