The Golden Generation?

From the National Fairground
Archive, University of Sheffield.

8th - 9th September 2008
British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB

New Light on British Theatre, 1945 - 1968
The Arts and Humanities Research Council British Library Theatre Archive Project is based at the University of Sheffield. Its aim is to reinvestigate the key period of British Theatre between 1945 and 1968. This conference will present some of the findings of the project's three strands: the Archive Strand, the Scripts Strand and the Oral History Strand.

It will also explore some of the recollections of this period of the practitioners and members of the theatre audiences who have been interviewed by the Project, many of whom point out that the theatre of the period embraced much more than Angry Young Men, important as the work of the Royal Court was.

Highlights include sessions on regional and repertory theatre; Michel St Denis; Harold Pinter's The Room; the British Library's post-war theatre archives; Theatre Workshop; the Royal Court; and the role of women in the period. There will also be keynote speakers, including Alan Plater; a New Scholars Forum; an assessment of the period by Professor Dominic Shellard, the Project Leader; short presentations on the interview process by student interviewers; a panel discussion with practitioners who will discuss their own personal recollections of the period; and a wine reception to allow informal questioning and discussion.