Apollo Theatre, Oxford:
Oral histories in Oxfordshire Studies Social and Community Services include accounts of local pantomimes in Ashmore and theatre-going in the 1950s at the Apollo Theatre, Oxford
Hoxton Hall, London:
Conan Lawrence had students conduct interviews with long-time users at Hoxton Hall. A further round of interviews is planned.
Working Class Movement Library, Salford Holds a collection of tapes, interviews done by their founders, Edmund and Ruth Frow, and others donated over the years including a few interviews with members of Manchester Unity Theatre. Details to follow when volunteer has investigated. See: www.wcml.org.uk
Samuel Beckett Material:
Material acquired at University of Reading from James Knowlson. This new addition is as yet uncatalogued, but believed to contain oral history recordings.
Charles Parker Archive 'A Future For Ordinary Folk' Birmingham City Archives:
Collection of folk song and music and traditional oral culture and the records of Banner Theatre. 1973-1988. After leaving the BBC in 1972, [Parker] turned his unique talents as a performer and producer to the service of radical theatre, becoming a founder and mainstay of the Banner Theatre of Actuality in Birmingham.
Joan Littlewood and Ewan MacColl:
The Paul Graney Memorial Folk Trust at Greater Manchester County Record Office, an educational charity, based upon a collection made over the lifetime of the late Paul Graney, oral historian and include his taped reminiscences of Ôbarnstorming theatre days, with Joan Littlewood and Jimmy (Ewan MacColl) Miller.
Travelling Showmen/Fairs:
The Hull Fair project aims to involve residents of Hull and the community of travelling showmen in building a community history website which explores the recent history of Hull Fair from a personal perspective. It also aims to conserve and enhance Hull's diverse culture and encourage the local community to identify, look after and celebrate its unique heritage.
We wish to collect preserve, digitise and make widely available material relating to the heritage and history of Hull Fair through a format which is both user friendly and encourages greater access of the fairground and Humberside communities to their heritage and history.The Hull Fair Project, National Fairground Archive, Main Library, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN,United Kingdom
Tel: 0114 2227231, Fax: 0114 222 7290, fairground@sheffield.ac.uk
Ronald Duncan Collection:
Ronald Duncan (1914-1982) was well known as a writer for the theatre, particularly in the late 40s and early 50s. Hold taped interviews with people who worked with him in the theatre, but is an ongoing, and not a special project.
Dr Alan Munton, Archivist, Ronald Duncan Collection, Room 304
Library, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth,Devon PL4 8AA
01752-587153 office, 07855 931296 mobile
Natasha Morgan Interviews:
A series of interviews mostly about 45 minutes each recorded in the 1980s with women working theatre and performance art, located through the Unfinished Histories project now lodged with the NSA. Interviewees were: Geraldine Pilgrim, Sue Todd (now Lily Susan Todd), Ilona Secasz, Anne Bean, Di Trevis, Sarah Pia Anderson, Anna Furse, Fidelis Morgan, Gemma Jackson, Victoria Radin, Mary Longford, Jenny Carey, Rose English, Carlyle Reedy and Tina Keane.
Beamish Museum:
Holds a large oral history archive, covering all of life in the north east. Quite a lot of people obviously mention trips to the theatre and so on, there is not generally a great deal of detail. The closest we have got is probably one interview with a dancer and contortionist of the 1920s and 30s.
Jo Bath
King's Cross Voices:
Some time ago London Borough of Camden completed this project focusing on the Kings Cross area of the borough. Organiser was Alan Dein. There were a few interviews with content relating to theatre, opera, etc.
Tudor Allen, Senior Archivist, Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8PA,
Tel: 020 7974 6342, Email: tudor.allen@camden.gov.uk
Website: www.camden.gov.uk/localstudies
Norfolk Sound Archive:
Holds a few recordings relating to theatres, detailed below: Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service: Great Yarmouth Museums - Great Yarmouth Voices, series 2: interview of Murial Hardie and Betty Taylor by unnamed interviewer; relates to their employment in box office of St George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth; 2 compact cassettes; 26 Apr 2004; NSA ref. AUD 19/2/57; audio CD copy (SCOP 1/691) available for access. Also hold the archive of BBC Radio Norfolk, which contains several recordings relating to the theatre in Norfolk. This collection has not been catalogued and in most instances has not yet been copied. However one recording that has been copied is of a documentary called A play at the seaside about the Little Theatre in Great Yarmouth; NSA ref. SAC 2003/3/389. Another recording within this collection that maybe of interest is about the Gorleston Pavilion Theatre and looks at its origins; NSA ref. SAC 2003/3/384; this recording has not yet been copied.
In common with other collections they hold oral history interviews by theatre companies that were used as the basis for scripts (Eastern Angles Touring Theatre Company on Norfolk lifeboat men and Spin-Off Theatre Company, plays, relating to the Norfolk Broads.
Books noted include:
Kings, Queens and People's Palaces, ed by V. Devlin, Oral history of Scottish variety theatre, 1920-70, 1991
Twentieth Century Fit-Up Theatre: an oral and documentary history by Fern Bevan (Droitwich: Peter Andrew Publishing, 1999)
Oral History Survey Pages Main Page Introductory Report Index of Projects Appendices |
13th May 2009 |