Unfinished Histories: Recording the History of the Alternative Theatre Movement in Britain

Unfinished Histories:

-- Records oral history interviews

Latest News: Unfinished Histories interviews (Series 1) are now also available to view at University of Sheffield Special Collections Library.

-- Documents companies

-- Preserves archives

Page down for information on the above

-- Stages events

Latest event:

To mark the 40th anniversary of Jane Arden's play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, the first Women's Liberation Movement play in Britain, staged at the Drury Lane Arts Lab in 1969, we organised a staged reading and roundtable discussion at 3.00pmon Sunday 8th November 2009 at the Court Room, Toynbee Studios, E1

The reading and discussion wererecorded by the British Library for the National Sound Archive and will be available to listen to there. The discussion is also available online from www.theatrevoice.com

About the play:

First produced at the Drury Lane Arts Lab in 1969, Jane Arden's VAGINA REX AND THE GAS OVEN proved to be one of the most important examples of the cultural radicalism of the late 1960s. It was also the first theatre work to come out of the Women's Liberation Movement in Britain .

Originally performed by Sheila Allen and Victor Spinetti (supported by a group of hippies, hanging out at the Arts Lab at the time, as a chorus of Furies), it was directed by Jack Bond with music by Shawn Philips.

The production was an early example of multimedia theatre bringing together on stage, text with film, experimental lighting, music and soundscapes. The abolition of theatre censorship in 1968 allowed performers, writer and director unfettered freedom to shock and assault the audience which it did with full frontal nudity, images of an explicit sexual nature and outspoken language.

Founded by American Jim Haynes , also responsible for establishing the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh , the Drury Lane Arts Lab was deemed the hippest most ‘happening' place in London . Frequented by the likes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Peter Brook , R D Laing , James Baldwin and Christine Keeler , it presented an endless, 24-hour parade of poetry, music, theatre, art and film.

The round-table discussion was lead by Sheila Allen, Victor Spinetti and Jack Bond. Images and music from the original production and extracts from the recently released BFI DVD of three Jane Arden films were also shown and played .

Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven … was a prophetic precursor of some of the feminist concerns in the 1970s. Stylistically it was a montage, exploring woman's struggle to deal with sense of her own conditioned inferiority, surreal and mystical by turns, using the mixed media of the ‘acid' 1960s. (Michelene Wandor)

'Perhaps the most important production at the Arts Lab during that period'. Arthur Marwick in The Sixties ( Oxford 1998)

Email: contact@unfinishedhistories.com to be added to our mailing list.

We are looking for patrons to support future events. If you would like to become a patron please email us as above or call 020 7359 7848.

Recording oral history interviews

For details of our first phase of interviews (on Women's Theatre) and those done since, see below and for plans for a new series of interviews funded by Unity Theatre Trust, scroll down the page. We are in the process of developing a dedicated web site at www.unfinishedhistories.com where details of the interview content can be found.

Documenting companies

As part of the web site we are creating extensive lists of all alternative theatre companies founded between c1968 and 1986 (and a few just before and after). The plan is that this list should gradually be populated with links to web pages giving illustrated histories of the companies. We are actively looking for people to author those web sites, ideally company founders or those with a long history with the company but also those with a longstanding interest in the company. We are also creating lists of Venues, Key Events, Key Individuals, Key Organisations and Key Shows. If you would be interested in contributing and would like more details, please email: contact@unfinishedhistories.com or contact In Tandem TC, 41a Barnsbury Street, London N1 1PW, phone: 020 7359 7848.

Preserving archives

If you have archival material on alternative theatre companies from the 1960s -1980s and you would like to know what to do with it, to make it accessible or to preserve it long-term, please get in touch via the email or address above. We can scan material for the web site and advise on what orgainsations are building collections in this area and where to lend or donate it.

Unfinished Histories: Phase 1: Women's Theatre in the 1970s and 80s

Funded by Unity Theatre Trust and the Lipman-Miliband Trust, with support from the Society for Theatre Research. Launch events funded by Awards for All.

This project, in conjunction with In Tandem TC, has recorded an initial series of extensive (up to 5 hour) interviews on audio and video of women active in the women's theatre movement. Copies of these have been lodged with major libraries and theatre collections:

National Sound Archive at the British Library

V&A Theatre Collections

Bristol University Drama Collections

University of Sheffield Library Special Collections

We have recorded interviews with:

Sheila Allen (Actress, lead performer in Jane Arden's Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven and Pam Gems's Queen Christina)

Jude Alderson (Artistic Director, Sadista Sisters)

Kate Crutchley (director, theatre programmer at Oval House throughout the 1980s)

Anne Engel (company member, performer with Women's Theatre Group, Mrs Worthington's Daughters)

Michele Frankel (founder Director Beryl and the Perils - see below)

Bryony Lavery (writer with Les Oeufs Malades, Female Trouble, Unicorn, WTG, Monstrous Regiment etc)

Ruth Mackenzie (company member, writer with Moving Parts)

Natasha Morgan (writer, director, performer with That's Not It, performer with The People Show)

Julie Parker (performer with Gay Sweatshop, Artistic Director The Drill Hall)

Eileen Pollock (performer, writer with Belt and Braces, Bloomers, Camouflage)

Jacqueline Rudet (writer, director, performer with Imani-Faith, writer for Black Theatre Co-op, Royal Court)

Adele Saleem (now Salem) ( performer, writer including with Women's Theatre Group, Hard Corps)

Lily Susan Todd (director including with Monstrous Regiment)

Michelene Wandor (writer with Women's Theatre Group, Gay Sweatshop, Mrs Worthington's Daughters etc., anthologist and historian of women's theatre movement)

In Tandem TC is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Its Artistic Director is Jessica Higgs. . If you would like further details or you would like to support us financially in please write to:

Latest News

Available to order

Women Theatre in the 1970s and 1980s: Recollections and Reflections: a 46 minute CD of extracts from the audio interviews. Copies: £10 (£5 postage and handling, plus £5 donation. If you would like to make a larger donation this will support us in making recordings for Phase 2). Copies can be ordered from: In Tandem TC,41a Barnsbury Street, London N1 1PW, phone: 020 7359 7848, or email: intantc@aol.com

In Tandem TC and Susan Croft launch:

Phase 2: Recording the History of Alternative Theatre

This project is in progress.

Interviews so far:

Hilary Westlake (Artistic Director, Lumiere and Son)

Noel Greig (playwright, performer: The Combination, Interaction, The General Will, Gay Sweatshop, Theatre Centre)

Andrea Montag (stage designer: the Half Moon, Monstrous Regiment, Black Theatre Co-op etc.)

Chris Montag (activist and printer with Oval Community Printshop in the 70s and 80s)

Tony Coult (playwright, critic, teacher and performer: Interplay, Perspectives)

Nabil Shaban (performer, playwright, joint founder of Graeae)

Albert Hunt (director of Bradford Art College Theatre Group, playwright author of Hope for Great Happenings)

Planned:

Max Stafford Clark (Traverse Theatre, Joint Stock, Out of Joint)

Roland Rees (Foco Novo)

We are currently seeking funding support for further interviews. If you would like to sponsor an interview or make a donation to support this crucial and exciting work or if you have a suggestion of a specific funding source with which you have a connection, please contact: In Tandem TC,41a Barnsbury Street, London N1 1PW, phone: 020 7359 7848, or email: contact@unfinishedhistories.com or intantc@aol.com

Many thanks to those who have donated so far, including:

Chris Barlas

Kenneth Branagh

Anna Cartaret

Jodi Myers

Adele Salem

Prunella Scales

Sarah Vernon

Joanna Wade

Advisory Board for Unfinished Histories: an Oral History of Alternative Theatre : Naseem Khan, Ruth Mackenzie, Philip Osment, Kate Owen, Paulette Randall, Nabil Shaban, Lily Susan Todd.

About In Tandem

Jessica Higgs is a freelance director and the Artistic Director of In Tandem TC. She began her career as an actor, working in the West End, alternative theatre, rep, touring and TIE. In 1976 she co-founded Les Oeufs Malades who produced the early plays of Bryony Lavery. Jessica is also a freelance voice coach in theatre, film and drama training and currently works at the Actors Centre and BADA (British American Drama Academy). In Tandem TC was established in March 2000 to facilitate and produce performance ideas that focus on difference and the integration of difference in society, creating a platform for culturally diverse and unheard voices. Work to date has included a Harold Pinter double bill translated and performed in British Sign Language with Deaf actors and developing a new piece 'kin'a'hora' on Anglo-Jewish identity with spoken word poet Leah Thorn. The company is currently developing a production of Happy Days in collaboration with French-African actor, Aicha Kossoko. The Chair of In Tandem TC is theatre critic Carole Woddis who co-wrote with Trevor Griffiths the original Bloomsbury Theatre Guide, responsible for the alternative theatre entries.

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UNFINISHED HISTORIES EVENTS ARCHIVE

In 2006, on Thurs, April 6th , 7.30pm, at the Theatre Museum the Inside Theatreland series - presented

Unfinished Histories: a ‘theatre history in the making' event - live interview and discussion.

For a recording of this event please go to the following link|:

http://www.theatrevoice.com/the_archive/

The late 70s and the 80s were a most exciting and important time for women's theatre. Numerous women's theatre companies, festivals and organisations developed, devising plays, campaigning for better representation for women writers and directors and celebrating women's work. Few of them now survive. Through a live interview and panel discussion ‘Unfinished Histories' asks what happened, why did it happen and what's next?

Susan Croft interviews Michele Frankel

Susan Croft is a theatre historian and is currently compiling and archiving this important area of work; Michele Frankel was the founder/director of women's theatre company Beryl & the Perils .

The interview explores Michele's scrapbooks and diaries which are about to be donated to the Museum. It will be recorded in order to document memories of the events, companies and productions that flouted and challenged conventional images of women. Late 20 th feminist theatre has been documented in writing yet the personal experiences of those who made it, especially much of the collective and improvised work remain largely unrecorded until now. It will also examine how that energy can be tapped into as women in theatre face newer challenges for example, ageism. Once again models of women may not reflect who we really are. And, do the new generation of young female theatre practitioners face the same dilemma between career and motherhood that women like Michele faced?

Panel Discussion

Chair: Susan Croft

The panel: Susie Orbach, Gillian Hanna, Jenny Harris, Sheryl Crown, Michele Frankel

.A group of successful female theatre professionals or others in related fields will reflect on their work during the 70s/80s and examine how their own experience continues to inform their current careers. Each member of the panel will be invited to comment on one/all of the following questions::

•  did this upsurge fade or did it take new forms?;

•  what impact did this pioneering period have on theatre and other creative media in general?;

•  where is all this creative female energy going now?;

•  how can we prevent female writers, directors, performers from re-inventing the wheel

•  do young female theatre practitioners face the same issues today?

Michele Frankel's student play launched her directing career at the women's theatre festival in 1977. Next she founded and directed Beryl and the Perils ‘ they set up to create a fault line under British Theatre and succeeded'. For the next fifteen years she directed various innovative productions in London and New York including Burnt Bridges inaugural play. Her last jobs in theatre included leading a women's writers workshop set up by Award winning playwrights April de Angelis and Judith Johnson, staff director at the Royal National Theatre and workshop leader for the education departments at the National and the Southbank.

Susan Croft was founder Director of the New Playwrights' Trust and active in the Conference of Women Theatre Directors and Administrators. She went on to work from 1997-2005 as Curator of Contemporary Performance at the Theatre Museum , documenting this area of work. She is author of …She Also Wrote Plays: an International Guide to Women Playwrights from the 10th to the 21 st Century (Faber and Faber, 2001) and a writer, researcher, dramaturg and arts consultant.

Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist and writer and Professor in the sociology department at the LSE. She was joint founder of the London Women's Therapy Centre. She became involved with women's theatre when Spare Tyre theatre company based a production on her book Fat is a Feminist Issue. She also ran workshops on group dynamics for organisations including Women in Entertainment.

Gillian Hanna Gillian is an actress and translator. In 1975 she was one of a group of women who set up The Monstrous Regiment, the touring feminist theatre company. She worked with the company extensively until its closure in 1993. Her book about the company history, Monstrous Regiment: A Collective Celebration was published by Nick Hern Books in 1991 but is now out of print. Recent theatre work include appearances at The National Theatre, The Royal Court Theatre and more recently in One Last Card Trick at the Watford Palace Theatre. Recent film appearances include Roman Polanskis' Oliver Twist.

Jenny Harris is a passionate advocate and producer of arts in the community in the UK and globally. She developed major arts projects including; New Albany , Greenwich Picture House, Circus Senso and worked in New York pioneering an inner city arts programme. Currently she is Director of Education & Training at the National Theatre where she has produced over 30 shows touring nationwide, a wide ranging programme of national and international arts in education programmes as well as Art of Regeneration a cutting edge, unique culture-led social regeneration programme.

Sheryl Crown

Sheryl started her drama career as a Director/ Producer in Theatre in Education, Educational Drama and Community Theatre In the 1990's Sheryl worked at the BBC as a Television Drama Producer and Script Development Executive, followed by a successful period as Head of Drama for Independent TV and Film Companies, producing feature films and Television dramas for the international & domestic market, and receiving a coveted Oscar Nomination in 2000. Sheryl then worked as a Development Executive for BBC Films. In 2004 Sheryl was appointed Head of Production at Screen East, The UK Film Council's, screen agency for the East of England and has Executive produced 4 low to medium budget Features for theatric release and two Digital Shorts strands for the Film Council's New Cinema fund.

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Angie Milan (Event Co-producer)

Graduated from Dartington College of Arts with a BA Hons in Theatre Language. She started her career in theatre as founder member of midlands based Platypus Community Theatre. In 1985 she  moved into commercial communications setting up an integrated agency where she was Managing Director for fifteen years, then became Creative Marketing Director of a global publishing company.  She is now a communications consultant working for commerical and non commercial clients.  Her  interest in theatre continued throughout this time as a  founder member of women's writers group at the Oval and joint runner up in Second Wave Women's Writers competition and producer of multi media performance art company The Flying Circuits.

Why is this event important?

Hundreds of women writers and performers were active in the Actresses Franchise League in the early 20 th century. Yet their experience was hugely under-documented. Late 20 th feminist theatre has been written about much more yet the personal experiences of those who made it, especially much of the collective and improvised work remain largely unrecorded.

Out of the discussions of personal histories in preparing this event arose many questions which the organisers felt had a relevance to women in theatre and women in general and these we will address in the second part of the evening. In particular the impact of having children and the need for a more flexible approach to work and the employability of women who are now in their 50s. Both of these issues are universal and it is hoped that this event proves to raise an agenda and a future event much larger than the theatre and film community

Who should attend?

Theatre, arts academics, students

Theatre directors, writers, performers

Arts journalists & commentators, educators

Members of professional female organisations.

Anyone interested in the challenge of working into the years

Previously thought of as ‘retirement'.

If you would like to contribute to ongoing research on this topic please see Women's Theatre List. Go to Women's Theatre Archives for information on this topic given in handout at event.

How to Book

Tickets £10, £8 concessions. Please contact the Theatre Museum on: 020 7943 4750 or book online at www.theatremuseum.org/insidetheatreland

Press information : contact Angie Milan on 07768 650 704 or by email email