Did you know that if you’ve produced a script-based play in the UK that the law requires you to deposit a copy at the British Library or else face a fine?
If you didn’t you’re not alone: violation of this rule is rife. Of the 5,000 or so shows put on at Edinburgh each year around the festival and Fringe, only a tiny percentage ever submit their scripts to the British Library.
Before you panic though, the fine is only £5, so it won’t break the bank. But why wouldn’t you send them a copy of your script, when they’re happy to have it on record for researchers and future generations? For artists, academics and researchers it’s an amazing archive, and for producers and playwrights it’s a great way to go down in theatre history.
For instance, the rule has allowed the AHRC funded Theatre Archive Project, a collaboration between the British Library and the University of Sheffield, to reinvestigate the key period of British Theatre between 1945 and 1968.
Why this precise period, Arts Hub asked Jamie Andrews, Curator of Modern Literary Manuscripts at the British Library? “1945 serves as the beginning of the post WWII era, and 1968 is when the Lord Chamberlain stopped approving or ‘licensing’ drama”, says Jamie.
From 1737 until 1968, readers from the Lord Chamberlain’s office had to approve all of the drama produced in the UK. Professor Dominic Shellard, Head of English Literature at the University of Sheffield and leader of the Theatre Archive project explains that the Lord Chamberlain’s readers looked at each script and censored anything they thought was inappropriate, keeping a copy of the final script for posterity: “by the 1960s this job had become difficult as theatre began to reflect the political and sexual scandals of the day, and the Lord Chamberlain’s powers of censorship were withdrawn”, says Professor Shellard. “This was great news for UK theatre and allowed writers to develop plots and characters that truly reflected the age, but it had an unexpected downside for our theatre archives.”
Jack Reading, then Secretary for Society of Theatre Research, realised that the new order meant that there was now no central store for scripts and campaigned for an amendment to the Theatres Act. So this is where the quaint law originated, requiring all plays to be submitted to the British Library. But because the amendment is not very well known it often doesn’t happen.
I meet Jamie Andrews in the spectacularly quiet and airy foyer of the British Library on busy Euston Road, to find out more about the Theatre Archive project. He leads me through a maze of locked doors and corridors and we suddenly emerge in a massive, ice-cold temperature controlled room, with row upon row of shelves heavy with boxed manuscripts in chronological order. Stuck in the middle, somewhat out of context, is a cage-like enclosure containing ancient papyrus scrolls.
Jamie shows me some of the Theatre Archive gems – annotated scripts, photos, programmes, notes and letters from famous actors like Gielgud, and other fabulous bits and pieces on yellowed paper.
Approval notes, edits and reports from the Lord Chamberlain’s office show the worries of the day were much the same as they are now, if somewhat more vigilantly (and conservatively) policed – sex, politics and religion are key themes. But even if they censored the words, as Jamie says, they couldn’t always censor the way the words were interpreted on the stage. One way to get around the Lord Chamberlain’s office was to set up as a private performance, or a theatre club. These plays were not required to be read or approved.
Most of the readers who worked for the Lord Chamberlain were ex-airforce officers, Jamie explains. One can only imagine what they gained – they would almost certainly have been coming at the scripts from a vastly different perspective than the more bohemian theatre community.
The Theatre Archive project is huge, and has three strands: archives, scripts and oral, as well as a blog.
The archives themselves contain thousands of gems from the likes of Sir John Gielgud, Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Ralph David Richardson and Michel Saint-Denis, many of which are now available online as searchable databases. There are two major components of the archives: investigation of the post-war theatre archives; and investigation of the post-1968 British scripts collection. Jamie says that outcomes will include scholarly publications, an online catalogue of scripts performed in licensed spaces since 1968, and two Ph.D. studentships. An international conference, Manuscripts Matter, was held in 2006.
The scripts strand aims to recover play scripts performed in any licensed British venue after 1968 that were never deposited in the British Library. One of the main pushes is to urge contemporary theatres and companies to submit their scripts, and between September 2004 and April 2005 over 1,000 missing scripts were identified from fewer than 100 theatres. Nearly 300 of these play scripts have now been recovered. Jamie explains the script can be paper or electronic, bound or unbound, clean or dirty as long as it is the script on which the first performance is based. Playwrights who want to donate a copy of their script, or check if the British Library holds a copy, or theatre staff responsible for script deposits should contact Kate Dorney.
The oral history strand, which began in November 2003, aims to interview as many people as possible who visited or worked in the theatre between 1945 and 1968 with transcripts available now and audio to follow soon. So far there are over 100 interviews, including recollections and opinions from Michael Frayn, Harold Hobson, Arnold Wesker, Timothy West, Leo Kersley, Bernard Hepton and Thelma Barlow.
The Theatre Archive project is only one of many as it’s not just theatre manuscripts that the BL are collecting. In the late 1950s Philip Larkin was among many in the literary world who raised concerns about institutional apathy towards collecting modern literary manuscripts. His campaigning, combined with the efforts of the British Museum’s Manuscripts Department at help from the Arts Council, resulted in the National Manuscripts Collection of Contemporary Poetry being established in 1963.
As the Theatre Archive expands, so will its profile. And those in violation of the law need not worry – Jamie says it’s unlikely the anyone will ever bother to get their five pounds from you. They’d much prefer your script went down in history.
Editor’s note:As part of the project ‘Hidden Theatre?’: Theatre Workshop Recollections of British Theatre from 1945 to 1968 will be held on Tuesday 9 October 2007, 18.00 – 21.00 at The British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB. The event is free, but please book your ticket in advance at boxoffice.bl.uk or by calling + 44 (0)1937 546546.
Find out more about the Theatre Archive Project at bl.uk/theatrearchive
