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Description: | The foundation of the Department's theatre collections are the three series of Lord Chamberlain's plays: the first for the years 1824-1851, the second for 1852-1899, and the third series for 1900-1968. These series contain printed as well as manuscript plays. The Department also holds the files relating to the censorship of individual plays from 1900 to 1968; these are known as the LCP Correspondence. The Department's Additional MSS collections include many letters to and from eminent dramatists, and actors and actresses, and there are also records relating to theatres such as account books and leases. Some of the major collections are listed here: [1] Peggy Ramsay: Records of Margaret Ramsay Limited date from 1953 to 1992 when the organisation merged with Jenne and Georgio Casarotto’s agency to form Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Limited. There are files for over 200 of Peggy’s clients with papers relating to stage, film, television and radio work as well as her personal correspondence with writers. The archive also contains financial records, script logs, professional correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs and inscribed books, among other items; [2] Peter Nichols: Papers of Peter Nichols dating from 1945 to 2000. The collection comprises literary papers along with personal and professional correspondence. Also diaries, awards, reviews, programmes and papers relating to Nichols’s journalism and media appearances; [3] Peter Gill: Archive of material relating to director, playwright and actor, Peter Gill; [4] Harold Pinter: Archive of playwright, director, actor and Nobel Prize winner, Harold Pinter, illustrating both his literary output and his political engagement. The material dates from 1943-2008. The archive contains literary papers relating to Pinter’s plays, dramatic sketches, film scripts, poetry and prose as well as personal and professional correspondence. In addition the archive includes scrapbooks relating to Pinter's productions and his political interests, photograph albums, appointments diaries and email correspondence, which is currently being processed; [5] David Rudkin: Archive of dramatist and screenwriter, David Rudkin (b.1936). The archive includes drafts of stage and radio plays by Rudkin as well as drafts of translations he created, adaptations and screenplays for television and film, and notebooks; [6] Ellen Terry: Archive of the actress, Dame Ellen Terry (1847-1928), which includes correspondence, manuscripts, press cuttings, programmes, publicity material, photographs, artwork, journals and books; [7] Laurence Olivier: Archive of actor, director, and theatre administrator, Sir Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier of Brighton (1907-1989). The archive includes papers and correspondence relating to both his personal and professional life including theatrical work and honours received, appointment diaries, scrapbooks and financial documents. Also includes material relating to Olivier family and his three wives; [8] John Gielgud: Archive of actor and director, Sir John Gielgud OM CH (1904-2000). The archive includes correspondence, playscripts and libretti, photographs, press cuttings, theatrical programmes and posters. Also includes papers relating to Gielgud’s maternal family, the Terry theatrical dynasty;
[9] Ralph Richardson: Archive of the actor, Sir Ralph Richardson (1913-2000), which consists of playscripts, speeches, broadcasts, diaries, press cuttings and photographs. The archive also includes professional and financial papers and material relating to the Richardson and Russell families.
[10] Kenneth Tynan: Archive of theatre critic and author, Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980), who was also the first literary manager of the National Theatre, and deviser of the erotic revues Oh! Calcutta! and Carte Blanche. The archive, which includes playscripts, papers relating to Tynan’s revues, press cuttings and correspondence also contains personal papers and material collected by Kathleen Halton Tynan (1937-1995), Tynan's second wife, in connection with the biography she wrote about him and the volume of letters she edited. The material dates from 1938 to 1995.
[11] Terence Rattigan: Archive of playwright, Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (1911-1977), which contains correspondence, dramatic and prose drafts and press cuttings. The material, which dates from 1836 to 1982, also includes papers and correspondence relating to Rattigan’s parents.
[12] Ronald Harwood: Archive of dramatist, screenwriter and novelist Sir Ronald Harwood (b.1934), who won an Oscar for his screenplay of The Pianist in 2003. The archive includes scripts for stage, radio, television and film, scrapbooks, press cuttings, diaries and correspondence. Also includes some work by Harold Pinter and Lady Antonia Fraser.
[13] N.F. Simpson: Professional correspondence including letters from William Gaskill (Simpson’s first director), Simon Brett, publishers, and with the Royal Court, Union, and Donmar theatres. There are also files including printed and typewritten translations of Simpson’s work into German, Czech and Polish; copies of BBC scripts, a file relating to his play ‘If so, then yes; programmes and reviews of productions of Simpson plays in the USA and in Europe.
[14] Tom Stoppard: Drafts and working material relating to The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia.
[15] Michel Saint-Denis: Correspondence and papers of Michel Saint-Denis, theatre director and broadcaster, covering c.1913–1975. The archive also includes some correspondence and papers of Saint-Denis's second wife, Suria Magito (Valia Maria Alexandra Grell). Comprises letters and life records; diaries; papers relating to Jacques Copeau and to Saint-Denis’s work in French theatre before World War II; work with Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Shakespeare Company, articles and lectures, theatre scripts, programmes and photographs. | Format: | Correspondence Documents (business) Playtexts (printed) Playtexts (manuscripts) | Subjects: | Drama; letters 19th century; 20th century; theatre history | Temporal: | 1609 - present | Source: | Backstage | Address: | 96 Euston Road, London,,
NW1 2DB | FAX: | +44 (0)20 7412 7745 | Telephone: | +44 (0)20 7412 7513 | Creator: | British Library | Identifier: | www.backstage.ac.uk/records/collection/c | Language: | en | Format: | Correspondence Documents (business) Playtexts (printed) Playtexts (manuscripts) | Go to resource |
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