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Bernard Kops |
Playwrights speak up for theatre’s lottery museum bid
HAMPSTEAD Theatre will discover on Monday whether a £50,000 bid to the Heritage Lottery fund to set up a museum celebrating their achievements has been successful.
The Theatre, in Eton Avenue, has been based in Swiss Cottage since 1959 and has helped launch the careers of some of the brightest lights in British drama – and the plan has been backed by leading playwrights.
The theatre was formed in a scout hut outside the Swiss Cottage library and aimed to give young writers and actors the chance to stage their works. And over the years, the theatre has stored copies of scripts and programmes from every production put on.
Development officer Jon Opie said: “We have played an instrumental part in the careers of some of the 20th and 21st century’s most influential writers, directors and actors, such as Harold Pinter, Stephen Poliokoff, Michael Frayn, Mike Leigh and Christopher Hampton.
“During this time we have amassed a large amount of material relating to these plays, including scripts, production notes, photographs, correspondence, audio recordings and programmes and flyers. At the moment this material is stored away and remains unseen by the public.”
The plan would see an exhibition space in the theatre’s basement house displays charting its history.
Playwright Bernard Kops, who lives in West Hampstead, backed the plans. He said: “It is a great resource. It is a beautiful building with an important history, and a local theatre is such an important part of one’s life. It deserves this archive to celebrate what it has achieved.”
And fellow playwright Sir Arnold Wesker said he was a great admirer of the theatre and added with the demise of The Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, the idea of a Hampstead archive would be one he would back.
He said: “It is very welcoming and has a great atmosphere.
“Closing the theatre Museum was a big mistake and it needs to be replaced. A plan like this would get my support.”
If the bid is successful the archive will also be available on-line.
Mr Opie added: “It would represent our illustrious literary past, contextualising and informing our present and future artistic work.”
The bid has been supported by a plethora of other institutes and bodies, including The Theatre Museum, Central School for Speech and Drama, The Camden History Society, Society for Theatre Research, The Theatres Trust and the Local History Centre at Holborn Library.
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