Sphinx Theatre Company (formerly The Women's Theatre Group) Archive

Scope and Content

The archive consists of the administrative and artistic management papers of the Sphinx Theatre Company (formerly the Women's Theatre Group) from its beginnings in 1973 to 2005. The main core of the archive consists of production management files, photographs, press cuttings, company and productions accounts, and the papers of the writers' group. Also contained in the archive is the material relating to the 'Glass Ceiling' events on women and theatre which have been organised by the company since 1991.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Women's Theatre Group evolved out of Ed Berman's desire to mount an Almost Free Lunch-time Theatre 'Women's Festival' in 1973. Many women writers, directors, stage managers and performers responded to Berman's idea and took the decision to work via a series of open meetings to which any interested women could come to read and discuss scripts thus avoiding the hierarchical processes regarded as typical of the male-dominated theatre scene. The aim was to allow ideas and productions to develop organically but inevitably the pressure of having a show ready for the deadline meant that the group decided on scripted shows cast in the conventional way.

The Women's Festival programme included the work of established writers Pam Gems and Michelene Wandor, and only one hitherto unproduced writer, Jane Wibberley (Buzz Goodbody was among those who acted in the festival). The relatively 'safe' nature of the eventual season resulted in a split between those involved in the festival into the Women's Company who opted to work in the conventional way, with a number of established theatre professionals in the company, and the Women's Theatre Group opting to devise their work collectively and to produce pieces for the community (teenagers in particular). Their first piece was Fantasia (1974), followed by My Mother Says I Never Should (1975) chronicling teenage sexual experience, Work to Role (1976) about the kind of jobs available to female school leavers and Out On the Costa del Trico (1977) about the equal pay strike by women working at the Trico windscreen wiper factory in London. These early plays were agit-prop and epic in form in common with much alternative theatre of the time. In 1978 the group employed writers for the first time, commissioning Hot Spot from Eileen Fairweather and Melissa Murrary. Encouraging new work by women had always been part of the company's remit and from this point on, commissioning new writing became a cornerstone of their policy.

In 1974 the Women's Theatre Group's aim was to provide roles for women in the theatre as directors, stage managers, and writers and to produce work which reflected the struggle for equal rights. In 1990 the Women's Theatre Group became the Sphinx Theatre Company reflecting their recognition of the need to move "from the barricades to the mainstream" in terms of their presentation of, and meditations on, the role of women in theatre and the world. In 2005 the company celebrated over 30 years of involvement in theatre with Flogging the Jewels: A Celebratory Exhibition at the National Theatre.

Arrangement

These papers have been arranged chronologically or alphabetically in the following series:

• THM/322/1 - Company Minutes
• THM/322/2 - General company correspondence
• THM/322/3 - Artistic Director correspondence
• THM/322/4 - Writers' and Writers' Group correspondence and papers
• THM/322/5 - Production files (including publicity material, press cuttings and accounts)
• THM/322/6 - Photographs
• THM/322/7 - Posters
• THM/322/8 - Press cuttings
• THM/322/9 - Grants and Fundraising files
• THM/322/10 - Contracts
• THM/322/11 - Glass Ceiling Events files

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is available for consultation in the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance's Reading Room, which is located at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Rd, Olympia, London, W14 0QX. The Reading Room is open Tuesday to Friday between 10.15 am and 4.30 pm. Access to it is by appointment only. To request an appointment please email tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk or telephone 020 7942 2698.

Access to some of these files may be restricted. These are identified at file level.

Conditions Governing Use

Archive material may not be photocopied. Arrangements can be made to photograph material in the reading room using non-flash photography.

Appraisal Information

This collection was appraised in line with the collection management policy.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Sphinx Theatre Company, 2006.

Accruals

Further accruals are likely.

Related Material

Further information about the Sphinx Theatre Company may be found in the core and library collections of the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance.

Bibliography

Cousins, Geraldine, Recording Women: A Documentation of Six Theatre Productions Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Press

Craig, Sandy (ed.), Dreams and Deconstructions: Alternative Theatre in England London: Amber Lane Press

Goodman, Lizbeth and de Gay, Jane, Feminist Stages: Interviews with Women in Contemporary British Drama. London: Routledge 1996

Itzin, Catherine, Stages in the Revolution: Political Theatre in Britain since 1968

Sphinx Theatre Company, Flogging the Jewels!, London, National Theatre

Wandor, Micheline, Carry on Understudies, London, Routledge