CASTLE THEATRE AND REDGRAVE THEATRE, FARNHAM: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS

The records consist principally of the minutes, accounts and working papers of the Farnham Repertory Company Limited and its successor, Farnham Theatre Productions Limited. Also included are architectural drawings prepared by Frank Rutter, FRIBA, for the new Redgrave Theatre, 1968-1974.

There are also administrative files relating to applications for grant-aid submitted by the Theatre Manager and Chairman of the Board of Directors; the Artistic Director's preparations for various in-house productions; and the work of Theatreaction and the Redgrave Theatre Young People's Theatre Officer and Education Officer.

A detailed summary of the main series of records is below:

6894/1/ THE ENGLISH CLASSICAL PLAYERS AT FARNHAM PLAYHOUSE 1940

6894/2/ FARNHAM REPERTORY COMPANY LTD 1948-1997

6894/2/ Memorandum and Articles of Association 1948-1980

6894/2/ Board of Directors 1948-1996

6894/2/ Farnham Repertory Company Ltd annual general meetings 1949-1996

6894/2/ Finance & General Purposes Committee 1968-1992

6894/2/ Liaison Committee 1980-1983

6894/2/ Financial records 1948-1996

6894/2/ Administrative files: winding-up of financial affairs 1995-1997

6894/2/ Administrative files: relations with the Arts Council of Great Britain 1963-1988

6894/2/ Administrative files: relations with local authorities 1963-1988

6894/2/ Administrative files: relations with other grant awarding bodies 1973-1987

6894/2/ Administrative files: property management 1948-1996

6894/2/ Administrative files: general 1964-1988

6894/3/ FARNHAM THEATRE TRUST 1969-1988
Established by the Farnham Repertory Company Ltd but separately administered.

6894/3/ Fundraising activities 1970-1982

6894/4/ CASTLE PRODUCTIONS (FARNHAM) LTD 1989-1990
Castle Productions (Farnham) Ltd were established by Farnham Repertory Company Ltd as a commercial venture in 1989. Their first production, a musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's book, Matilda, was commissioned by Castle Productions (Farnham) Ltd from the novelist and playwright, Rony Robinson. The musical played at the Redgrave Theatre, 7 Dec 1989-20 Jan 1990, before touring the provinces until the end of May.

6894/5/ FARNHAM THEATRE PRODUCTIONS 1995-1998
Following the closure of the Redgrave Theatre in January 1995, James Gatward, a local television executive, put together a rescue plan. This led to the incorporation of a new management company, Farnham Theatre Productions Ltd (FTP) and the winding up of Farnham Repertory Company Ltd later the same year. FTP held its first meeting on 1 August 1996 and the theatre reopened in Nov 1996. Unfortunately, FTP was unable to end the Redgrave's financial difficulties and the theatre closed once more in 1998. For further information regarding this period of transition, see the general introduction to this catalogue.

6894/5/ Memorandum and Articles of Association 1995

6894/5/ Minutes 1996-1998

6894/5/ Annual statements of account 1997-1998

6894/5/ Property 1995

6894/5/ Board of Directors' administrative files 1995-1998

6894/6/ CASTLE THEATRE 1956-1974

6894/6/ Account book 1968-1973

6894/6/ Staff wage books 1967-1973

6894/6/ Arts Council returns 1971-1973

6894/6/ Castle Theatre Club and Social Committee 1965-1974
The Social Committee of the Castle Theatre Club was created in 1951 to organise fund-raising for the Theatre and other social events. One member of the Committee sat on the board of directors of the Farnham Repertory Co Ltd but the Committee itself was officially separate from the company's management of the Theatre. The Committee was reconstituted in 1969. It subsequently participated in the Appeal Committee of the Redgrave Theatre Appeal.

6894/6/ Production records 1956-c.1973

6894/7/ REDGRAVE THEATRE 1970-1998

6894/7/1/ REDGRAVE THEATRE: MANAGEMENT RECORDS 1970-1998

6894/7/1/ Steering Committee 1970-1974

6894/7/1/ Architectural drawings c.1970-1974

6894/7/1/ Redgrave Theatre Appeals 1978-1993
See also copy minutes of the Appeal Committee, 6894/6/22.

6894/7/1/ Redgrave Theatre House Committee 1984-1992
Responsible for all Front of House staffing and duties.

6894/7/1/ Redgrave Theatre Club 1997-1998
Established in 1989 as successor to the Castle Club.

6894/7/1/ Redgrave Theatre staff records 1974-1998

6894/7/1/ Box Office Returns 1989-1998

6894/7/1/ Attendance Survey 1978-1985

6894/7/1/ Administrative files: Manager's relations with the Board of Directors 1974-1998

6894/7/1/ Administrative files: audience complaints and comments 1974-1979

6894/7/1/ Administrative files: relations with local bodies c.1970-1998

6894/7/2/ REDGRAVE THEATRE: PRODUCTION RECORDS 1974-1994

6894/7/2/ Production budgets and proposed playlists 1974-1977

6894/7/2/ Play readers reports nd [c.1970]-1992

6894/7/2/ Production files 1981-1998
These files are a sample of the full production file sequence. They were selected to represent the varied range and scale of productions staged at and by the Redgrave Theatre; arrangements for touring productions; and their relations with external companies.

6894/7/2/ Programmes and publicity material 1974-1994

6894/7/2/ Commemorative brochure 1974

6894/7/2/ Newsletters 1983-1984

6894/7/2/ Press releases 1979-c.1990

6894/7/3/ REDGRAVE THEATRE: PUBLICITY 1996-1997

6894/8/ YOUNG PEOPLE'S THEATRE, THEATREACTION AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 1965-1998

6894/8/ Reports on Young People's Theatre at the Redgrave Theatre 1979-1982

6894/8/ Administrative files 1965-1987

6894/8/ Redgrave Theatre Young Supporters Club 1982

6894/8/ Redgrave Youth Theatre 1984-1998

6894/8/ Redgrave Theatre Education Department 1992-1995

6894/9/ COUNCIL OF REPERTORY THEATRES 1956-1971

Castle Theatre

On 5 December 1939, Laurence Ray and the English Classical Players opened a season of weekly repertory in a converted 16th century barn on Castle Street, Farnham. Prior to this date, the company had been engaged upon a tour of Europe which had been cut short by the declaration of war on 3 September 1939.

When converted for theatrical use, the barn, which had previously functioned as a cinema, roller-skating rink and dance hall, could seat up to 164. As it did not fulfil the legal requirements for licensing as a place of public entertainment, the theatre operated as a club. The opening production in the newly-named Farnham Playhouse was George Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell and the first season ran until June 1940.

Upon re-opening in October 1941, the theatre was renamed the Castle Theatre and the English Classical Players were renamed the Farnham Repertory Company under the direction of Norman Buckle, an actor from Ray's company. Initially, the Company was funded solely by box-office takings and club subscriptions. However, these proved insufficient and the Farnham Repertory Company Ltd (FRC Ltd) was incorporated on 19 May 1948. This was followed by the appointment of the Social Committee in 1950 whose main role was to supervise fund-raising activities.

FRC Ltd purchased the leasehold of the theatre from the Farnham & District Rink & Recreation Company in June 1954. The company received its first annual grants from both the Arts Council of Great Britain and Farnham Urban District Council in 1957.

The Castle Theatre continued to operate as a weekly repertory theatre until 1963, when plays were produced on a fortnightly basis. Artistic support was provided by the Playgoers' Circle who organised a series of recitals, lectures and poetry readings. Apart from a brief period, 1969-1970, when new productions opened every three weeks, plays continued to be produced fortnightly until the theatre closed in 1974.

The Redgrave Theatre

At the FRC Ltd AGM, 1965, it was proposed that a larger, more watertight replacement for the Castle Theatre should be built. In 1967, the company leased Brightwell House from Farnham Urban District Council as a suitable site for conversion. The house, a listed building built c.1795, was situated between Brightwell Gardens and South Street, Farnham.

The architect Frank Rutter, FRIBA, was commissioned in 1968 to design the new theatre incorporating the main portion of Brightwell House for the club, restaurant and offices. The stable block was demolished and the site used for the theatre auditorium, studio, wardrobe, dressing rooms and stage area.

The Farnham Repertory Theatre Trust was inaugurated on 31 March 1969 to supervise the construction of the new building and to organise fundraising appeals. FRC Ltd was to manage the theatre once it was constructed. Demolition work began in 1971 and on 9 September 1972, Sir Michael Redgrave laid a time capsule beneath the foundation stone. The Redgrave Theatre opened on 12 June 1974 with a royal gala performance of Romeo & Juliet attended by HRH Princess Margaret.

From its inception, the Redgrave Theatre was heavily dependent upon annual grants of subsidy from Waverley Borough Council and the Arts Council of Great Britain. The theatre also organised its own fundraising initiatives administered by the Farnham Repertory Theatre Trust and the Castle Club. The latter was established in 1974 as a result of the merger of the Castle Theatre's Social Committee and Playgoers' Circle, and its volunteers provided valuable front-of-house support. It was reconstituted in 1989 as the Redgrave Theatre Club.

The Redgrave Theatre continued to produce all its own plays and events until 1991, when financial shortages meant that, for half the year, the theatre hosted touring productions, films and events. Despite the efforts of its fundraising committees and the receipt of subsidies from Waverley Borough Council, Surrey County Council, the Arts Council for Great Britain, South East Arts and the Foundation for Sport & the Arts, the Company experienced an increasing number of financial difficulties during the 1990s and was forced to close the theatre in January 1995. The Globe Restaurant, situated in the theatre, stayed open until the following June.

James Gatward, a local television executive, put together a rescue plan which led to the sale of the Castle Theatre lease to Waverley District Council in 1996. South East Arts refused to support the new plan and withdrew their previous promise of a grant in October of the same year. FRC Ltd was wound up and the management of the theatre passed to Farnham Theatre Productions Ltd (incorporated 1995). The Redgrave Theatre re-opened in November 1996, with a production of A Passionate Woman and a mixed programme of plays and musical events, celebrity speakers and a film season. Despite these efforts, the theatre closed once more in 1998.

Theatreaction, Young People's Theatre and Education Department

Theatreaction was established in 1967 by Rex Doyle, the Castle Theatre's newly appointed Youth Liaison Officer, as a Theatre in Education (TIE) group. Comprising a small group of professional actors, Theatreaction mounted annual tours of schools in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire, performing and providing workshops and supporting notes for pupils and teachers. Theatreaction moved to the Redgrave Theatre when it opened in 1974 and was still offering tours in 1983. It continued to operate until budget cuts forced it to curtail its activities in the late 1980s.

Whilst still at the Castle Theatre, under the name of Young People's Theatre, Rex Doyle also organised a regular Saturday morning drama club for 9-18 year olds and a programme of related events aimed at various age groups. The theatre also ran a Young Playgoers' Club which produced a regular newsletter for its members.

Young People's Theatre continued at the Redgrave Theatre where the Saturday morning sessions were referred to as SMART (Saturday Morning At the Redgrave Theatre). The Young People's Theatre Officer also continued to organise a series of 'Schools' Days' and 'Student Days' at the theatre targeted at particular age groups. The drama club became known as the Redgrave Youth Theatre (RYT) and performed an annual show devised and staged by its own members. In July 1996, the RYT took a devised show to the National Association of Youth Theatres' Festival in Loughborough.

In the early 1990s, Andy Brereton was appointed as Education Officer. His task was to revive the Redgrave Theatre's tradition of Theatre in Education. As well as organising in-house events for young people and the Redgrave Youth Theatre, the Education Officer worked in conjunction with Surrey Police and several other county agencies under the mantle of MANDATE (Multi-Agency Drugs & Alcohol Training & Education) to produce two plays to tour local schools (Poor Ted and Feeling High…Feeling Low …?).

There are no access restrictions.

Deposited by Waverley Borough Council per the Curator of Farnham Museum, in October 2000, and in February and April 2007 (comprising material from the Vicky King Collection and donation by Mr A Shipton of Wheatley, Oxfordshire).

An item level description of the archive is available on the Surrey History Centre online catalogue

For printed histories of the Castle Theatre and Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, nd [1948 x 1998], see 6609/2/-;

For programmes of productions at the Castle Theatre, Farnham, 1960-1971, see 5180/1/-.

For the Castle Theatre and Redgrave Theatre performance archive, 1939-2004, see 9363.

The Redgrave Theatre, illustrated souvenir brochure for the opening of the theatre (Farnham, 1974) (6894/7/2/21);
For a summary of the Redgrave Theatre funding difficulties prior to 1996, see the Farnham Herald, 29 Nov 1996.