Samuel West Collection

Collection of scripts and notebooks used by Samuel West performing roles at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; the Public Theater, New York; the Donmar, London; Chichester Festival Theatre and on BBC Radio 3 and directing productions at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon; the Minerva Theatre, Chichester; the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; venues in Palestine; the Menier Chocolate Factory, London and on BBC Radio 3.

Samuel Alexander Joseph West, actor and director, was born 19 June 1966, in London, the son of actors, Timothy West and Prunella Scales (born Prunella Illingworth). He was educated at Alleyn's School, Dulwich and Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, graduating with a BA (Hons) in English Literature in 1988. He made his debut on the professional stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1985 playing in Terence Rattigan's 'The Browning Version' before going on to perform in a wide variety of stage, television, film and radio productions including the film, 'Howard's End', for which he received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actor in 1993. As an award winning reader and reciter he has narrated television documentaries and audio books and worked with orchestras in the UK and overseas. Five years after working on the fringe production of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Hamlet' in 2000, West's burgeoning directing career took off with his appointment as Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres August 2005-August 2007; most recently (2012) he directed his first radio play with Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 'Money' and directed Lee Hall's 'Close the Coalhouse Door' which opened at the Northern Stage, Newcastle in April 2012.

His awards include The John and Wendy Trewin Award for Best Shakespearean Performance and the Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award for his protrayal of Hamlet in Steven Pimlott's 2001 production for the RSC. His performance in Lucy Prebble's, 'Enron', won him four of his many award nominations, including the Olivier Award for Best Actor. His first directorial nomination was for 'Cosi Fan Tutte' in 2004 (in the category of Best Opera Revival), followed by a second Olivier Award nomination, this time for 'Dealer's Choice' in 2007; in 2008 he was nominated for the Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Director with 'Waste'.

Sources: 'WEST, Samuel Alexander Joseph.' In Who's Who 2012. London: A & C Black, 2012. Online ed., Oxford: OUP, 2011. Online ed., November 2011. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U39382 (accessed 23 November 2012); Michael Billington profile 16 Septmeber 2005 in 'The Guardian' Online http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/sep/16/arts.artsnews1 (accessed 23 November 2012); Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critics'_Circle_Theatre_Award(accessed 23 November 2012).

Material has been arranged chronologically by date of performance.

Open to all registered researchers.

Deposited by Samuel West in 2012.

A full catalogue of the collection can be found at: https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/TreeBrowse.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&field=RefNo&key=XDSH27

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. The Shakespeare Institute Library: Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Available at the Shakespeare Institute Library: 'Richard II' (1999) CD recording at CD Coll. A/Richard II; 'Hamlet' (2001) programme (Library classmark: pPN 2596.S7R6)