Manolo Santos Archive

The collection chiefly concerns Santos’s time at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he studied production in the early 1960s (SAN/1), and Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, where he worked as stage manager from the mid-1960s into the 1970s (SAN/2). For both organisations the collection includes production files – comprising variously scripts, promptbooks, designs, organisational documents, correspondence and production photographs – as well as programmes, posters and administration records. A series of typescripts (SAN/3) with uncertain provenance form another series. Santos translated several plays into English, during his time in Bristol and afterwards; some of these, alongside correspondence with various directors and theatre companies, form another series (SAN/4). Miscellaneous items and photographs form the last two series (SAN/5-6).

Manolo Santos was born in Portugal and moved to Bristol to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the early 1960s. As a student on the production course he worked as stage manager or stage director for several school productions between 1961 and 1963. He went on to work for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company from the mid-1960s onwards, initially as Deputy Stage Manager under Derek Rye. From 1967 he worked as the Stage and Company Manager of the Little Theatre, Bristol Old Vic’s secondary venue. He also acted as tour manager and was involved in the company’s school tours. In 1969 he was promoted to Company Manager of the Bristol Old Vic, a post he held until the early-1970s when he moved to London.

During his time at the theatre school, Santos translated Lauro Olmo’s La Camisa, and this was subsequently staged. He continued to translate works while working in Bristol and later when living in London. He submitted translations of various plays to theatre companies throughout the UK, using a variety of pen names. He died in 2010.

The Manolo Santos collection was repackaged, conserved and catalogued in 2017 as part of Bristol Old Vic's "Protecting and Sharing the Heritage of Britain's Oldest Theatre" project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Several other collections related to the Bristol Old Vic are held at the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection and Bristol Archives. These will also be catalogued as part of the project between 2017 and 2020.

The Manolo Santos collection is arranged in six series that reflect his career at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, and translation work.

Open

DPA may apply to some records

Material collated and kept by Manolo Santos. On his death it was donated to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre before being transferred to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.