Romy Cheeseman, Honorary Archivist at the Victoria Theatre Archive, helped to curate the story-telling exhibition alongside a group of dedicated volunteers and a project curator to mark the theatre’s Diamond Jubilee last year. After going on show at the New Vic Theatre and the Brampton Museum, visitors have another chance to see the exhibition at Staffordshire University.
Among the items on show are behind-the-scenes pictures, correspondence, and programmes which showcase the different processes that go into putting a play on the stage, from initial research and writing to directing and final rehearsals.
Romy Cheeseman said: “It's amazing the amount of material that is housed in the archive that demonstrates the whole process, the working life of a repertory theatre. It also demonstrates work with people in the community because one of the important aspects of the work of the Vic Theatre were the documentary plays, that were based on local issues.”
The Victoria Theatre opened in a former cinema in Hartshill in 1962 before the purpose-built New Vic Theatre opened in in Newcastle-Under-Lyme in 1986. It captured the significance of local historic events through verbatim theatre, and this is prominent in the exhibition. Eleven documentaries were produced between 1964 and 1994, and they were firmly rooted in the local community, covering industry, history, politics, religion and war.
The Victoria Theatre Archive documents the first 36 years of the theatre’s work and is housed in Staffordshire University’s Special Collections at Library Creative. After securing Heritage Lottery Funding, the team has created a libguide to feature its contents online, providing access to photographs, press cuttings and much more.
Romy added: “It has been a wonderful opportunity to put the material together. The brilliant thing about getting the Heritage Lottery grant in collaboration with The New Vic has meant that we've been able to do far more digitising and this means the archive is going to be much more accessible.
“There's no point in having a massive collection of material if it can't be accessed and it can't be used as material for ongoing projects and as inspiration for new writing and new theatre making.”
The Victoria Theatre Diamond Jubilee exhibition is on display at the Unicube in Staffordshire University’s Flaxman Building, College Road, until Friday 31 March 2023.
For further information or to organise a visit, contact Honorary Archivist, Romy Cheeseman at R.Cheeseman@staffs.ac.uk.