| Description | Lindsay Anderson directed his first theatre production at the Royal Court Theatre in 1957. This was the start of a long association with the Royal Court where Anderson directed many new and challenging pieces of theatre including Sergeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden in 1959, Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse in 1960 and The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch in 1961. Anderson's last production for the Royal Court was his revival of Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw in 1975. In 1969 Anderson directed David Storey's play In Celebration at the Royal Court. This was the first of 10 plays written by Storey that Anderson directed. Anderson had worked with Storey in the early 1960s transferring his novel about a rugby league player, This Sporting Life, to the screen. Other Anderson/Storey productions included The Contractor (1969), Home (1970), The Changing Room (1971), Life Class (1974), Early Days (1980) and Stages (1992). Anderson directed a film version of In Celebration in 1974 (ref. 1/8). Anderson also turned his hand to established classics directing a number of productions of Shakespeare (Julius Caesar and Hamlet) and Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull). Throughout his theatre career Anderson directed a 'who's who' of British actors including John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay, Brian Cox, Alan Bates, Joan Plowright, Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell. The collection contains material relating to 40 plays directed by Anderson between 1957 - 1992 including scripts, production notes, correspondence (with playwrights, cast, critics and theatre-goers), photographs, promotional material (such as theatre programmes and posters) and press cuttings. As well as the material relating to the plays themselves in this sub-collection there are also large correspondence files (ref. 5/1/2) where Anderson and various actors and playwrights including David Storey discuss the development and staging of plays and other matters. Anderson was also involved in the management of the Royal Court Theatre for many years and minutes and reports of various committees are present in the collection (ref. 5/1/3). |