Welcome to Unfinished Histories
Recording the history of Alternative Theatre in the 1960s, 70s and 80s through interviews and the collecting of archive material.
Companies involved were among some of the first Black, Asian, lesbian, gay, women’s, disabled, political, experimental, TIE and community-based theatre groups seen in Britain.
Work ranged from experiments in physical and visual theatre or performance art, to vernacular drama, agit-prop and satire, championing a generation of artists whose work has influenced and shaped present day theatre.
Our online resources
Interviews
Audio, video and written interviews with practitioners from the movement
History
Links to information on companies, individuals and organisations from the movement
Areas of Work
More specific information organised by genre of performance and identity
This website contains material taken from our Interviews with practitioners active in the alternative theatre movement as well as giving extensive information on Companies and Individuals
Unfinished Histories was established in 2006 and the majority of the resource material on the website reflects our activities up to 2017. Due to financial constraints little information about our recent oral history interviews has been added to our website pages. If you would like to help rectify that by volunteering your time to help create site content or by donating money to support this work, please contact us.
Meanwhile what we have collected thus far is publicly available through our depositories: Bishopsgate Institute (oral history interviews and archive material – posters, programmes, photos, books etc); Sheffield University, British Library Sound Archives and V&A Theatre Collections (oral history interviews) and this website or directly from us. To keep up-to-date with new developments, please join our mailing list.