Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive

An archive for today's Sadler’s Wells

In previous blogs we have focused primarily on the large collection of material that we hold concerning the beginnings of Sadler's Wells Theatre, and the first half of the 20th century, when the theatre was refurbished and reopened by Lilian Baylis in 1931. But for anyone interested in contemporary dance and choreography, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive is a treasure trove.

We hold programmes and publicity material relating to some of the today’s most noted dance companies, choreographers, designers, musicians and, of course, dancers. Matthew Bourne, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Balletboyz, Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Wayne McGregor, Nitin Sawhney and Hofesh Shechter are just some of the associated artists that perform regularly at the theatre today.

The cover and inside of the programme for the world premiere of Matthew Bourne's production of 'Swan Lake' at Sadler's Wells on 9 November 1995

We also hold material related to other noted performers and companies that have performed at Sadler’s Wells in the last thirty years. These include Carlos Acosta, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Michael Clarke, Paco Pena, Rambert Dance Company, Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 & 2, La La La Human Steps, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Batsheva Dance Company and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

The cover and inside of the programme for Tanzheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch's performance at Sadler's Wells in September 1982.

 
One of the biggest pleasures of working with such a diverse and comprehensive archive is that you get a feel of  how Sadler’s Wells Theatre has developed over its 330 years, as well a glimpse into the wider picture of how the world of theatre, dance and opera developed in general over that time.

The Wanderer: Graham Sutherland and Sadler's Wells

In our previous blog, Mark promised to reveal details of an exciting discovery found in the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive during listing and cataloguing of costume and set designs. I am now very pleased to share this news with our readers.

I have been tidying up the loose ends of the collection, looking at material that has either been put in the ‘too hard basket’ – items that don't slot easily into any obvious category - or files that were yet to be catalogued. Recently I turned my attention to set and costume designs awaiting listing and cataloguing, unaware of the surprise to come.

There are around five different series of set and costume designs in the archive and, while sorting through various items in this category, I was excited to discover that one set of costume designs was created by well-known British artist Graham Sutherland (1903-1980).

Sutherland was commissioned to design two backdrops and the costumes for Frederick Ashton's ballet The Wanderer, set to Schubert's piano sonata Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 ( D. 760) known as The Wanderer Fantasy. The Sadler's Wells Ballet production premiered on 27 January 1941 at the New Theatre in St Martin's Lane. The principle dancers included  Robert Helpmann playing 'The Traveller’ and Margot Fonteyn playing the lead female role, with Pamela May and Michael Somes playing 'The Lovers'.

We hold 12 of the costume designs by Sutherland for the ballet. These are outlined in pencil or pen and painted with watercolour, and notated with remarks about the characters' costumes. Some come complete with fabric swatches attached and labelled from B. Burnet & Co, Covent Garden. The fabrics are particularly vibrant in colour – pinks, reds and oranges for the lead roles and dark-greens, greys, browns and black for the supporting dancers (as shown below).

Unfortunately the archive doesn't possess any of the backdrop designs, or any colour reproductions. However, there is a painting held at the V&A upon which one of the backdrops is based,  The Wanderer I (1940). The painting has oranges, yellows and browns dominating the work, so perhaps we can imagine how the back drops may have originally appeared. 

The above photograph is from the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of The Wanderer and shows Sutherland’s distinctive backdrop behind the performers. Helpmann is being held aloft and Fonteyn is in the foreground to the right. Both are wearing the costumes shown in the above designs to the righ of the photograph.

The costumes were apparently not to everyone's taste but the backdrops were generally thought a great success. This was, as far as we are able to ascertain, Graham Sutherland's only sojourn into the world of theatre design and we are delighted to hold these items in our collection (S/SWT/2/10/6/1).

Julie Melrose
Islington Local History Centre 

 

 

Walter Sickert: an acting artist at Sadler's Wells

Our last blog of 2012 promised future news about Islington Local History Centre's latest archive cataloguing project, the Sickert Family Collection. I am therefore very pleased to announce that, as scheduled, this is now underway.

Undertaking the task is the Centre's Special Collection's Assistant, Julie Melrose. Julie has been an integral member of the team, working on the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive cataloguing project since its inception in 2011. At the heart of the Sickert Family Collection are the works, correspondence and ephemera of British artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), whose early career included performing at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1880.

From Sadler's Wells to Sickert
Julie has began the first stages of this latest cataloguing project by studying the life and times of this larger-than-life artist and his extended family, as well as familiarising herself with the material in the collection. The content is not as large or wide-ranging as that of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive Collection but it contains many fascinating items and we're hoping that we may discover material that tells us more about Sickert's time at Sadler's Wells, both as actor and artist.

Actor to Artist
We know that Walter Sickert enjoyed attending performances at the Wells as a young man with his maternal great-aunt, Anne Sheepshanks  - during the 1860s, she had rented rooms in Duncan Terrace, Islington, only a short distanace from the theatre. He was to return to Sadler's Wells in 1880 as an actor. Now living at Claremont Square, off Pentonville Road, and only a few minutes walk from Sadler's Wells, Sickert occasionally worked as a utility player at the theatre;  Mrs Isobel Bateman was the incumbant manager - she had previously managed the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End along the same lines as Samuel Phelps had run Sadler’s Wells. 

 

'The Times' (28 June 1880. (Double click image to enlarge)

 

In June and July 1880, and billed as 'Mr Sigurd', Sickert played the role of Demetrius in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He received a short review in the Theatre Magazine for July 1880, in which it was recorded that he "impersonated Demetrius with 'fair effect' ". Perhaps he realised that his destiny lay elsewhere and, in 1881, he abandoned 'the boards' deciding
instead to pursue a career as an artist.

 

Walter Sickert aged 20-years in 1880. (Double click image to enlarge)

 

Sickert returns to the Wells
Sickert returned to Sadler's Wells in 1932, when he took to the stage to ceremoniously donate his latest painting, The Raising of Lazarus to Lilian Baylis for auction; this was to raise funds for the new but financially struggling theatre. Sickert claimed that the donation was made "in memory of my perpetual adoration of Sam Phelps and my gratitude to Isobel Bateman, of whose Sadler's Wells company I was myself a utility member." A packed house witnessed proceedings and, in the weeks after the presentation, the painting was regularly displayed on the Well's stage before performances. It was finally auctioned on 2 December 1932 and bought for 380 guineas by the Beaux Arts Gallery. 

Julie and I will you keep you informed in future blogs as to how the project to catalogue the Sickert Family Collection is progressing, and hopefully bring further insights into the life of Walter Sickert at Sadler's Wells.

Visit our online display From Munich to Highbury: Walter Sickert and the Sickert Family Collection. 

 

"If you catalogue it, they will come!"

Please forgive this blog title's reference to the 1989 Hollywood film Field of Dreams but it seemed very apt regarding the current status of the collection.

It's been over a month since we launched our Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive catalogue on the Archives Hub and I'm delighted to report that we have seen a huge increase in interest and use of the collection. So a big thanks to the National Cataloguing Grant and the Hub for affording the opportunity to allow even greater access to this valuable resource. A little therefore about some of our recent enquiries since launching the online catalogue.

Enquiries have been as wide ranging and as varied as the material held in the collection. For example, a PhD student from Germany, who is currently researching the life and work of composer Dame Ethel Smyth, found material relating to two of Smyth's operas performed at Sadler's Wells during the 1930s . Another researcher investigating the life of an ancestor,  Edward Noble Hallows (1849-1887), discovered that during the 1880s he was both actor and manager at the theatre. During the course of the research an amusing press cutting described Mr Hallows's performance in Baffled (1883) as "deserving of special mention", however, the reporter also highlighted the difficulties of entering the theatre (cutting reproduced below).  Other requests for information found via the catalogue include 1930s plans for the building (architectural student), images of the theatre in the 1950s (Scottish TV documentary) and performance programmes for the 1960s (enquirer's mother danced at the Wells). We have also had many requests for information from staff at Sadler's Wells Theatre itself.

Below: Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944),
English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement

 Below: Press article describing a performance of Baffled in 1883.

The launch of the catalogue and accompanying publicity has also brought forward donations from the public. These include a rare 1947 programme featuring a performance by Sadler's Wells Ballet in Vienna, an autobiography of dancer Constance Tomkinson titled Dancing Attendance and other unique material not already held in the collection. So thank you to all for your kind donations and the Centre is always happy to discuss additions to the collection.

Meanwhile, these acquisitions will be added to the catalogue and work on the collection still continues, especially cataloguing material to item level where practical.

View the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive collection online

I am very  pleased to announce that blog readers will be amongst the first to be able to view our online catalogue  to the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive collection, which went live a few days ago.

The catalogue is being hosted on the Archives Hub, which also details other special collections held at Islington Local History Centre. The contents of the Sadler's Wells catalogue will be added to on a weekly basis. While the bulk of the collection is recorded to sub-series and, in many parts, file level, we are working towards listing all material to at least file level and, where practical, item level.

N.B: Be sure to access the 'detailed description' for full information.

Above: Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive homepage on Archives Hub - CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Publication of the catalogue will, for the first time, give researchers the opportunity to see the large variety of material housed in the collection. Some of our previous blogs have highlighted a few of the treasures discovered while sorting and listing, as well as some of the more unusual items that have surfaced after being hidden for many years and, in some cases, centuries. Now, a greater overview is available.

Complimenting the launch of the online catalogue, from 10 September until 20 October 2012, Islington Local History Centre is hosting a display about the newly catalogued collection. It will also showcase material from the collection, including our earliest item - a rather gruesome murder notice - dating to 1712; this was featured in an earlier blog.  More details about the display will appear in our next blog.

So, please feel free to peruse the catalogue and do visit regularly to view new content.

• View the catalogue
• View details of the Sadler's Wells display at Islington Local History Centre

The World and Sir Cliff come to the Wells - visiting company performances

In last week's blog - A Grimey Affair - mention was  made about how, following the departure of its two resident companies during the 1960s, Sadler’s Wells became a venue for international and UK based companies wanting to launch their careers. In fact, the archive's largest series relates to these visiting performers and is, therefore, worthy of a dedicated blog post.

Over the past 18-months it's been quite a herculean task to separate, sort and catalogue these visiting companies production files. This particular job is almost completed and so far over 300 files featuring productions performed at Sadler's Wells,  and covering four decades (late-1950s to the 1980s), have been catalogued and indexed. 

Many companies and their productions have become part of theatre history at Sadler's Wells, whereas others were local or amateur affairs but not without merit. Productions files include shows by Marcel Marceau, the Finnish National Opera, the Iraqi National Dance Company, Moscow Arts Theatre and the National Dance Theatre of Jamaica, as well as performances by Lindsay Kemp and the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. The files are of potential interest to those studying or possessing an interest in theatre management and its history.

A wide range of material reveals a complex 'behind-the-scenes' process from initial contact between theatre and company to post-performance analysis. Information includes correspondence, seating numbers, press releases and cuttings, publicity, and performer and company agreements. These all combine to produce a fascinating insight into what the audience doesn't see with regard to administrative preparation for a performance. Also held are files relating to productions that ended up as 'nearlies' - those that didn't quite reach the stage.

My personal favourites amongst the visiting production files are the national folk music and dance companies from the Far-East performing at the Wells during this period, in many cases bringing their country's culture to these shores for the very first time and often amidst a backdrop of political tension at home. 

Below is just a few examples of items from the production files:

1. Letter of thanks from the Mayor of Islington to Sadler's Wells following a premiere (1969)
2. Flyer for Kalakshetra [Indian Dance Theatre]. The production was cancelled at the last moment (1971)
3. Press cutting anticipating the performance of  Kalakshetra [Indian Dance Theatre] (1971)
4. Announcement that following cancellation of Kalakshetra, Cliff Richard is to make his stage debut at Sadler's Wells in Graham Greene's The Potting Shed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, the end is near...

...but we're hopefully not facing the final curtain! In fact, here at Islington Local History Centre, we are coming close  to completing the project to sort and catalogue the Sadler's Wells Theatre Archive. 

It's hard to believe but it's been nearly 15 months since the project began and the collection is, for the most part, sorted, repackaged and catalogued. There are one or two aspects of the work still to be completed, including data cleansing of the online catalogue, which we hope to then submit to and publish on the Archives Hub in a month or so time. Physical relocation of the newly packaged material to dedicated shelves is also to be undertaken and this will be followed by staff training for colleagues - team, you've been warned!

Paul Williams, our Project Archivist, completed his contract last week and has now left for pastures new. I shall be writing a little more about Paul's and his predecessor's - Carys Lewis -  huge contribution to the project in a later blog. 

Meanwhile, rest assured, our ongoing history of Sadler's Wells Theatre will continue in this blog, as will our regular features highlighting unusual items and stories from the collection. Incidently, in our last blog about photographs, Paul invited readers to identify the actor in the picture. I can reveal that this was a publicity shot of John Laurie, better known in later years as Private Fraser from Dad's Army. Congratulations to all of those who corrected identified Mr Laurie as our mystery guest. 

Cataloguing the photos

The saying goes that 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. This could certainly be said of the photographs and postcards in the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive, which show us what the theatre looked like over time. They provide a snapshot of its performers and performances, the costumes, set designs and more besides. We have in excess of 1000 photographs and postcards in the collection.

I have recently catalogued the Archive's photograph collection which dates mostly from 1931 to the 1990s. It includes views of many of the performances by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Opera plus more recent photographs of the various companies that have performed at the theatre. Amongst other images are exterior and interior views of the theatre building and events and receptions, some attended by royalty and celebrity guests. The collection also contains postcards of the 'stars' of Sadler’s Wells and the Old Vic, an example of which is shown below - see if you can recognise the actor (clue: he was later in a popular BBC TV comedy series). 

Postcard of an actor in the Old Vic Shakespeare Company

 Cataloguing the photographs proved a tricky task, mainly because they were either unlabelled or only partially labelled and mostly unsorted. Through a bit of detective work it was possible to identify many of the photographs. For example, I was able to roughly date some of the photographs from information about the photographer whose stamp was on the back of those photos - he was active only during the 1930s and 1940s.

Given the historical value of the photographs I needed to ensure that they were properly stored and packaged to prevent them from being damaged and, in some cases, from being further damaged (see below).

A photo of ballet 'Coppelia' with a type of damage called 'silver mirroring' . In this instance it was probably caused by contact with the cardboard which the folder of photos had been glued to.

 Damage can be caused in many ways. One is the packaging and albums in which the photographs are contained; standard packaging materials (like envelopes) and albums tend to be highly acidic and can 'burn' into photographic paper. Some of the storage albums were made of PVC and plastic, which was sticking to the photographs and leaving a sticky residue.

Other photos had been stuck into albums with sticky tape. I can’t quite understand anyone doing this as the tape oftens falls off after only a few years, leaving behind it a nasty yellow/brown stain on the document which can’t be easily removed, if at all.  Just as bad is permanently gluing photos into poor quality albums!

To prevent further damage it was necessary to remove the old packaging where possible and replace it was archivally safe packaging. This has included archival polyester plastic pockets. These are stable and chemically inert unlike the regular plastic packaging you would find in a stationery shop, which will deteriorate over time causing damage to photos and other documents. The archival pockets also protect the photos from handling. In addition, special acid-free folders and envelopes were used in the repackaging and all boxes used were acid free too.

 For advice on looking after your own photos, the National Archives has a useful leaflet on its website: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/archivesconservation_photo.pdf.

A voluntary programme

Hello, my name is Julie Melrose. I started working on the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive as a volunteer in June 2011. I wanted to gain experience in an archive to help me get a place on a post-graduate archives and records management course. The main focus of my work has been sorting and cataloguing the programmes.  

The SWT Archive holds programmes dating from the 1930’s through to 2011,  with the earliest being Old Vic Shakespeare Company’s production of Twelfth Night on 6 January 1931; this date was the opening night of the newly built Sadler’s Wells Theatre (see blog post 7 January 2012). Together with fellow volunteer Jacqueline, we’ve entered over 2,100 programmes onto the database but there’s still many more to go!

I know that this type of work is not for everyone but I’ve really enjoyed working through the boxes and bundles of programmes. I do however find it easy to get distracted when sorting and listing, especially when encountering performances featuring dance legends such as Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and, of course, Margot Fonteyn. Also not forgetting the more contemporary programmes, including the premier of Matthew Bourne’s all-male Swan Lake in November 1995 and Gala events attended by members of the Royal Family in recent years. 

Another distraction found within the programmes is the varied and non-performance related advertisements. In their own way, they are fascinating examples of social history offering a glimpse into what was considered ‘must have or ‘desirable’ at a particular time in in the past: 1950’s local amenities, cooking appliances and women’s girdles; cigarettes in the 70’s; and the in-places to eat and drink during the 1980s. These all offer fascinating snapshots of the type of businesses and products offered the theatre-goer over the years. The image below is taken from a somewhat austere looking programme, dated 5 March 1952,  for a production of Massenet's opera Werther -Cinzano, chinese food (chopsticks optional) and British biscuits appeared to be the order of the day!

It hasn’t however all been programmes. I’ve spent time going through Sadler’s Wells play bills from the 1800’s onwards and examples of these have been featured in previous blogs. These can be equally distracting with their wonderfully evocative titles, descriptions and layouts. 

 Meanwhile, boxes of programmes are continually deposited by the theatre, so there’s plenty to keep me occupied, but I’m enjoying the chance to contribute to building a comprehensive and accessible archive and thank the Islington Local History Centre for the opportunity to do so. (Thank you too Julie – Paul, Mark and the team).

 

An exciting project

Hello, I’m Paul Williams and I am the new project archivist for the Sadler’s Wells Theatre Archive. As Mark explained in a recent blog post, I will also be taking over as the regular blogger. Thanks Mark for introducing me and for looking after the blog for the interim - (it was my pleasure Paul, Mark)

I’ve now been in the role of project archivist for a month and, since arriving, I've been getting familiar with the collection. I am carrying on with the work that my predecessor Carys had started in listing and repackaging the theatre’s large holding of administrative files. This includes an extensive series of files about the administration and publicity for performances at the theatre from the 1960s to the 1980s.  

I’ve also been  getting to grips with other parts of the collection, as well as answering enquiries about the archive and its contents. It seems that word has spread that the cataloguing project is well under way, which has attracted an increasing number of enquiries from all over the World.

Our volunteers Jacqueline and Julie are continuing to do an excellent job in sorting and cataloguing the theatre’s programmes into a database. This is a huge undertaking as the programmes are one of the largest parts of the collection. 

Meanwhile, I am very pleased to be part of this exciting project and look forward to publishing regular posts and keeping readers informed of our progress.