Experimental Theatre Club
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- This club should not be confused with the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club of New York.
The Experimental Theatre Club (ETC) is a student dramatic society at University of Oxford, England. It was founded in 1936 by Nevill Coghill as an alternative company to OUDS, and produces several productions a year.[1]
Many famous actors and directors have been involved with productions by the club. The club has given the first productions of many new works, perhaps most notably Epitaph for George Dillon, by John Osborne in 1957, directed by Don Taylor.[2]
In particular, the club was an important nursery for the talents of the British New Wave (Kenneth Tynan, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, Lindsay Anderson, Ken Loach) in the 1950s, and the Oxford component of Monty Python (Michael Palin, Terry Jones) in the 1960s.
In the 1970s, many figures later significant in film and television were involved, such as Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, who performed some of his early sketches for ETC revues at the Oxford Playhouse and elsewhere. The ETC presented After Eights: The Etceteras Eights Week Revue at the Oxford Playhouse, 25 to 29 May 1976, featuring Rowan Atkinson, with material written by Richard Curtis and Iain Moss among others [3].
[edit] Current activities
The ETC acts as a funding body for experimental student productions in Oxford. The current committee consists of Emily Lim (President), Louis Brooke (Vice-President), Michael Levy (Treasurer) and Alex Christofi (Secretary).
[edit] Alumni
People who have contributed to ETC productions include:
- Michael Flanders[4]
- Sandy Wilson
- Kenneth Tynan (President)
- Don Taylor (director)
- Dudley Moore[5]
- Tony Richardson
- John Schlesinger (President)[6]
- Lindsay Anderson[7]
- John McGrath (playwright)
- Ken Loach(President)
- Michael Palin[8]
- Terry Jones
- David Wood[9]
- Alan Bennett
- Diana Quick
- John Albery
- Rowan Atkinson
- Richard Curtis
- Piers Fletcher
- Howard Goodall
- Philip Franks
- Samuel West (President)[10]
- Iain Moss
- Robert Orchard
- Andrew Rissik
… and many others.
Visiting directors include Peter Hall[11] and Terry Hands.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Oxford" The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Ed. Phyllis Hartnoll and Peter Found. Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed 16 June 2007 here
- ^ Pembroke College Record, 2003—04, page 80.
- ^ After Eights programme, Oxford Playhouse, May 1976.
- ^ Michael Flanders (1922–1975), The Donald Swann Website.
- ^ Obituary: Dudley Moore, 1935–2002, Daily Telegraph, London. March 28, 2002.
- ^ John Schlesinger, Everything2.com.]
- ^ Lindsay Anderson.
- ^ http://www.acornmedia.com/rippingyarns/MEP_Bio.htm Michael Palin Biography].
- ^ Fun Facts about David Wood.
- ^ Samuel West information.
- ^ Shakespeare Quarterly information, JSTOR.
[edit] Bibliography
- Glynne Wickham, A Revolution in Attitudes to the Dramatic Arts in British Universities, 1880–1980. Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1977), pp. 115–121 JSTOR
- Roderick Robertson, University Theatre at Oxford. Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3 (October, 1956), pp. 194–206 JSTOR
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