Experimental Theatre Club
- 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 the Oxford University Dramatic Society (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, Robin Seavill and Iain Moss among others.[3]
[edit] Current activities
The ETC acts as a funding body for experimental student productions in Oxford.[4] The current committee consists of Matt Gavan (President), Joe Murphy (Treasurer), Cassie Barracough, Ollo Clark, and Chloe Orrock.[citation needed]
[edit] Alumni
People who have contributed to ETC productions include:
- John Albery
- Rowan Atkinson
- Lindsay Anderson[5]
- Alan Bennett
- Richard Curtis
- Michael Flanders[6]
- Piers Fletcher
- Philip Franks
- Howard Goodall
- Tom Hooper[7]
- Terry Jones
- Ken Loach (President)
- John McGrath (playwright)
- Dudley Moore[8]
- Iain Moss
- Robert Orchard
- Michael Palin[9]
- Diana Quick
- Tony Richardson
- Andrew Rissik
- John Schlesinger (President)[10]
- Robin Seavill
- Don Taylor (director)
- Kenneth Tynan (President)
- Samuel West (President)[11]
- Sandy Wilson
- David Wood[12]
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Visiting directors include Peter Hall[13] 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.
- ^ The Experimental Theatre Club, GroupSpaces.
- ^ Lindsay Anderson.
- ^ Michael Flanders (1922–1975), The Donald Swann Website.
- ^ "Theatre Week". The Stage and Television Today: p. 12. 21 October 1993.
- ^ Obituary: Dudley Moore, 1935–2002, Daily Telegraph, London. March 28, 2002.
- ^ Michael Palin Biography.
- ^ John Schlesinger, Everything2.com.]
- ^ Samuel West information.
- ^ Fun Facts about David Wood.
- ^ 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
