Alternative Theatre in Lambeth and Camden 1968-88: 11th Nov – 21st Dec at Ovalhouse

Re-Staging Revolutions:
Alternative Theatre in Lambeth and Camden 1968-88
11th Nov – 21st Dec at Ovalhouse, Tues – Sat 3-8pm

An exhibition featuring community, experimental, Black, Asian, lesbian, gay, women’s, disabled, political, Theatre-in-Education, agit-prop, physical, visual,  performance art, vernacular drama, new writing, satirical and many other theatre companies; championing a generation of artists whose work has influenced and shaped present day British theatre.

The exhibition brings together a range of material from the period, including beautiful silk-screened posters for Welfare State International, a rare poster from Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven at the Arts Lab in 1969, and a printed ‘make-it-yourself’ model of Inter-Action’s Fun Art Bus. There are also a wealth of objects from the poignant to the bizarre: the matchstick violin smuggled by Stirabout theatre company out of one of the prisons where they performed, nautical props and the ‘pissing jug’ ceremoniously presented to The Phantom Captain when they performed in Tilburg, Holland.  All these along with original theatre designs for Monstrous Regiment’s Scum, original drawings from Action Space, creators of inflatable cushions and play spaces, now copied all over as bouncy castles, rare playscript editions from small presses, records from Sadista Sisters and Siren and cyclostyled low tech hand-outs that vividly evoke the times, along with a wealth of badges from campaigns from ‘Support the Miners’  to ‘VAT is a Pain in the Arts’ along with those celebrating individual companies from Spare Tyre to Joint Stock.

On 4th January 2014 the exhibition will move to Kentish Town Community Centre, 17 Busby Place, London NW5 2SB and at the start of February to Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Rd, London WC1X 8PA where it will run till end of April. For details of further events, see below or watch for future newsletters.

Thurs 5 December
THEATRE CENTRE 60th ANNIVERSARY PLAYREADING EVENT

Fri 6 December
BLACK THEATRE IN LONDON IN THE ’70s and ’80s
Sat 14 December
ALTERNATIVE PANTOS REVISITED

Tickets

Saturday 4th Jan 2014
INTER-ACTION REMEMBERED: a day-long event exploring the impact of this major arts initiative within its Camden community and elsewhere. Details to be confirmed. To reserve a place email: contact@unfinishedhistories.com

Please note that there will be no Third Tuesday Salons at our Bethnal Green base during the course of the exhibition. Instead events will be held at the exhibition sites.