Overview

ACH Smith (b.1935) is a British novelist, playwright and poet.

Born at Kew, London and educated at Hampton Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he read Modern Languages. He has lived in Bristol since the 1960s and was part of the arts scene there with playwrights Tom Stoppard, Peter Nichols and Charles Wood.

From 1965-69 he was Senior Research Associate at Richard Hoggart’s Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University.

From 1964-73 he undertook literary work for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and later the National Theatre. In 1971 he spent three months in Iran with Peter Brook and Ted Hughes researching and writing an account of their collaboration on the production Orghast at Persepolis. This was published in 1972.

ACH Smith was Director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature in 1978, 1979, and again in 1999. 

Plays written by ACH Smith for the theatre include: 
• Albert’s Bridge Extended (co-written with Tom Stoppard), Edinburgh Festival (1978) 
• Master of Letters, The Playwrights Company at the New Vic, Bristol (1979) 
• God's Wonderful Railway, Bristol Old Vic (1985) 
• Pericles (reconstruction of Shakespeare’s play), Theater Emory, Atlanta (1987); Show of Strength Theatre Company, Bristol (1990) 
• Up The Feeder, Down The Mouth, Bristol Old Vic (1997 and 2001) 
• Albert’s Bridge - the Musical (composer David Lyon), Shaftesbury Community Theatre (1999) 
• The Redcliffe Hermit, Head Heart + 2 Fingers, Bristol (2005) 
• Doctor Love (Molière-based musical, composer David Lyon), Tobacco Factory, Bristol (2008)

For a full list of novels, adaptations of novels for film and television, non-fiction and other ongoing work refer to his official website.

What the collection holds

The ACH Smith Collection held as part of the Bristol University Theatre Collection contains material relating to Orghast at Persepolis including working notes, photographs, and material related to poet Ted Hughes' participation in the project. Also included are annotated theatre programmes relating to locally staged (Bristol and South West of England) and national productions, from the 1960’s to present day.

The online catalogue for this collection can be viewed here: 
ACHS - The ACH Smith Collection

It is currently only partially catalogued so please contact us for further information regarding its contents and access.

Further information

Other items held by the Bristol University Theatre Collection and directly referencing his own work include production photographs: Up the Feeder, Down the Mouth 05/1997. Ref. BOV/P/000573. Further reference:

• "A. C. H. Smith: A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center". Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. University of Texas.
• "The Theatre Archive Project - interviews - Anthony (A.C.H.) Smith (page 1)". British Library