Barry Edwards Archive
Overview
Archive of the director and theatre maker, Barry Edwards. Edwards is the founder and artistic director of Optik Theatre, an award winning theatre company that has performed nationally and internationally since 1981. Edwards was a lecturer in theatre and performance art, including Head of Drama for the Creative Arts degree at Crewe and Alsager for ten years, and launched the Modern Drama Studies degree at Brunel in 1986.
The archive covers Barry Edwards' career as director of several theatre companies including:
Apple Theatre (1968-1969)
Apple Theatre started as Apple Peel, a theatre company that performed children’s shows on Brighton beach in the summer of 1968. By September 1968, Barry Edwards had taken over from David Peel as the managing director, and Apple Peel became Apple Theatre in response to the continued sponsorship from The Beatles' Apple Corps. The company toured the UK from 1968-1969, based originally at the Brighton Combination.
Ritual Theatre (1971-1975)
A physical based movement theatre company formed of actors and musicians equally, that toured the UK and Europe between 1972 and 1974. The basic format of the company was 3 actors and 3 musicians, with a core group of actors and musicians, who changed over time. The performances were a collision of experimental physical based movement and musical improvisation. Although there was a structure running through the performances, a form of ‘controlled improvisation’, the actors responded to and navigated the performance through the music, therefore not limited by the constraints of language.
Artists who performed with the company included Billy Currie (viola), Lindsay Cooper (bassoon), Clive Bell (flute, shakuhachi), Colin Wood (cello) and Sally Minford (cello). Actors included Jenny Moss, Ros Davies, John Attenborough, Caroline Noh, John Melville and Hilton McRae.
Optik (1981-2004) different phases of work during this period
Optik toured the UK between 1981-1986 with its ‘a distinctive brand of visual and aural theatre ’with 5 new shows, One Spectacle (1981-1982), Second Spectacle (1982), Short Sighted (1982), A Short Tour of Ancient Sights (1983), Stranded (1985/6).
The company started a new cycle of work in 1991 with a new visual style, but still with clear links to earlier work. At that time, Optik began touring internationally, in particular Central and Eastern Europe with performances including Physics of Human Pleasure (1992), Tropik (1993/4), Meeting (1994), Tropik 2 (1994/5), X 2 (1996), human(s) live(s) (1997), My2 (1998).
From 2000, Optik explored digital technologies, including live sound and video processing, and touring internationally in Sao Paulo and Montreal. Performances include, In the Presence of People (2000), takingbreath (2001), Stream (2002), Xstasis (2003), Space (2004).
The archive covers the work of Optik from 1981 to 2004. Find out more about Optik’s current projects.
Other performance projects directed by Edwards are also evidenced in the archive. Recognised as practice-based research, these productions were supported and enabled by research funding. These include Tank (1991) created as a result of a research project between Barry Edwards and Susan Melrose, Medea Project (1990), Frank Chickens show Club Monkey by Kazuko Hohki (1988/9), Nenagh Watson & David Mason's puppet theatre production of Toe Nailed to the Floor by David Drane (1984), and Paradise Foundry productions of Echo (1975) and Dreams of Mrs Fraser (1975) by Gabriel Josipovici.
What the collection holds
The archive consists of Edwards' writing in the form of scripts, research papers and published articles, as well as director’s notebooks that capture Edwards' creative process featuring notes, comments and sketches. There is also correspondence within the collection relating to booking performances and tours, funding and general admin, as well as publicity material and press reviews, photographic material of international touring and performances, and publications featuring articles on the work of Optik. Audiovisual material within the collection includes recordings of performances by Ritual Theatre and Optik.
The archive also contains documentation from 1969 through to the 1980s relating to the Independent Theatre Council (ITC) and its subsequent linking with Equity including minutes of meetings and membership correspondence, as well as Arts Council funding and the manifesto of the artists’ group Friends of the Arts Council Operative (FACOP) arguing for an ‘Artists’ Council’.
The collection is not fully catalogued, but has been repackaged and box listed, so please contact us for further information regarding its contents and access.
Further information
- For more information about Barry Edwards and Optik please have a look at Barry Edwards’ website.
- View videos on Optik Performance and Optik History (covering 1993-2002) and performance of One Spectacle (1981).
- Unfinished Histories records the history of Alternative Theatre and features information on Optik and their interview with Barry Edwards.
- Reviews of Optik performances can be found in Performance Magazine. View the Theatre Collection's full Performance Magazine catalogue, together with links to the digitised copies.
- Total Theatre print archive also contains several pieces on the 1993-2002 Optik period.
