Andrew Leigh Collection
Overview
Andrew Leigh (b.1941) has since been involved in various theatrical committees & boards such as the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) and Society of London Theatre (SOLT), and theatre companies such as Paines Plough, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and The Pleasance Theatre. However, most documentation held here relates to his time with the Prospect Theatre Company which operated out of the Old Vic London from 1979-1998.
In 2003 Andrew Leigh described his career and relationship to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection thus: "I was General Manager and Executive Producer at The Old Vic from 1979 until January 1998. In that period of time I was employed respectively by The Old Vic Company (Prospect Productions), which went into liquidation in 1981, the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and, finally, from 1982 to 1998 Ed Mirvish Enterprises Ltd (EME).
From the reopening of the Theatre in 1983 it was Ed Mirvish's policy to continue to send archive material to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection which had been designated by the Governors of The Old Vic as the official archive. Over the years we sent a sample of every single item of print that we produced, such as, leaflets, posters and programmes. We also sent our production photographs, scripts and other material relating to the continuing operation of the Theatre. Every now and then we would trawl through the past three or four years of correspondence files editing out the rubbish, and send those to Bristol as well. The final consignment of this correspondence was sent in either three or four 4-drawer metal filing cabinets despatched in January 1998. This consignment contained all the edited correspondence up to December 1996. At this point I was being retained by the Mirvishes to continue to look after their interests. After the Theatre had been sold we decided to keep all of the correspondence and material relating to 1997."
What the collection holds
Material relating to the career of theatre manager Andrew Leigh (b.1941); papers relating to the Prospect Theatre at The Old Vic, London (1979-1998), committees & boards such as the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) and Society of London Theatre (SOLT). Documentation includes: Company Administration, scripts, correspondence, photographs, press cuttings and ephemera.
The online catalogue for this collection can be viewed here:
AL - Andrew Leigh Collection.
It is currently uncatalogued so please contact us for further information regarding its contents and access.
Further information
RVHF - The Royal Victoria Hall Foundation (RVHF) Business Archive
