Catalogue description Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah Collection

This record is held by Leeds University Library, Special Collections

Details of MS 2047
Reference: MS 2047
Title: Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah Collection
Description: The collection includes project files, scripts and publicity material for performances staged by Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah. It contains photographs and evaluations of many of the productions. There documents recording joint ventures between the theatre company and other organisations including West Yorkshire Playhouse. Video and digital recordings of some of the productions are also present. The printed publications relate to the productions and the history of Blah Blah Blah.
Date: 1985-2014
Held by: Leeds University Library, Special Collections, not available at The National Archives
Legal status: Not Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah
Physical description: 43 boxes
Physical condition: manuscript papers, typescript papers, posters, photographs, flyers, cassette tapes, video tapes, mini discs
Access conditions: Collection restricted, in copyright
Immediate source of acquisition:

The majority of the collection was donated by Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah in 2016. A small accrual was received in 2018.
Subjects:
  • Theatre; Performance and cultural industries, education
Administrative / biographical background:

The Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah is a Theatre in Education (TIE) company which was established in Harehills, East Leeds, in 1985 when it produced its first show, ‘Battlefield’. The reception of this play was such that they undertook a youth centre tour. The company continues to tour.

The key aim of Blah Blah Blah is to provide young people with participatory theatre in the form of workshops and classroom sessions which explore the use of language and ideas to support learning and engagement. The company has adapted several Shakespeare classics, such as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘A Winter’s Tale’ for primary and high school children as well as commissioning numerous plays by playwrights including Mike Kenny and Mark Catley.

The theatre company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010 with Kenny’s play ‘Stuck’, which was shortlisted for the Writer’s Guild Best Children’s Play. The production returned to the stage for a national tour.

Since its foundation Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah has taken part in several collaborations with the West Yorkshire Playhouse including its Christmas play ‘Ho Ho Ho!’ and also with Connecting Youth Culture in North Yorkshire. From 1985-1993, the company functioned as a partnership, since then it has gained charitable status and has been an Arts Council of England National Portfolio Organisation. In 2015, the actor Bill Nighy became the company’s patron. The theatre continues to produce several plays and workshops a year for children and young people in West and North Yorkshire.

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