Royal Court Theatre Announces Living Archive Volume 1
Published on Wed 1 Jun 2022
Two weeks of live work and events interrogating the notion of archive.
Wednesday 29 June – Saturday 9 July 2022
“Born as an idea through discussions with our artists and associates, Living Archive is a vital new strand of our work. Who gets to decide what is remembered and what is archived. What has been forgotten and what should have existed. Many brilliant people have fed into the idea of what this can be. It’s our ambition that we begin a whole new interactive portal which explores past work for the future and teaches us how to document and share what we do. This work will never be finished.”
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director Royal Court Theatre
Living Archive aims to reject the historical notion of what an archive is, it is a new portal that reimagines the history of the Royal Court Theatre in order to redefine its future. It encourages radical thought and imagination. It aims to resist the idea of ‘canon’ and instead bring attention to work which has been erased or not been brought to the attention of our audiences and writers.
It is a cumulative experiment and an ongoing commitment to digitising our work and making it fully accessible.
Living Archive Vol. 1 is the first enquiry in what will be an ongoing series. For two weeks across June and July, Living Archive Vol 1 will present live work and events seeking to find an alternative archival lens. Both universal and specific to the Royal Court Theatre, it will be fun, interactive, exploratory and conversational.
All questions and learning will inform the development of a new digital Archive.
Each event will have a different ‘Guest Archivist’ who will use their personal perspective to inform the focus through which the work is captured.