Presented by Margaret Leask
Since 2004 classification and preservation of the records of the National Institute of Dramatic Art and its associated activities has been underway. This is being done in association with the Seaborn, Broughton and Walford Foundation. NIDA will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2009.
In April 2005 an Oral History Project began to record interviews with actors, directors, designers, teachers and other arts practitioners. The aim is to illuminate, through personal accounts, the written and photographic archive material and three dimensional stage memorabilia, such as costumes, masks, puppets and headwear, held in the collection. Detailed research on each interview subject’s career is undertaken and extensive use is made of the collection to prompt memory and to encourage focussed observations on productions, rehearsals and working methods, audience response, career progress and the subject’s unique qualities as a performer, director or teacher.
This paper considers issues surrounding selective research and questioning in Oral History – are we manipulating subjects in our quest to illuminate material in the collection and how do we access personal memories of not only the good times but the less than successful events that are inherent in the performing arts? Is the showing of ‘left-over’ reminders of a subject’s largely intangible and transient creative work an appropriate method to prompt memories or can this distort the interview outcome, given that the material we hold is not always likely to represent remembered significant events in individual careers?