The National Lottery Heritage Fund-sponsored Soho Poly: Inspiring Future Generations initiative conducted an oral history project involving interviews with the theatre’s original pioneers, and also instigated a creative writing challenge in collaboration with the older people’s charity Open Age. This complements the publication of an education pack following a two-year collaboration with schools in London.
For the project, 30 Westminster students received specialised oral history training under the guidance of historian Rib Davis and the British Library Oral History Department. The students helped with the organisation of interviews with theatre makers involved in the original Soho Poly between 1972 and 1990, creating a vibrant snapshot of the University’s extraordinary theatre. Through engaging with the key figures of Soho Poly’s past, the project aims to point the theatre towards a more diverse and inclusive future.
Actors including Simon Callow CBE, Hanif Kureishi CBE and Ann Mitchell were interviewed for the project, extracts of which are available on the project’s website. Speaking during his interview, Simon Callow CBE, said: “Very often there was an incredibly high level of acting [in the early days of the Soho Poly Theatre] … it was a very happening place. I particularly relished that the smell of soup always wafted through the auditorium.”
The project has also seen a collaboration with the older people’s charity Open Age. Since 2021, the restoring the Soho Poly project has seen a programme of online memoir workshops led by author Emma Claire Sweeney. In January 2023, the project began a creative writing challenge with a series of postcards created and posted out to members of the local community who are digitally excluded.
The partnership with Open Age is part of the wider Disrupting the Everyday project, led by Matthew Morrison, Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Humanities, and Guy Osborn, Professor in Westminster Law School and Co-Director of the University’s Centre for the Study of Law, Society and Popular Culture.
The Inspiring Future Generations project has also seen a new Education Resources Pack being created, after a two-year collaboration with London schools. The pack has been created for teachers and children in Key Stage 4 and is aimed at students and teachers of English Literature and Drama or Theatre Studies. The pack contains discussion points, activities, and practical advice for tomorrow’s theatre makers. It explores the theatre’s history and encourages students to think about how the future of theatre can become more diverse. It will be freely available on the University’s website, together with a Web App offering a virtual walking tour of London’s radical theatre history.
Speaking about the Inspiring Future Generations project, Professor Osborn said: “I’m immensely proud of the Soho Poly: Inspiring Future Generations project and what it’s been able to achieve so far. 30 Westminster students received invaluable oral history training and some fantastic histories of the Soho Poly have been preserved for future generations to enjoy. I’m also incredibly proud of our collaboration with Open Age and the work we’ve done to combat loneliness in the elderly population who live in or around the City of Westminster.
“I hope the Education Resources Pack that’s been created will inspire young people, regardless of their backgrounds, that they can become involved in theatre. We want to help make theatre more inclusive and diverse.”
Find out more about the Soho Poly: Inspiring Future Generations project.
