Screen Plays: Theatre on British Television

Screen Plays is a research study of theatre plays on British television from 1930 to today. Theatre plays were a central element in the schedules of the BBC and ITV until the 1960s, and although in recent years there have been very few such programmes, there are now signs of a renewed interest in the form. The BBC has made new versions of Hamlet and Macbeth and the National Theatre is experimenting with live broadcasts of its productions to cinema screens. Yet there has been comparatively little study and documentation of theatre on television.

Screen Plays aims to index and explore this central component of programming through a freely accessible database of productions (for completion in 2012), screenings and two conferences, and a book (to be published in 2013). The book will introduce formal and historical analysis to the discussion of theatre plays on television, together with a focus on the screen language of television plays. The results of the project will be shared and discussed throughout the research period on a lively public blog.

The database will include as full cast and production crew details as can be discovered, production documentation and photographs, and - where available -- notes about text adaptation, directorial approach and the like. It was also include details of archival copies where they exist, other archival resources such as extant camera scripts and internal memos, and of the possibility of public access. The project will draw together for the first time detailed documentation of the estimated 1,800 theatre plays of television by authors other than Shakespeare (the details of Shakespeare productions are already available).

The project seeks to understand the institutional, production and technological contexts for these adaptations within both broadcasting and British theatre. The project will develop a historical poetics studying the principles of television production as they inform the forms and screen languages of television theatre plays in particular historical circumstances. This involves drawing together critical analysis with cultural and institutional histories in broadcasting, theatre and in the funding structures of the arts; media, film and theatre studies; intellectual history and performance studies; and the histories of production technologies and craft practices.

Screen Plays will be of interest and value to a broad range of audiences beyond academics engaged in media, theatre and adaptation studies. The project is in part addressed to broadcasters, to policy makers and funders concerned with innovative forms of digital content, to contemporary theatre and media practitioners, and to those exploring emerging forms of the relationship between theatre and screen-based translations such as live transmissions to cinemas.

The project will undertake for the first time a systematic review of all television productions drawn from theatre plays in the written archives and tape libraries of the BBC and in the dispersed collections of the ITV companies, as well as those productions made by independent producers for Channel 4, Five and Sky Arts.

This will be of significant benefit to the broadcasters as they prepare to make available online and in other distribution forms a cornucopia of programmes from their archives. Archival access is emerging as a major policy focus for the public service broadcasters, and most especially for the BBC. Over the next decade tens of thousands of hours of BBC productions will become available for the first time in cultural and commercial partnerships.

Screen Plays can contribute significantly to this access initiative, and it can help frame critical, journalistic and popular approaches to productions that have not previously been available or the distribution of which has been very limited. This will be of particular value to the BBC as it explores new access partnerships, including with the major theatre companies (focussed by the National Theatre 50th anniversary in 2013) and with the Theatre Museum at the V&A.

Screen Plays will also have a value for arts funding bodies such as Arts Council England and policy makers seeking to develop new audiences for, and to extend access to, contemporary theatre and performance-based work. Understanding the ways in which broadcasters and the British theatre collaborated in the past, in technological, dramaturgical and commercial frameworks, will be invaluable in developing new models for theatre and performance collaborations with television, online, large-screen and other media forms. These emerging creative and business models include NT Live (live transmissions to cinemas), Digital Theatre and OntheBoards.tv (online recordings of productions) and Stage on Screen (educational DVDs of classic plays).

More broadly, there is also a significant general audience of people interested in television and theatre history. They will value informed discussion of this history and the availability of information about productions, casts, credits and survival of recordings, much of which is currently inaccessible.

Over the past decade theatre plays have been almost entirely absent from television, but there are signs of renewed interest including Illuminations' productions for the BBC of Hamlet and Macbeth. Based on reaction to the blogging of their creation, there is also public interest in production processes and in achieving a deeper understanding of the translation of theatre to the screen.

The development of the Screen Plays database, the writing of the book, the recording of interviews and the conferences and seminars will be blogged regularly. Other social networking media, including Facebook and Twitter can further enhance the awareness of Screen Plays and invite regular discussion and feedback.

Screen Plays will work closely with the broadcasters, most especially the BBC, with theatre companies and with others to develop awareness of and audiences for its work. The project can benefit from an alignment with the BBC's imitative to make its archives far more widely available. This will result not only in enhanced access and research assistance but may also contribute to a partnership on the production o