By Unit students Natasha, Cerys and Honor
Bristol Old Vic Young Company
As part of the project, we spent time at the Bristol Old Vic, working with Lucy Hunt, Director of Engagement at the theatre, and we were able to explore their boxes of archival educational material dating from 1960 – 2012. The items ranged from scripts and programmes of shows the Young Company put on, as well as other educational resources and projects the BOV did before the Young Company was created. As the Young Company is a much newer element of the engagement programme, it was interesting to delve into its history of the performances they did and also learn about the types of productions they put on, ranging from Shakespeare to more contemporary devised work.
As well as this, there were a variety of digital archives of all of the Young Company shows dating back to the 1990s. We were able to identify a gap in information from the years 2001 – 2007. Lucy Hunt was able to provide us with the names of three additional productions which we were able to find through digital pictures from CD photo albums. The gap in information about the Young Company in those 6 years remains a mystery, but through interviews with past Young Company members, we could potentially be able to find out further information.
Overall, this task was very beneficial as it allowed us to gain more context into the history of the Young Company and its impact on the Bristol Old Vic. Its engagement with the rest of the companies performing at the BOV appears vital due to the vast amount of archival material.
Interviews with Lucy Hunt and Lisa Gregan
We conducted two interviews with people that work with the Bristol Old Vic Young Company. The first was with Lucy Hunt who produces and occasionally directs plays for the Young Company. She informed us of her role and how working with youth theatre groups and young people had impacted on her. After the interview finished we assessed the effectiveness of the questions we’d asked, the way they were asked, and the rapport that was created between the interviewer and the interviewee so that we could build from this in the second interview with the Young Company Director, Lisa Gregan. Lisa told us more about her work with the youth theatre and was also able to explain how her own experience in youth theatre as a child had impacted on her and her theatre peers positively. From both these interviews we gained positive qualitative data to add to our research project and now will also have a more informed and confident approach to the interview process in future.
Academic Readings on Interviewing Techniques
Along with watching Jan and Naama conduct interviews with Lisa Gregan and Lucy Hunt, we also read scholarly articles on interviewing practice, specifically oral history techniques. Cerys and Honor read chapter 7 of The Voice of the Past: Oral History by Paul Thompson which looked at the multiple ways to manage an oral history interview.
Thompson argues that the most important element of interviewing is: ‘an interest and respect for people as individuals, and flexibility in response to them; an ability to show understanding and sympathy for their point of view; and above all, a willingness to sit quietly and listen’.
Thompson looks at oral history specifically as a practice, claiming ‘one of the greatest strengths of oral history evidence is its potential to connect up different spheres of life, the life-story approach, while more time-consuming, is more likely to bring new insights. It also makes a fuller use of the opportunity in recording the memories of someone who may never have been previously recorded, nor will be recorded again.’ (p.222)
The reading also gave examples of what to avoid, such as asking questions which make informants think in your way rather than theirs. At the end of the week 5 seminar, we discussed these interviewing techniques, and the reading really helped me understand what works and what doesn’t, alongside the practical examples of Jan and Naama’s interviews.