Forkbeard Fantasy – Where to Begin?

By Rosie Smith

“The Theatre Collection has recently been given the archives of a theatre company called Forkbeard Fantasy. My job is to organize the archive, catalogue it, repackage it, and tell the world it exists.” 

This is how I have been describing my new job to family and friends. Most of the time, this is met with the response: “Gosh! Where do you even begin with a job like that?” 

You begin by getting to know the history of the company. One of the quirks of being an archivist is that as you move from project to project you quickly but briefly become an expert in a variety of niche topics. I have previously known a lot about Quaker boarding schools, Yorkshire parish magazines, and the Dutch National Ballet – not that I can remember much of it now. For the duration of this project, I will be an expert in all things Forkbeard Fantasy.

Forkbeard Fantasy was set up by brothers Chris and Tim Britton in 1974. Their first big show, “The Rubber Gods Show,” was performed in village halls across the country, and set the stage for their own brand of absurdist theatre dealing with serious topics. They were also advocates of using street theatre to reach a wider audience. The Great British Square Dance involved four performers (or sometimes three performers and one unsuspecting audience member) attaching their feet to long wooden poles and attempting to follow a serious of dance steps. Chaos inevitably ensued. Personally, I am intrigued by The Statue, which involved two ‘city officials’ placing a statue in a town square, only to have the statue move itself as soon as they were not looking. Again, chaos ensued.  

Forkbeard was also the home of Desmond and Dorothy Fairybreath, a pair of poets who travelled the country in a tiny car full of outlandish props. It took me far longer than it should have to realize that Desmond and Dorothy were Tim and Chris in costume. Later Chris and Tim adopted the personas of Chrissy and Timmy Brittonioni, two eccentric film producers accompanied by their long-suffering assistant, Mr. Jobling. Ed Jobling joined the group as a lighting technician but became a regular performer after being convinced to first appear onstage as a singing mushroom.  

Later in their work, Forkbeard became great advocates of what they called “Breaking the Celluloid Divide.” Characters on stage would interact with characters on film. Actors would “enter” the film by walking behind the screen and appearing on it. This required precise timing from the actors, who were often also playing multiple roles with multiple costume changes.  

Forkbeard were well-known for their use of elaborate props, most of which were created by Forkbeard’s third member, Penny Saunders. Notable props include: a seven-foot-high rabbit costume, an animatronic elderly lady who laughs manically when approached, and Mammon, the God of Money with light up shoes. Having previously lived at the Musuem of Forkbeard, these objects have now made their way to the Theatre Collection, where it falls to me to condition check, package and catalogue them. Wish me luck! 

The next step when approaching a new collection is to create a provisional cataloguing structure to decide how the archive will be arranged intellectually. Then the stage I am at now: opening every box to see what’s inside. If I find items that do not fit my catalogue, the catalogue structure gets amended. If I find things that are in the ‘wrong’ place physically, a note is made so they can be moved later. But mostly, as I go through the collection I laugh at long forgotten jokes and gape at the amazing cartoons and drawings. As I go through the collection in more detail, more stories will emerge and be shared here, so do come back soon to read about my progress!