The Freaks' Roll Call: Live Art and the Arts Council, 1968–73

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Notes

 1. See Richard Witts, Artist Unknown: An Alternative History of the Arts Council (London: Little, Brown and Company, 1998), p. 326.

 2. The Arts in Hard Times, Thirty-First Annual Report 31 March 1976 (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976), p. 20. The Arts Council's archive is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum's Theatre and Performance Collection at Blythe House London. The archive's holdings can be accessed online at <http://www.vam. ac.uk/vastatic/wid/ead/acgb/acgbf. html>.

 3. The article is published in the ‘Backpages’ section of the present issue of Contemporary Theatre Review.

 4. Amelia Jones, ‘Live Art in Art History: A Paradox’, in The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies, ed. by Tracy C. Davis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 151–65.

 5. ‘Work in Experimental Drama’ Experimental Projects Committee, Arts Council of Great Britain archive, ACGB 43/42/7, undated.

 6. See ‘Reflexes of the Future: The Beginnings of the Fringe', in Dreams and Deconstructions: Alternative Theatre in Britain, ed. by Sandy Craig (Amber Lane: Ambergate, 1980), pp.9–29 (p. 16).

 7. ‘Work in Experimental Drama’, Experimental Projects Committee, ACGB 43/42/7, undated.

 8. Ronald Hayman, The Set-Up: An Anatomy of the English Theatre Today (London: Methuen, 1973), p. 29.

 9. J. W. Lambert, Drama in Britain 1964–73 (Harlow: Longman, 1974), p. 43.

10. Witts, Artist Unknown, p. 318.

11. Craig, Dreams and Deconstructions, p. 181.

12. Lord Goodman, Chairman's Report, Arts Council of Great Britain Twenty-Fourth Annual Report, 1969, n. p.

13. Robert Hutchinson, Politics of the Arts Council (London: Sinclair Browne, 1982), p. 106 (Note 18).

14. Chairman's Report, Arts Council of Great Britain Twenty-Fifth Annual Report, 31 March 1970, n. p.

15. Craig, ‘Reflexes of the future', p. 16.

16. Baz Kershaw locates the group at the carnivalesque end of a spectrum in alternative theatre, the other end being agit prop. See Kershaw, The Politics of Performance: Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention (London Routledge, 1992), p. 83. Like Welfare State, The John Bull Puncture Repair Kit mainly performed at outdoor venues and festivals and often incorporated rock music into their performances.

17. Roland Miller, ‘Performance Art’, 10 September 1973, p. 2. ACGB 43/42/7.

18. Chairman's Report, ACGB Twenty-Fifth Annual Report, n. p.

19. Robert Hutchinson, Politics of the Arts Council, p. 108.

20. ‘Work in Experimental Drama’, Experimental Projects Committee, ACGB archive 43/42/7, undated.

21. Minutes of the Experimental Projects Committee, 11 November 1970. ACGB archive 43/42/7.

22. Ronald Hayman, The Set-up (London: Methuen, 1973), p.212 (Note 8).

23. Jinnie Schiele, Off-Centre Stages: Fringe Theatre at the Open Space and the Round House 1968–1983 (Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2005), p. 106.

24. Chairman's Report, ACGB Twenty-Fifth Annual Report.

25. Minutes of the Experimental Projects Committee, 9 December 1970. ACGB 43/42/7.

26. Minutes of the Experimental Projects Committee, 11 November 1970. ACGB 43/42/7.

27. See Craig, ‘‘Unmasking the Lie': Political Theatre', in Dreams and Deconstructions, pp. 30–48 (p. 35).

28. Minutes of the New Drama Committee, 4 February 1971. ACGB 43/43/1.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. John Elsom, Post-War British Theatre (London: Routledge, 1979), p. 153.

32. Minutes of the New Drama Committee, 4 February 1971. ACGB 43/43/1.

33. ‘“Fringe”, “Experimental” and “Alternative” Theatre Groups’, 24 February 1972. ACGB 43/42/7.

34. Howard Brenton, Letter to Nick Barter, 17 January 1972. ACGB archive 43/43/1.

35. Roland Miller, ‘Proposals to the Experimental Drama Committee of the Arts Council of Great Britain’, 12 September 1972. ACGB archive 43/43/1.

36. Roland Miller and Shirley Cameron, ‘Declared and Undeclared: Two Approaches to Performance as a Technique’, 3 July 1973, p. 12. ACGB 43/42/7. Emphasis in original.

37. Roland Miller and Shirley Cameron, ‘Report on Performance Art to the Experimental Projects Committee’, 10 September 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

38. Ibid., p. 5.

39. Jeff Nuttall, ‘The Situation Regarding Performance Art’, August 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

40. Nick Barter, Memo to Deputy Secretary General, ‘Experimental Projects Committee’, 30 October 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

41. Paul Bailey, Letter to Edward Lucie Smith, 13 July 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

42. Edward Lucie-Smith, Letter to Paul Bailey, 15 July 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

43. Charles Osborne, Letter to Edward Lucie-Smith, 18 July 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

44. Nuttall, ‘The Situation Regarding Performance Art’, n. p.

45. Genesis P-Orridge, Letter to the Arts Council of Great Britain, 17 January 1973, p. 1. ACGB 41/47 /1. For an extended conversation with BREYER P-ORRIDGE (as Genesis P-Orridge now identifies), see their conversation with Dominic Johnson in the ‘Documents’ section of the present issue of Contemporary Theatre Review. pp. 134–45.

46. Ibid., p. 2.

47. Nick Barter. Letter to Genesis P-Orridge, 8 June 1973. ACGB 41/47/1.

48. Minutes of the Experimental Projects Committee, 23 February 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

49. John Humber, ‘It's Nicely Framed, But Is It Art?’, Daily Mail (15 February 1973). ACGB 41/47/1, unpaginated clipping.

50. Michael Dawson, Letter to Nick Barter, 4 April 1973. ACGB 41/47/1.

51. Nick Barter, Letter to Michael Dawson, 18 April 1973. ACGB 41/47/1.

52. Genesis P-Orridge, Letter to Nick Barter, 26 April 1973. ACGB 41/47 /1.

53. Figures taken from the Arts Council of Great Britain's Annual Reports, 1969–1974.

54. Nick Barter, Memo to Deputy Secretary General, ‘Experimental Projects Committee’, 30 October 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.

55. Edward Lucie-Smith, Letter to Paul Bailey, 1 July 1973. ACGB 43/42/7.