THE UNFINISHED ARCHIVE

An easy-read version of this information can be found here.

BSL version of this information can be found below.

“We want to create a new kind of archive that has so far only existed in the Disabled imagination and memory”  Matilda, Shahid & Tom 

Use this link to submit your memory: https://forms.gle/MxT1bmFaDwc7Y8Eg9 

We are collecting your memories of D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent performance and building a new kind of archive.  

Find out more from the artists in this video.

You can contribute your memory here

The submissions window will close at the end of November.

Please note: this is an unpaid invitation to submit a memory and when the artists have decided what the next stage of the project will be we will get in touch with everyone who submitted to seek permission for their words to be used.

STORY OF THE PROJECT 

This project began with three artists, Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini, Shahid Iqbal Khan and Tom Ryalls, asking the Royal Court a questions we couldn’t answer: 

‘Could you give us a list of all the plays that have been on at the Royal Court by D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent writers or with D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent characters?’ 

The limitations of our archive and the way we have historically told the story of the plays that have been performed at our theatre did not enable us to do this. Not to mention the plays that never made it to our stage but instead found expression beyond our or any theatre. 

Matilda, Shahid and Tom began a series of conversations, inviting guest speakers to join them, looking at this gap in our records and exploring what a dramaturgy that centres the D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent experience might look like.  

WHAT WE ARE ASKING OF YOU

We want you to submit a memory of seeing D/deaf or Disabled or neurodivergent work. Matilda, Shahid and Tom will use your contributions to start creating an archive of work by D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent artists over the last 100 or more years. They will curate your words and images. And draw together your memories of D/deaf, Disabled and neurodivergent experience on stage, as well as your recommendations of lost texts and live performances that have happened outside a theatre space.  

At the moment those records are held in your memories, this is an invitation to create something new by writing them into existence.  

The archive will be shared on the Royal Court Living Archive website.  

HOW TO GET INVOLVED 

What we would like you to submit: 

This could be: 

• A memory of a show you have experienced – whether recent or distant. What did it mean to you? What stayed with you? What was your experience of the performance and being in the audience? Or is there a show that you found out about, or wished you had experienced but missed?  
• A lost text that you have read or been told about 
• A description of a piece of cabaret, queer performance, performance poetry, busking 

This is not an exhaustive list, if it was a piece of live performance, we would like to know about it. 

How you can submit: 

Here is a link to the online form: http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/unfinishedarchive 

You will be asked to write a short piece of text and you will also have the option of including photos or video. 

If you wish to submit a video entry, submit here:http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/unfinishedarchivevideo

If this form is not accessible to you please get in touch and we will provide an alternative way of submitting (literary@royalcourttheatre.com)

How will your text be used: 

The artists will review and archive every contribution. 

You may choose to be anonymous.