Current work

Research and practice at the University of Greenwich

The Reminiscence Theatre Archive was established at the University of Greenwich by lecturers Dr Heather Lilley and Dr Harry Derbyshire, in consultation with Pam Schweitzer, in 2011. In 2019 it moved from the University's Drama building at Bathway, Woolwich to the University's Stockwell Street library building in Greenwich, where it is now housed in a state of the art archiving facility.

In collaboration with Will Robley, the University's Archivist, the Greenwich Drama team continues to coordinate the development of the Archive. This involves the preservation and digitising of the holdings; creating and facilitating research projects; and also embedding the Archive within the teaching and learning activities of the Drama programme. Since joining the team in 2017 Dr Natasha Oxley, a theatre practitioner and expert in applied drama, has taken an active role in the use of the Archive in undergraduate teaching, supervising student performances inspired by holdings including memory boxes from across Europe.

After the initial arrival of the Archive at Greenwich the first major strand of our activity was the creation of the Reminiscence Theatre Archive Company. The company, led by Dr Heather Lilley until her departure from Greenwich in 2016, enabled volunteers to collaborate with Pam Schweitzer in creating new performance work from the archived material. Details of the company's methods, productions and performances in local sheltered units can be found below, alongside details of research activity and published outcomes. There is also extensive material in this part of the website relating to our contributions to the International Europe for Citizens project, ‘Remembering the Past: Building the Future’ in the period 2015-2017.