2018 - 2020: Student Placements in the Reminiscence Theatre Archive

Student involvement and placements in the Reminiscence Theatre Archive

Since the Reminiscence Theatre Archive moved to the University of Greenwich in 2012, it has been a source of inspiration to many students of Drama and History. Having access to the many different kinds of materials in the archive has given students the chance to engage with particular reminiscence projects and develop their own creative response. So the interviews, theatre scripts, videos, tour schedules, photos, Memory Boxes, personal letters of appreciation and press response, all of which are available on the website or in the archive, have enabled students to go deep into particular areas of oral history and reminiscence. In some cases, they have studied reminiscence Theatre as part of their course work, and produced theatre shows for assessment. In others they have developed plays or booklets as an extra voluntary activity outside teaching hours. Students have also undertaken longer placements of a whole semester with the European Reminiscence Network and the Reminiscence Theatre Archive.

One memorable project arose out of a touring exhibition of Memory Boxes created by partners in the European Reminiscence Network back in 2005. These were 3-dimensional life portraits created by artists with individual older people in seven EU countries. The students of drama at Greenwich studied the Memory Boxes and produced their own remarkable pieces of theatre based on the life stories within. These were performed at an international conference on reminiscence at the Bathway Theatre of the University. In some cases, the older people who had made the original boxes in 2005, now in their 90s, attended the university to share their memories with the students and then to see the premiere of the production in performance in the festival.

In recent years, students have chosen to do placements with the archive, supported by the European Reminiscence Network. Some of these placements have involved students in working in small groups to prepare performances and papers as part of their course work.

More recently, students have undertaken ‘industry placements’, and their work can be seen here. One of the students, James Pele, looked at the RTA website and archive for material on minority ethnic memories. His own family came from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the project became a highly personal quest for the story of his family in Congo and in the UK. He dramatised what he learned from interviewing his own father about the important life decisions which had affected his family and James himself.

Another student, Jamie Amatruda looked at a particular theatre project in the archive entitled, “Can We Afford The Doctor?” He engaged with one of the sources, a key contributor, and played out his story, supported by two students who were locked down together during the Covid period. The work of both students can now be seen in the following videos.