Huntly Carter was a bombastic theatrical visionary who made long-term efforts to introduce the most radical forms of early 20th century European theatre to Britain.  He travelled around Europe extensively in the 1910s and 1920s, corresponding with many progressive theatres and directors.  His main focus became the revolutionary theatre of post-1917 Soviet Russia and he became the foremost British expert on the evolution of Soviet theatre.  With a regular column in the weekly Sunday Worker newspaper, he made relentless calls for the establishment of a workers’ theatre movement in Britain.  Although he failed in this mission, he was very influential on better-remembered artists such as Joan Littlewood and Ewan MacColl.

This project delved into Carter’s incredible archive of letters, photographs, speeches, articles and books to create a living portrait of a man who burned with passion for a future he was never able to realise.  Indeed, his commitment to revolution led him from being a champion of radical theatrical innovation to someone who defended the Soviet purges that resulted in the imprisonment and execution of many of the artists he had once trumpeted. 

Patrick Morris worked with Oxford University’s Professor Rebecca Beasley in this Knowledge Exchange Fellowship from September 2022 to June 2023. His response to Rebecca’s work, their discussions and his immersion in the archives was to create a play with songs, ‘The Revival of Huntly Carter’. The project culminated in a workshop performance of the play at Queens’ College, Oxford on June 8th. Actors Jill Dowse, Robert Mountford and Lee Rufford played the 3 roles, and we worked with musicians Professor Joanna Bullivant, Marinu Leccia, Giles Masters, Ruth Thrush and Seth Kemble, rehearsing over 4 days in Oxford.

We were privileged to have Professor Claire Warden of Loughborough University respond to the performance in advance of Q & A with the audience. Here’s just a sprinkling of the amazing audience responses: “a clever and thoughtful way to get inside the problem of who, how and why we remember.” “I LOVED it. I really had no idea what to expect but it was just wonderful: clever, careful, funny.” “Fascinating and powerful performance”.