ARCHIVE OF THE LEWES THEATRE CLUB AND THE LEWES LITTLE THEATRE LIMITED

Table of contents

LTC/1 Lewes Theatre Club: minutes of the Club Committee; 1948-1965

LTC/2 Lewes Theatre Club: minutes of Club Nights sub-Committee; 1958-1963

LTC/3 Lewes Theatre Club: Secretary's correspondence files; 1961-1972

LTC/4 Lewes Theatre Club: Victor Brown's files; 1938-1968

LTC/5 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: Victor Brown's files; 1949-1967

LTC/6 Lewes Theatre Club: programmes and photographs of performances; 1943-2001

LTC/7 Lewes Theatre Club: newsletters; 1947-2001

LTC/8 Lewes Theatre Club: records concerning productions; 1934-2000

LTC/9 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: minutes of directors' meetings; 1949-1992

LTC/10 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: membership records; 1949-1992

LTC/11 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: memorandum and articles of association; 1949

LTC/12 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: audited annual accounts; 1967/68 - 1991/92

LTC/13 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: deeds and associated papers; [1834] - 1970

LTC/14 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: papers relating to property; 1945-1982

LTC/15 Lewes Little Theatre Limited: records relating to company and charity registration, and company dissolution; 1949-1992

LTC/16 Lewes Theatre Club: press reports and newscuttings; 1959-1965

LTC/17 Lewes Theatre Club: publicity material; [?1939]-2000

LTC/18 Lewes Theatre Club: enlarged photographs; [1961]-2001

LTC/19 Lewes Theatre Club: other photographs; 1943-1997

LTC/20 Lewes Theatre Club: cash books; 1944-1990

LTC/21 Lewes Theatre Club: other financial records concerning productions; 1947-1986

LTC/22 Lewes Theatre Club: other financial records; 1948/49-1983/84

LTC/23 Papers of Carole Best: photocopy photograph albums; 1962-1971

LTC/24 Lewes Theatre Club: Chronicle; 1965

LTC/25 Lewes Theatre Club: other records; nd [1972]-2002

LTC/26 Papers of Peter Smith; 1933-2003

• <corpname>Lewes Little Theatre Limited</corpname>
• <corpname>Lewes Theatre Club</corpname>

Open to Consultation, unless otherwise stated

Records deposited 13 May 1982 (ACC 2831), 8 Nov 1982 (ACC 2924), 20 Jan 1986 (ACC 4573), 8 Jul 1987 (ACC 4852), 26 Sep 1988 (ACC 5129), 4 Nov 1988 (ACC 5160), 29 Nov 1990 (ACC 5607), 15 Oct 1991 (ACC 5764), 6 Oct 1992 (ACC 5973), 15 Oct 1993 (ACC 6170), 30 Sep and 31 Oct 1994 (ACC 6477), 29 Sep 1995 (ACC 6698), 24 Sep 1997 (ACC 7573), 16 Dec 1998 (ACC 7800), 7 May 1999 (ACC 7897), 18 Oct 1999 (ACC 7994), ACC 8088 (14 Mar 2000), ACC 8364 (14 Jun 2001), ACC 8417 (12 Sep 2001), ACC 8510 (6 Feb 2002), and 17 Jul 2003 (ACC 8829)

The Lewes Theatre Club was formed in 1940 from an amateur society called the Lewes Players which had been formed in 1929. They had put on one-act plays in St Michael's church hall (formerly known as The County Theatre) in Watergate Lane until its compulsory purchase by East Sussex County Council in 1936 for an extension to Pelham House. The Players staged their first major production Bird in Hand at the Corn Exchange in 1930, and gained a reputation as one of the best amateur societies in the south of England. Every year from 1931 to 1938 they took part in the British Drama League Festival and in 1936 won first place with Libel

In 1937 they bought (with the aid of a mortgage and donations from many local people including John Maynard Keynes) a derelict chapel in Lancaster Street for £400, with the aim of converting it into a theatre. They originally hoped that it could be licensed as a place of public entertainment but this proved to be impossible after the failure of the public appeal for funds and it was therefore decided to run the theatre as a private club. The conversion was undertaken by volunteers; plans were made for the theatre to open in September 1939 but the outbreak of the Second World War led to an indefinite postponement. However, between 1940 and 1943 some plays were staged in the theatre at irregular intervals, the first production, A P Herbert's Double Demon and Philip Johnson's Today of all days, took place in November 1940. In the autumn of 1943, with the help of a young professional actor, Bernard Archard, it was decided that it was now possible to begin mounting regular seasons of plays. In 1949 a limited company was formed under the title Lewes Little Theatre Limited, in which the ownership of the theatre and other capital property was vested

The early 1950s saw the first major piece of theatre refurbishment with the opening of a small foyer and the replacement of the little gallery with a larger structure. In 1954 the adjoining derelict site was purchased from Lewes Borough Council and in 1964 it was decided to launch an appeal to rebuild the foyer and to provide wardrobe facilities; the foundation stone was laid in April 1966. In 1972 the Falstaff Bar opened and the theatre's facilities were augmented by four new dressing rooms, lighting and control boxes

Lewes Little Theatre Ltd was wound up in 1992, and its assets and functions transferred to Lewes Theatre Club

The Rev Kenneth Rawlings (c 1886-1969), a keen dramaticist, was appointed rector of St Michael in 1925. His was the idea of forming the Lewes Theatre Club and he served as a director for many years; he was also an actor and producer (including the first production in 1940). He joined with the Lewes Players to find a home for a permanent theatre in Lewes and was a trustee of the building before its transfer to Lewes Little Theatre Limited in 1949. He had been awarded a BA from Hatfield Hall, Durham in 1909 and was ordained deacon in that year and priest (Birmingham) in 1910; he served as curate of St Michael Handsworth 1909-1911, St Jude Birmingham, 1911-1920, vicar of Washwood Heath, 1920-1925.

Source LTC/1/2, 8/2; Crockford's Clerical Directory