Records of Kneehigh Theatre collected by Fred & Phyllis Shepherd

Materials assembled by Fred and Phyllis Shepherd document many of Kneehigh's productions from the period 1983-2007. The Collection is comprised largely of press and promotional materials which includes, posters, flyers, programmes, press releases and press cuttings relating to many of Kneehigh's productions and activities from this period. Records in this Collection highlight Kneehigh's early and ongoing development at this time documenting both their small-scale activities through to larger touring productions.

Listed by C Green May 2017 - Jul 2017.

The arrangement of the collection reflects that created and used by Fred & Phyllis Shepherd who organised the materials by period they were collected and then within each period by production. The exception to this are those records relating to various productions of Tregeagle which were retained as a separate series.

FCP8 is a small discrete collection, which accompanies the larger Kneehigh Theatre archive (FCP12). The wider archive contains further press and promotional material alongside Company records, such as film and audio recordings, reports, production files, budgets, scripts, technical and logistical records and photographs for both the productions represented in FCP8 and other more recent and ongoing productions and projects. Materials relating to Kneehigh collaborations and productions involving Nick Darke can also be found in the Playwright's own archive (CPA1), where the development and of characters, dialogue, scripts and productions are well represented. Records relating to the design of many of Kneehigh's productions can be found in the Archive of Bill Mitchell (FCP7), these inlcude set, costume and production designs.

• Fred Shepherd
• Phyllis Shepherd

Individual records maybe closed under Data Protection legislation. Please see item level descriptions for further details.

Fred & Phyllis Shepherd are the parents of Mike Shepherd (b1953), the actor, teacher and Artistic Director of Kneehigh Theatre. Mike Shepherd started the Company in 1980 with Kneehigh's initial development beginning with theatre workshops run in Shepherd's spare time. With the aim to create work for children (hence the name) the Company was a collaboration between an eclectic group of individuals which included students, a farmer, a sign writer, a thrash guitarist and an electrician. The Company developed organically over time, as a perpetually changing ensemble producing highly physical theatre of a unique and often quirky nature, with productions initially performed locally and later touring nationally and internationally to great acclaim.