My research project Screen Plays, which has been honoured with the 2010 Shiers Award, is concerned with the presentation of theatre plays on British television. My aim is to publish a book tracing the history of the translation of theatre plays to the small screen but initially I am launching a blog on the subject.

I am particularly interested in studio productions of classic dramas by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen and other authors and the Award will support both my general research and a number of interviews with practitioners of studio drama between the 1950s and 1980s.

Theatre plays were a staple of the television schedules from the 1930s to the early 1960s, after which – as the medium became more concerned with commissioning original drama – such plays were corralled into prestige strands like Play of the Month and Performance. Theatre plays are a fundamental component of television drama, but – apart from productions of Shakespeare plays – they have received only minimal critical attention.

In addition, the craft of studio drama, its constraints and its creative possibilities, has not to date been properly documented, and I hope that my interviews will be a initial contribution to recording this. I will present the interviews on my blog and they will also be available for publication by the Royal Television Society.

My company Illuminations produces performance films for television, including the recent Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet with David Tennant (Illustrated), and the forthcoming Macbeth with Patrick Stewart. But I am also a historian of television, having written extensively about broadcast arts programmes, and I am thrilled now to have the chance to bring these two interests together in Screen Plays.

I would be delighted to be in touch with any RTS members who worked on studio productions of theatre plays. Do please e-mail me if you would be happy to contribute an audio interview contact me

John Wyver

john@illuminationsmedia.co.uk