Cameron Mackintosh
From OUDS
Cameron Mackintosh Professorship
The Chair of Contemporary Theatre, founded through a grant from the Mackintosh Foundation at St Catherine's College, aims to promote interest in, and the study and practice of, contemporary theatre. The Visiting Professorship has previously been held by actors, writers and directors including Sir Ian McKellen, Arthur Miller, Nicholas Hytner, Thelma Holt and Kevin Spacey.
The Mackintosh Foundation itself was established by Sir Cameron Mackintosh in 1988 to promote and develop theatre and the performing arts; to provide relief for the homeless, to relieve suffering of and promote research into the causes and treatment of AIDS; and to provide for medical research and relief of sickness. The Cameron Mackintosh Drama Fund for Contemporary Theatre has helped some of the University’s brightest young actors, directors, producers and writers, stage shows during the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
This year's Cam Mac Professor is writer and translator Michael Frayn. He is a figurehead of British theatre and one of the only British writers who has achieved equal success in both prose and drama. He has a writing style that extends from historical drama to farce and the critic Frank Rich famously said that Noises Off 'is, was, and probably always will be the funniest play written in my lifetime'.
Michael Frayn will be giving his inaugural lecture at St Catherine's College on Monday 26th October at 5pm. Admission is free and details of how to book a seat will follow in a future Drama Officer's newsletter.
Cameron Mackintosh Script Library
The Cameron Mackintosh Script Library is housed in the English Faculty, but is available for use by all students of any academic discipline. It contains a huge collection of old and new scripts including all the recent new writing from the RSC and new publications from Samuel French. There is also a large collection of one-act plays.
The catalogue of the collection is now available online at http://www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/udo/catalogue.asp and is searchable by title and author name.
The Script Library is open every weekday from 2-4pm (please note that it is not open at other times). Just bring along your Bod card to the English Faculty Library desk and ask for directions, or contact the Drama Officer for more information. I will be happy to meet you and show you the room if you haven't been before and there is a map to the library available at the web address above. Please let the Drama Officer know if you have any suggestions for the library, or ways to make it more user-friendly.
