Sir Larry receives some expert advice on how to wear his wig in Anthony and Cleoptra. © British Library

Exhibition Preview - The Golden Generation: British Theatre 1945 - 1968 running at the British Library until November 30 2008.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the revolutionary nature of plays such as John Osbourne’s ‘The Entertainer,’ which on its 1957 debut scandalised audiences with the casting of matinee idol Lawrence Olivier as foul-mouthed vaudevillian Archie Rice.

But now the Folio Society Gallery’s exhibition currently showing at the British Library is drawing on an extensive archive of manuscripts, letters, photographs and oral recordings to remind us of the groundbreaking nature of Britain’s post-War theatre.

Amongst the exhibits are recollections of a huge cross-section of people involved in post-war theatre, including playwrights, directors, actors, stagehands and theatregoers.

Specially commissioned oral history interviews are featured in sound points around the exhibition and include actor Thelma Barlow’s story of falling over a sheep whilst playing in regional Rep and playwright Peter Nichols trying to remember exactly when the censors permitted bare breasts on stage.

“The exhibition recognises the excitement generated by the premiere of Look Back in Anger in May 1956, but shows that, far from single-handedly kick-starting the new wave, Osbourne was one of many visionary new writers, actors, and directors who came to prominence in this exciting period for the theatre,” explained curator Jamie Andrews.

“The exhibition also demonstrates how evolving social attitudes forced the theatre, as critic Kenneth Tynan put it, ‘to come to terms with life’, and this included the campaign that led to the abolition of the Royal Household’s powers to censor theatre in 1968.”

'The dialogue is quite extraordinary...' early reviews from the Bristol Press for Harold Pinter's The Room. Saved by the playwrite and pasted into his scrapbook. © British Library

The extent of the part played by the then Lord Chamberlain, (Lawrence Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarborough) in theatrical history is made abundantly clear with the inclusion of two Osbourne scripts that were bowdlerised by the censor. In one, a reference to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is crossed out – it was seen as a codified reference to homosexuality.

Homosexuality in theatre was obviously a contentious issue – a copy of a letter written by the Lord Chamberlain and distributed to a number of ‘wise and responsible men and women’ reveals his concerns that the subject could be ‘very distasteful and embarrassing in mixed company’ and ‘might start an unfortunate train of thought in the previously innocent.’

All of the exhibits form part of The Theatre Archive Project – a British Library and University of Sheffield collaboration funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Initially running for five years (2003-2008), the project was created in order to reinvestigate British theatre history from the perspectives of both the theatregoer and the practitioner.

Interesting examples of the former include letters from ‘disgusted’ fans complaining that Lord Olivier – by now a Hollywood heartthrob and king of the West End ‘should play a lecherous old roué' in The Entertainer.

Other highlights include a handwritten draft of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming (accompanied by letters to Pinter from Noel Coward and Samuel Beckett, both enthusing – in their own distinctive styles – about the play) and a section on regional theatre, showing how many playwrights developed their talent whilst acting in rep.

'An impressive and depressing play'. The license application and reader's report for John Osbourne's Look Back in Anger. Courtesy The British Library

Exhibits also include Beryl Bainbridge’s diary describing an after-show drinking session following a performance at the Liverpool playhouse and Harold Pinter’s first scrapbook in which he pasted in reviews of his first play – performed over two nights in a disused squash court in Bristol.

The British Library has published a book tying in with the exhibition entitled The Golden Generation: New Light on Post-War Theatre. It is edited by Theatre Archive Project leader Dominic Shellard and features essays on some of the key figures of the period drawn from evidence uncovered during the project.