| Description | The papers of Fuse: New Theatre for Young People, formerly known as Merseyside Young People's Theatre (MYPT), contains the posters, flyers, scripts, annual reports, minutes, and material related to educational outreach work with schools of the theatre. The collection also includes items for the well-known original 1981 production of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, which has featured in a number of our exhibitions.
Plays performed at the Fuse Theatre for which we hold material on include: Witch Grabbit and the Spellcrow 1978-1980; The Golden Samurai 1978-1980; Town Mouse and Country Mouse by Paul Haman 1980; Zodiac and the Last Sign by Paul Harman 1980; The Flier, the Rockets and the Rainhill Trials 1980; Things That Go Bump In The Night 1980; The Little Monster by Susan Stok 1980; Blood Brothers by Willy Russell 1981; Year Nine Are Animals by Richard Tulloch 1981; Stronger Than Superman by Roy Kift 1981; Don’t Be Daft Girl by Roy Kift c.1981; The Story of a Man Who Was Converted into a Dog by Osvaldo Dragun, translation by Hal Brown 1981; The Ball 1981; Folk Tales 1981; Moongarden 1980; Picture It by Penny Casdagli 1981; Stags and Hens by Willy Russell 1982; Planet Pax, Plymout Drumbeat Community Theatre 1982; Titanic by Les Smith 1982; The Adventures of Don Quixote adapted by Chris Hawes 1983; The Big Mouth 1983; Play the Game Pal by Justine Neumann 1983-1984; Young Jane (Jane Eyre adaptation) by Chris Hawes 1984; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1984; Say Cheese, Hi Jinx Theatre 1984; The Pageant of St. George and the Dragon 1985; Five Fingers 1985; Run, Run, Runaway by Bill Morrison 1985; Drink The Mercury by David Holman 1985; Differences by Andrew Breakwell c.1985; Lancashire Story narrated by Margaret Seagroatt, (featuring Willy Russell) c.1985; Ellen’s Gold by Chris Hawes 1986; The Women There by Julianne O’Brien 1987; Frankie’s Friends by David Holman 1987; When The Stars Came 1987; The Twits by Roald Dahl, adapted by Bill Morrison 1987; Butty and Nicknack play the Frog King by Gunter Jankiwiak and Ingrid Ollrogge 1988; Paradise Island by Ad de Bont, adapted by Guy Hollan 1989; Peacemakers 1989; Amy’s Balloon 1989; Asking For It? By Mary Cooper (published copy) 1989; Ferdinand by Heather Robson 1989; The Lost Child by Mike Kenny 1990; The Lost Child 1990; Always With You (HIV) by Mary Cooper 1991; The Secret Voice by Stuart Paterson, Game Over by Graham Walters 1992; The Incredible Expanding Baby by Julie Wilkinson 1992; Example in conjunction with the Everyman Theatre 1992; Heads or Tails by Peter Wynne-Willson 1992; The Magic Mirror by Tim Jones 1992; Unmade Beds by Mike Kenny 1993; The Collywobbles by Brendan Murray 1993; The Further Adventures of Frog and Toad 1993; Roy by Peter Wynne-Willson 1995; What I know Now by Mike Kenny 1995; Iki Dunya Arasinda: Between Two Worlds 1995; My Bit of Sky by Mark Hollander 1995; The Three Little Pigs by Heather Robson 1995; Flight! by Andrea Earl 1996; The Hare and the Tortoise 1996; Open the Box and Shake Out The Sun by C.P. Taylor c. 1996; Chasing Shadows/Golgelerian Pesinde Arnyekkergeto British/Turkish co-production 1996; Ferdinand by Heather Robson 1997; In the Frame by Andrea Earl 1997; Moving Voices by Peter Rumney 1998; Little Father by Richard Hurford 1999; Puss in Blue Suede Boots by Tony Lidington and Mike Sherman 1999; A World Turned Upside Down 2001; Treasure Island by Mike Kenny 2001; Walking The Tightrope by Mike Kenny 2004; White Feathers by the Gazebo TIE Company 2004; The House That Jack Built 2004-2005; Little Acorn 2006; Winter Tales 2007; In Search of Fabulous Beasts with Unity Theatre 2007; In Search of Fabulous Beasts 2007; Treasure with Unity Theatre 2008; Springtime Stories 2008; Spring Into Stories 2008; Shadow Companion by Avaes Mohammad 2008; Small Worlds in conjunction with Slung Low Theatre Company 2008; What's in the Box? 2009; A World Away 2009; Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer 2009; When I Wake Up I Want to be Famous by Robert Farquhar 2010; Not In My Name by Alice Bartlett 2010; Stories at Alder Hey 2010; Summertime Stories 2010; and Fabulous Family Tales 2011.
Papers of undated plays we hold in this collection include: The Change’ll Do Me Good; Follow The Swallow; Destination America by David Holman; The Song From The Sea by Mike Kenny; Wobba! By John Godber; A Different Tune: dance theatre in collaboration with Chaturangan; Bagdancing by Mike Kenny; Out of School – Into Art!; The Dram Face; Ulyssinbad by Xenia Kalogerpoulou, translation by Kay Cicellis; Changing Gear by Ruth Craft; The Flood by Charles Way; The Pathway Home by Mike Kenny; Big Yellow Monster; Cinderella; Home; The Road We Dream On in conjunction with DaDa (a Disabled and D/deaf arts organisation) Live; Chasing Shadows/Golgelerian Pesinde Arnyekkergeto British/Turkish co-production 1996; In Good Faith; Don Quixote; Sting in the Tail; Drugs; Pigs; The Little Red Hen by David Milne
The Dream Tree by John Gallagher; The War of the Words by Derek W. Holman; The Monkey and the Crocodile by Charles Way; Farm Dance by Charles Way; The Selfish Giant dramatisation by Oscar Wilde; Home Movies; Fire Play and The Spital Tongue Plays by C.P. Taylor; Longbenton Play; The Magic Island by C.P. Taylor; Castles in the Air by Madeline Sotheby; All in Stitches by Roy Kift; The Mole and The Owl by Charles Duffie; (B and W) Kids Looking; Shimmy by Boris Aprilov; Out of the Ordinary by the Crucible TIE; Dear Nobody by Bertie Doherty; Hello Monster by Pauline Mol; Bang On Top; Legends by Jeff Young; Medea’s Children by Per Lysander and Suzanne Osten; Solomon and the Big Cat by David Holman; Platypus; and Beauty and Robinson.
Please note that this collection is currently uncatalogued, but you can still browse a provisional box list of items attached within the Multimedia field. |
| AdminHistory | Fuse was established in 1978 as the Merseyside Young People's Theatre. The theatre produced plays specifically to take out to perform at school, and in some theatres aimed at school groups, as well as for other community groups. They are best known for producing the original incarnation of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, first performed at Fazakerley Comprehensive School, Liverpool, in November 1981. This was commissioned and toured in local schools in the early 1980s as a stage play, and was later rewritten as a musical afterwards. They rebranded as Fuse in 2006. |
| CustodialHistory | The collection was generously provided to LJMU SCA on long-term loan by the Fuse Theatre trustees. It is an active and growing collection with more deposits expected in the future. |