Professor Colin Chambers
Faculties, departments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Performing Arts
- School of Arts
- Penrhyn Road
Emeritus Professor of Drama
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
I came to academia from the theatre, where I was Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company. I have been Senior Research fellow at De Montfort University, Leicester, and Reader, Professor, and Emeritus Professor at Kingston University.
Qualifications
- BA Hons (King's College, Cambridge)
- MA (King's College, Cambridge)
- PhD (De Montfort University)
Domains
COLIN CHAMBERS, a former journalist and Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1981-1997), is Emeritus Professor of Drama at Kingston University, London. His stage writing includes co-authoring Kenneth's First Play and Tynan, and adapting David Pinski's Treasure. Among his books are: Other Spaces: New Writing and the RSC;The Story of Unity Theatre; Peggy: the Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent (first winner of the Theatre Book Prize); Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company; Here We Stand: Politics, Performers and Performance – Paul Robeson, Isadora Duncan and Charlie Chaplin; and Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History. He edited The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre and Peggy to her Playwrights: The Letters of Margaret Ramsay, and co-edited Granville Barker on Theatre.
Publications
Peggy : the life of Margaret Ramsay, play agent
Chambers, Colin (2020). Glasgow, U.K.: (Salamander Street)
Peggy to her playwrights: the letters of Margaret Ramsay, play agent
Chambers, Colin and Ramsay, Peggy (2018). London, U.K.: (Oberon Books)
Treasure
Chambers, Colin (2015). London, U.K.: (Oberon Books)
Black and Asian theatre in Britain: a history
Chambers, Colin (2011). London, U.K.: (Routledge)
Here we stand: politics, performers and performance: Paul Robeson, Isadora Duncan and Charlie Chaplin
Chambers, Colin (2006). London, UK: (Nick Hern Books)
Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company: creativity and the institution
Chambers, Colin (2004). London, UK: (Routledge)
Tynan: based on the book The diaries of Kenneth Tynan
Tynan, Kenneth, Nelson, Richard and Chambers, Colin (2004). London, UK: (Faber and Faber)
The Continuum companion to twentieth century theatre
(2002). London, UK: (Continuum)
Theatre in a cool climate
(1999). Oxford, UK: (Amber Lane Press)
Kenneth's first play: a play for young audiences
Nelson, Richard and Chambers, Colin (1998). London, U.K.: (Methuen Drama)
Peggy: the life of Margaret Ramsay, play agent
Chambers, Colin (1997). London: (Nick Hern)
The learned ladies
Moliere, Jean-Baptiste, Waller, A.R., Pimlott, Steven and Chambers, Colin (1996). London, U.K.: (Nick Hern Books)
Making plays: the writer-director relationship in the theatre today
Nelson, Richard, Jones, David and Chambers, Colin (1995). London, U.K.: (Faber and Faber)
The story of Unity Theatre
Chambers, Colin (1989). London, U.K.: (Lawrence and Wishart)
Playwrights' progress: patterns of post-war British drama
Chambers, Colin and Prior, Mike (1987). Oxford, U.K.: (Amber Lane Press)
Other spaces: new theatre and the RSC
Chambers, Colin (1980). London, U.K.: (Eyre Methuen)
Theatre London
Chambers, Colin (1980). London, U.K.: (London Transport)
Georgian theatres in Arundel
Chambers, Colin, 2024, The Bell, Summer, pp 54-56
Ira Aldridge
Chambers, Colin, 2024, The Bell, Autumn, pp 42-44
Unexpected Georgian theatre : the case of Arundel, West Sussex
Chambers, Colin, 2023, Theatre Notebook (77), 3, pp 153-176
The life and works of H Granville Barker
Chambers, Colin and Nelson, Richard, 2018, Agnes Colander programme
A secret life
Chambers, Colin and Nelson, Richard, 2017, The Times Literary Supplement, pp 15-16
The new radicals : Ibsen and the birth of political theatre
Chambers, Colin, 2016, Chichester Festival Theatre programme
A brief history of 'Waste'
Chambers, Colin, 2015, National Theatre programme for Waste
Robert Leeson obituary
Chambers, Colin, 2013, Guardian, pp 59-59
Fringe theatre before the fringe
Chambers, Colin, 2011, Studies in Theatre and Performance (31), 3, pp 327-338
Sam Russell obituary
Chambers, Colin, 2010, Guardian, pp 37-37
'Ours will be a dynamic contribution': the struggle by diasporic artists for a voice in British theatre in the 1930s and 1940s
Chambers, Colin, 2009, Key Words. a journal of cultural materialism, 7, pp 38-54
Vera Gottlieb : champion of Chekhov and all things theatrical
Chambers, Colin, 2005, Guardian, pp 27-27
Postscript : Helen and Harley : translating together
Nelson, Richard and Chambers, Colin (2022). In: Nelson, Richard, (eds.) and Chambers, Colin, (eds.), María Martínez Sierra : a great playwright hidden in plain sight : three plays from Spanish theatre's Silver Age. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Publishing
Harley Granville Barker : director extraordinary
Chambers, Colin (2018). In: Patteron, Michael, (ed.), The great European stage directors. London, U.K.: Methuen Drama, pp 121-144
'A Flute of Praise': Indian theatre in Britain in the early twentieth century
Chambers, Colin (2013). In: Nasta, Susheila, (ed.), India in Britain: South Asian networks and connections, 1858-1950. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 149-163
Mathura, Noel Cuthbert (known as Mustapha Matura) (1939-2019)
Chambers, Colin (2013). In: Cannadine, David, (eds.), Curthoys, Mark, (eds.) and May, Alex, (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press
Images on stage – a historical survey of South Asians in British theatre before 1975
Chambers, Colin (2012). In: Ley, Graham, (eds.) and Dadswell, Sarah, (eds.), Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatre. Exeter, U.K.: University of Exeter Press, pp 20-40
Shakespeare for my time
Chambers, Colin (2011). In: Freeman, John, (ed.), The greatest shows on earth: world theatre from Peter Brook to the Sydney Olympics. Faringdon, Oxfordshire: Libri Publishing, pp 17-33
History in the driving seat: Unity Theatre and the embrace of the "real"
Chambers, Colin (2009). In: Forsyth, Alison, (eds.) and Megson, Chris, (eds.), Get real : documentary theatre past and present. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 38-54
Bolt, Robert Oxton [Bob] (1924-1995)
Chambers, Colin (2004). In: Cannadine, David, (ed.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press
Developments in the profession of theatre, 1946–2000
Chambers, Colin (2004). In: Kershaw, Baz, (ed.), The Cambridge history of British theatre. Vol.3: Since 1895. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp 377-396
Mercer, David Stuart (1928-1980)
Chambers, Colin (2004). In: Cannadine, David, (ed.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press
Playing on the front foot: actors and audience in British popular theatre, 1970-1990
Chambers, Colin and Steed, Maggie (2004). In: Milling, Jane, (eds.) and Banham, Martin, (eds.), Extraordinary actors: essays on popular performers: studies in honour of Peter Thomson. Exeter, U.K.: University of Exeter Press, pp 191-209
Ramsay [nee Venniker], Margaret Francesca [Peggy] (1908-1991)
Chambers, Colin (2004). In: Cannadine, David, (ed.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press
'Home sweet home': Stratford-Upon-Avon and the making of the Royal Shakespeare Company as a national institution
Chambers, Colin (2001). In: Cartmell, Deborah, (eds.) and Scott, Michael, (eds.), Talking Shakespeare: Shakespeare into the millennium. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave, pp 85-101
Introduction
Chambers, Colin and Riggs, Thomas (1999). Contemporary dramatists. Detroit, U.S.: St. James
Introduction
Chambers, Colin (1998). In: Holman, Robert, (ed.), Bad Weather. London, U.K.: Nick Hern Books, pp v-vii
Introduction
Chambers, Colin (1997). In: Nelson, Richard, (ed.), Goodnight children everywhere. London, U.K.:, pp vii-x
Unity theatre
Chambers, Colin (1995). In: Margolies, David, (eds.) and Joannou, Maroula, (eds.), Heart of the heartless world: essays in cultural resistance in memory of Margot Heinemann. London, U.K.: Pluto Press
Product into process: actor-based workshops
Chambers, Colin (1980). In: Craig, Sandy, (ed.), Dreams and deconstructions: alternative theatre in Britain. Ambergate, U.K.: Amber Lane Press
More than Music Hall : or, how the alternative is not so new
Chambers, Colin(2009). In: The East End seen through performance, 29 Jan 2009 :London, U.K.