On the weekend of 12–13 April 2024, over a hundred former and current students and friends of Drama reunited in the Gulbenkian Centre – the much loved and admired base of the department to celebrate Drama at 60. Set up by the visionary Professor Donald H. Roy (1930–2020), Drama at Hull became the third Drama department in the country in 1963 (after Bristol, 1947, and Manchester, 1961).

Donald Roy’s pitch to the university stated that Drama at Hull was not to be an offshoot of English or a literary discipline, but a department modelled on European continental ensemble practice – as he had experienced it in France and seen it at work elsewhere. That ethos, of Drama students working within a professional theatre ensemble that produces work and allows them to learn on the job, has been at the heart of Drama ever since.

Opened in 1969 (now Grade II listed) and hailed as the most flexible theatrical space at any university in Europe, the “Gulb” has been instrumental in training generations of outstanding artists, creatives, teachers, thinkers and professionals. For many, coming to the reunion was as much about seeing old friends as about visiting the Gulbenkian – a very special friend with a special place in everyone’s heart.

The festive evening of Saturday 13 April was broadcast to everyone who couldn’t attend.

You can watch the recording here >>

As part of the accompanying events of the reunion, we gathered alumni memories of their special places in the Gulbenkian (in the Gulbenkian Theatre Ghosts audio project), of their memories of the department (in the Gulbenkian Memories Project) and mapped the career paths graduates have taken (in the Where Are You Now? Career Map). Anyone interested in contributing can still do so (see below). The reunion revitalised the wider Drama at Hull community. It was heart-warming to see graduates from the early decades (late 1960s and 1970s) mingling with recent graduates and current students. Enthusiastic words came to the department during the event and in the aftermath, and we are proud of our thriving community. Award-winning artists, business people, creatives, teachers and academics, and professionals of all kind and in a diverse range of activities bear testimony to the unique experience and learning that Drama at Hull continues to offer to its students.

We aim to renew lost contacts with Drama graduates. If you are interested, please write directly to Professor Pavel Drábek (p.drabek@hull.ac.uk), and if you wish, join the “Hull Drama Department Reunions Forever” group on Facebook.

We are also looking for any production photographs to complete our Gulbenkian Photo Archive. You can send us your historical photographs from the department shows, or for general life in the Department using the link below and the password GulbenkianPhotos.

Upload your photographs here >>

While the next anniversary reunion in Drama will take place in a few years time, we aim to bring back the annual Gulbenkian Festival – an opportunity for graduates to come back to the department, offer mentoring advice, and “give something back” to their department – to quote the words of several alumni.

Be sure to get in touch if you would like to volunteer in this way, again on the email address p.drabek@hull.ac.uk

THEATRE GHOSTS AUDIO PROJECT

Your favourite memories of places in the Gulbenkian

There is no other place like the Gulbenkian and we all have memories of what happened there.

The Theatre Ghosts Audio Project, conceived and realised by Dr Cat Fergusson Baugh and Dr Amy Skinner, collects audio memories of your favourite places in the building.

Please use your mobile phone and record a voice message and send it on WhatsApp to Cat at +44 7955 656335. QR code for the number is below.

Please make sure to:

• introduce yourself briefly,
• say what place your memory relates to, and
• record your memory.

We will turn the memories to an audio walk that visitors to the Gulbenkian can listen to exactly on your spot and in your memory.

WHERE ARE YOU NOW? CAREER MAP

Over the last six decades, Drama graduates have gone on to do diverse things and picked up a wide range of careers. We would like to invite you to help us create a synoptic map of where you are now and where you have been.

We would like to invite you to send us:

• your name
• courses studies at Hull
• graduation year
• career area(s) you’ve worked in
• Drama people you remember most

Please send your responses by email to Chloe Whitaker (c.whitaker@hull.ac.uk). Please make sure to include your permission that we can use your entry on the synoptic map.

GULBENKIAN MEMORIES PROJECT

How did the Gulbenkian and other Drama Department’s spaces and environments help you in what you have done since?

What is your favourite memory of your time in the Drama Department?

What was the one moment in the Gulbenkian that changed your life towards your future career?

The Gulbenkian Memories Project (conceived by Chris Lilly, Drama Class of 1976, and Pavel Drábek) collects stories, reminiscences, impressions and photos from Drama students and staff at the University of Hull over its 60 years of existence. We wish to make a mixed-media archive: an alternative history of the department. You can record your memory on your mobile phone, type it up, send in a photograph…

When you record or type your response, please don’t forget to introduce yourself and say when you were at Hull. You are very welcome to send in more than one entry into the Gulbenkian Memories Project!

Please send your video to us by WhatsApp at +44 7955 656335 (operated by Dr Cat Fergusson Baugh and Pavel Drábek). QR code for the number is below.

Please make sure to send it to us with a permission to use it. We would like to include the videos (edited where necessary) on our Drama YouTube channel. Chris and Pavel are also looking at the possibility of editing a collection of the memories in a book form.