Our Origins & Ethos

A couple of decades ago, I acquired an old archive of playscripts that turned out to be the forgotten personal collection of Stephen Joseph, one of the true mavericks of modern Western theatre. Soon I was excavating the archive to learn more about Stephen’s life and work. That led me to the doors of many amazing theatre people - all of whom had known and worked with Stephen Joseph decades ago, prior to his early death in 1967. 

Everyone I interviewed - former students, playwrights, directors, actors (including two Oscar winners) - each person shared their unique view of an inspirational man who was fast slipping from history. 

Inspired by loyal Joseph protege Sir Alan Ayckbourn, I resolved to find a team of like-minded creatives who could help - in the most practical way possible - to keep Stephen Joseph’s legacy on the map. Interesting talking heads (and I recorded lots of those) don’t excite most people much. But stories - playful, daring, funny, innovative, politically-charged, or simply out-and-out entertaining - they touch and thrill us all. Which is why we do what we now do: work collectively, to bring back great lost work to the live stage.

A few words on our ethical approach as a collective.

We’re all professionals. But we’re not a formal company, and there’s no hierarchy. Unless you buy a ticket, there’s also no money! So for now, if things need to be done, we simply muck in - hoping that our (equal) take from live performances will allow us to keep moving forward with new productions. 

That doesn’t mean we exploit artists - including, we hope, each other. We’ve noticed that even big, publicly-funded arts organisations are happy (for example) to use AI to create artwork, rather than commission a professional. We think that stinks, and we resolve never to do it. (It’s theft, folks - stealing the work histories of our most creative people, who are often also among our poorest.)

If you like how we think and what we do, get in touch. Email us at hi@lostandfoundcollective.co.uk and we’ll all get to read it - one of us will even reply…