Getting Started
Welcome to your Subject Guide, where you'll find tailored guidance and advice on key library resources.
Essential Resources
Video Streaming, Sound Recordings & Images |
Highlighted Resources:
- BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
The BBC's archive of their entire output relating to Shakespeare: plays, poems and sonnets, documentaries, interviews, photographs and stills. Licensed only for streamed playback. To use this platform you will need to register using your Roehampton email address. Click here to register.
- BFI Player for Higher Education This link opens in a new window
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The British Film Institute's curated streaming service for higher education, with a focus on British and European independent films. Note: after logging in with your Roehampton email address, you need to create a personal user account for access. You may watch content on personal devices or in class, but BFI Player is not licenced for public screenings.
- British Library Sounds (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
Access thousands of the British Library's global recordings, including music, drama and literature, oral history, languages and dialects, wildlife, and birdsong.
- Drama Online This link opens in a new window
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Plays and play criticisms from a range of publishers including Aurora Metro Books, Faber & Faber and Bloomsbury Publishing. Also includes Globe on Screen and Early Modern video Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum's archives. Note: To access this resource please select “University of Roehampton”.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
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Streams thousands of films, documentaries and training videos across a wide range of subjects. Note: Click 'Log in to Roehampton' on the left side of the screen to gain access. Please note: BBC programmes may be available via Roehampton Online Broadcasts (ROB).
- ROB (Roehampton Online Broadcasts) This link opens in a new window
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Record and stream freeview TV and radio programmes for educational use, create clips and playlists, and access the archive of recorded programmes including BBC and Shakespeare Archives. ROB is managed by AVR, for assistance contact: avr@roehampton.ac.uk.
- Theatre Performance and Design Collection This link opens in a new window
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A comprehensive collection of performance videos, audio recordings, and production designs (from sound and lights to sets and costumes).
Play Texts, Journal Articles & Film Indexes |
Highlighted Resource:
- AFI Catalog (American Film Institute) This link opens in a new window
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Index of American films made from 1893 to the present. AFI Catalog can also be searched as part of Screen Studies Collection database.
- Black Plays Archive (Open Access resource)The National Theatre's catalogue of plays written by Black British, African, and Caribbean playwrights.
- British Library Theatre Archive ProjectContains recordings of interviews with British theatre goers and practitioners from 1945-1968.
- British Library: Lord Chamberlain's Plays collectionThe scripts of all new plays performed in Britain from 1824 to 1968, as submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for licensing. (Available online via Nineteenth Century collections: https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/ncco).
- British Library Modern Playscripts collectionScripts of new plays performed in British theatres since 1968, available in the BL's Manuscripts Reading Room.
- Drama Online This link opens in a new window
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Plays and play criticisms from a range of publishers including Aurora Metro Books, Faber & Faber and Bloomsbury Publishing. Also includes Globe on Screen and Early Modern video Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum's archives. Note: To access this resource please select “University of Roehampton”.
- International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance (IBTD) This link opens in a new window
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A collection of books, articles and dissertations on all aspects of the performing arts.
- ProQuest One Literature (formerly Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
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Includes diverse collections of dramatic works such as: African Writers; American Drama 1714–1915; Bertolt Brechts Werke; English Drama; Teatro Español del Siglo de Oro; Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction; and Twentieth-Century Drama. - Screen Studies Collection This link opens in a new window
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A comprehensive index of current publications related to film studies, plus detailed filmographies. Content includes: International Index to Film Periodicals database (FIAF), American Film Institute (AFI Catalog) and Film Index International.
Newspapers & Magazines |
Highlighted Resources:
- The StageThe main theatre industry weekly newspaper. This resource has content that looks at many areas of the Drama profession, including articles on directing, design and acting. Also includes contributions from theatre critics
- Exeunt MagazineAn online theatre magazine for quality theatre criticism, interviews, essays, long-form writing and podcasts.
- PressReader This link opens in a new window
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Access thousands of current, international newspapers and magazines. You can also download the PressReader App. Note: To log in, click sign in at the top of the screen, select Library or Group, then find University of Roehampton and Sign In via Open Athens. Spotlight on PressReader blog post.
- A Younger TheatreA Younger Theatre, the latest theatre reviews, news and ticket offers. Seeing theatre through the eyes of the younger generation.
- Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
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The Times newspaper in facsimile from 1785 - 2019.
Historical Sources |
Highlighted Resources:
- ARTSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to curated high quality images from reliable sources that have been rights-cleared for use in education and research. It contains 300 collections composed of over 2 million images.
Guide to ARTSTOR: Theatre and Dance
This guide highlights Artstor content related to theatre and dance, including images of costumes, venues, and staged performances from around the world, as well as portraits and performance shots of notable playwrights, theater directors, choreographers, set and costume designers, actors, and dancers.
- British Library: Lord Chamberlain's Plays collectionThe scripts of all new plays performed in Britain from 1824 to 1968, as submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for licensing. (Available online via Nineteenth Century collections: https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/ncco).
- British Library Modern Playscripts collectionScripts of new plays performed in British theatres since 1968, available in the BL's Manuscripts Reading Room.
- British Library Sounds (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
Access thousands of the British Library's global recordings, including music, drama and literature, oral history, languages and dialects, wildlife, and birdsong.
- British Library Theatre Archive ProjectContains recordings of interviews with British theatre goers and practitioners from 1945-1968.
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
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A cross-searchable platform of eight databases containing digital reproductions of newspapers, periodicals, books and ephemera from the 17th to 20th centuries, including archives of the Illustrated London News, the Listener, Times & Times Literary Supplement (TLS).
- John Johnson Collection This link opens in a new window
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Archive of printed ephemera covering everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
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Primary sources covering British politics, society, and culture, including theatre, music and literature.
- ProQuest One Literature (formerly Literature Online) This link opens in a new window
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Includes diverse collections of dramatic works such as: African Writers; American Drama 1714–1915; Bertolt Brechts Werke; English Drama; Teatro Español del Siglo de Oro; Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama, and Fiction; and Twentieth-Century Drama.
- Records of Early English Drama (REED)A project hosted by the University of Toronto to locate, transcribe and edit historical documents containing evidence of drama, secular music, and other communal entertainment and ceremony from the Middle Ages until 1642, when the Puritans closed the London theatres.
Key Journals & Journal Databases |
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Hundreds of full text journals and eBooks in the arts, humanities, social sciences and life sciences.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to journal articles, eBooks and reviews in the humanities and social sciences. Spotlight on Project Muse blog post.
- TDR: The Drama ReviewThis journal focused on performances in their social, economic, aesthetic, and political contexts. Covers dance, theatre, music, performance art, visual art, popular entertainment, media, sports, rituals, and performance in politics and everyday life
- New Theatre QuarterlyThis journal covers theatrical scholarship and practice.The journal publishes news, analysis and debate within the field of theatre studies.
- Drama Online This link opens in a new window
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Plays and play criticisms from a range of publishers including Aurora Metro Books, Faber & Faber and Bloomsbury Publishing. Also includes Globe on Screen and Early Modern video Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum's archives. Note: To access this resource please select “University of Roehampton”.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Hundreds of full text journals and eBooks in the arts, humanities, social sciences and life sciences.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to journal articles, eBooks and reviews in the humanities and social sciences. Spotlight on Project Muse blog post.
- The StageThe main theatre industry weekly newspaper. This resource has content that looks at many areas of the Drama profession, including articles on directing, design and acting. Also includes contributions from theatre critics
Key Journals |
- Contemporary Theatre ReviewCovers all aspects of theatre, live art, performance art, opera, dance, digital performance, activist and applied performance, theatre design, and connections between time-based arts and visual arts
- Contemporary Theatre Review - InterventionsOriginal articles that respond to current developments in the field and extend discussions from the print journal through a variety of writing formats and multimedia content.
- Performance ResearchThis Journal covers researching performance, anticipating tendencies, mapping practices, documenting processes, stimulating inquiry, performing research
- RIDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and PerformanceResearch in Drama Education (RIDE) is aimed at those who are interested in applying performance practices to cultural engagement, educational innovation and social change
- TDR: The Drama ReviewThis journal focused on performances in their social, economic, aesthetic, and political contexts. Covers dance, theatre, music, performance art, visual art, popular entertainment, media, sports, rituals, and performance in politics and everyday life
- Theatre Research InternationalArticles and reviews on the historical, critical and theoretical study of documentation of drama, conceived as the art of the theater; original articles on performance, acting and production techniques and theater architecture
Theatre companies, festivals, organisations...
- And What? Queer. Arts. Festival.'Queer arts for the hearts of London'
- A Younger TheatreA Younger Theatre, the latest theatre reviews, news and ticket offers. Seeing theatre through the eyes of the younger generation.
- ArtangelExtraordinary art in unexpected places
- Battersea Arts CentreExperience theatre, spoken word, talks, new writing and creative learning.
- Chinese Arts NowChinese themes, stories, performances.
- Creative DisruptionProduced by Arcola Participation, Arcola’s award-winning youth, schools and community programme, which creates over 13,000 opportunities a year for local people and young artists to get involved in the performing arts.
- Dark and Light Theatre CompanyBritain's first black-led theatre company, based in Brixton in 1969-1978.
- Edinburgh International FestivalThe Edinburgh International Festival is an annual festival of performing arts in Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks in August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music, theatre, opera and dance from around the world to perform.
- Graeae Theatre CompanyPioneering company of Deaf and disabled artists, founded in 1980.
- Imagine Children's Festival'The largest festival of its kind in the UK, Imagine Children’s Festival is dedicated to families experiencing and enjoying all kinds of art and culture together. Get ready for 12 days of the best international performance, music, literature, comedy, creativity, parties, participation and free fun for children aged 0 – 11 and their grown-ups.'
- LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre)London's biennial theatre event, at different venues across the city.
- Live Art Development AgencyThe Live Art Development Agency offers Resources, Professional Development Initiatives, and Projects for the support and development of Live Art practices and critical discourses in the UK and internationally.
- London International Mime FestivalLondon's international festival of mime and physical theatre.
- National Theatre ArchiveCollections include the Black Plays Archive and NT scripts, set designs, and props from 1963 onwards.
- People ShowCollective experimental theatre company.
- SPINE (emerging artists-in-residence in libraries)SPINE Festival is for children, young people and families and takes place each year in libraries situated at the heart of London’s communities.
- Sprint Festival (Camden People's Theatre)CPT's annual festival of new and unusual theatre.
- Tamasha Theatre CompanyChampioning artists from the Global Majority in the UK since 1989.
- That Black Theatre podcastNational Theatre's series on black British theatre.
- UK Asian Film FestivalRun by Tongues on Fire, UKAFF aims to celebrate, award and reward great films, filmmakers and artists from South Asia, and includes: feature films, documentaries, short films, panel discussions, and educational and community screenings.
- Various StagesA showcase for boundary-pushing new opera and music theatre.
- Vault Festival'London's biggest, boldest and wildest arts festival'.
- WOW - Women of the WorldA weekend of events at the Southbank Centre. Talks, discussions, workshops, as well as performances.
Key Journals |
- Contemporary Theatre ReviewCovers all aspects of theatre, live art, performance art, opera, dance, digital performance, activist and applied performance, theatre design, and connections between time-based arts and visual arts
- Performance ResearchThis Journal covers researching performance, anticipating tendencies, mapping practices, documenting processes, stimulating inquiry, performing research
- TDR: The Drama ReviewThis journal focused on performances in their social, economic, aesthetic, and political contexts. Covers dance, theatre, music, performance art, visual art, popular entertainment, media, sports, rituals, and performance in politics and everyday life
Library Subscriptions |
Highlighted Resources:
- BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
The BBC's archive of their entire output relating to Shakespeare: plays, poems and sonnets, documentaries, interviews, photographs and stills. Licensed only for streamed playback. To use this platform you will need to register using your Roehampton email address. Click here to register.
- Drama Online This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Plays and play criticisms from a range of publishers including Aurora Metro Books, Faber & Faber and Bloomsbury Publishing. Also includes Globe on Screen and Early Modern video Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum's archives. Note: To access this resource please select “University of Roehampton”.
- First Folios Compared (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
47 of Shakespeare's First Folios gathered together in digital format, allowing split screen viewing for comparison and analysis.
- Folger Shakespeare Library (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
Home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials and rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art. Website offers the facility to learn about Folger events and resources, both online and on location. Online texts, teaching tools and digital collections. Links to the Hamnet catalogue.
- ROB (Roehampton Online Broadcasts) This link opens in a new window
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Record and stream freeview TV and radio programmes for educational use, create clips and playlists, and access the archive of recorded programmes including BBC and Shakespeare Archives. ROB is managed by AVR, for assistance contact: avr@roehampton.ac.uk.
- Theatre Performance and Design Collection This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of performance videos, audio recordings, and production designs (from sound and lights to sets and costumes).
- Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A cross-searchable platform of eight databases containing digital reproductions of newspapers, periodicals, books and ephemera from the 17th to 20th centuries, including archives of the Illustrated London News, the Listener, Times & Times Literary Supplement (TLS).
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Hundreds of full text journals and eBooks in the arts, humanities, social sciences and life sciences.
- John Johnson Collection This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Archive of printed ephemera covering everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
- Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Primary sources covering British politics, society, and culture, including theatre, music and literature.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to journal articles, eBooks and reviews in the humanities and social sciences. Spotlight on Project Muse blog post.
- Shakespeare's Monologues (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
A complete database of Shakespeare's Monologues, full searchable and organised by play and genre.
- Understanding Shakespeare (Open Access Resource) This link opens in a new window
A research tool that links directly from the text of Shakespeare's plays to relevant articles from the JSTOR archive.
Key Journals |
- Shakespeare BulletinCovers performance studies and scholarly treatment of Shakespearean and early modern drama on stage and screen.
- Shakespeare QuarterlyLeading journal in Shakespeare studies, publishing highly original, rigorously researched essays, notes, and book reviews.
Freely available websites |
Further Shakespeare resources can be found on our A-Z Database List.
Roehampton's print books on Drama, Theatre and Performance can mostly be found at the following locations:
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2nd floor |
Classmark (spine label) |
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Live art or performance art |
704 and 709 |
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Music |
780 |
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Theatre |
792 |
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Actors and acting |
792.028 |
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Theatre directing |
792.0233 |
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Stage production |
792.9 |
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3rd floor
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American drama (plays) |
812 |
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English drama (plays) |
822 |
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Shakespeare |
823 |
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German drama (plays) |
832 |
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French drama (plays) |
842 |
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Classical Greek and Roman drama (plays) |
882 |
Inter Library Loans
The Inter Library Loan (ILL) service gives students and staff the option of requesting books, book chapters and journals articles when we do not have them in the Library collection. The items are borrowed from the British Library and U.K. and Ireland institutions and are supplied for free.
Inter Library Loans are not available for Alumni or our partner institutions.
You can also check the availability for the item in academic libraries near you on Jisc Library Hub Discover; it may be faster to visit another London academic library through the SCONUL scheme.
Inter Library Loan FAQs
How to I request an Inter Library Loan?
Where to collect my Inter Library Loan?
Returning an Inter Library Loan
How to renew Inter Library Loans?
Using other Libraries
SCONUL
SCONUL Access is a scheme which allows many university library users to borrow or use books and journals at other UK academic libraries which belong to the scheme, or just the convenience of studying in a library closer to your home. It's completely free to join, find how more information here:
What is SCONUL and how can I apply?
The British Library
The British Library at St Pancras, London is a national research library. It does not lend books nor does it aim to stock multiple copies of basic text books. If your research needs are not fulfilled by other libraries, see the British Library catalogue and Reader Registration. For more information about getting a Reader Pass, please see the British Library website.
Specialist libraries
There are many specialist libraries in London that may be of use to your studies. General advice for access:
- Telephone or email first as you may have to make an appointment to see the collection.
- Tell the librarian what you have already found and be specific about what you still need.
- Record all the bibliographic details of any material you use as you may not be able to recheck them.
Other Catalogues
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Jisc Library Hub Discover is a national Library catalogue that accesses the catalogues of many of the largest UK and Ireland university libraries.
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London Libraries allows searches and provides information on special collections.
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ULRLS is the catalogue of the University of London Research Library Services.
eduroam WiFi network
eduroam is a free WiFi network that allows students, researchers and staff to securely access the internet when visiting other participating institutions. See here for further details on setting up eduroam access for your visits to other institutions.