Celebrated annually on 27th March, World Theatre Day is a great excuse to embrace all varieties of theatre. Like us, we’re sure that many of you are missing attending plays and shows in person. With theatres and cinemas closed, we’ve resorted to streaming live theatre from the comfort of our homes or subscribing to streaming channels to get our fix of film and drama. Whether you’re a drama or film student, or simply enjoy musicals and Shakespeare in your free time, we hope you’ll find these resources of use to you.
Film
DVDs can be borrowed from Catalyst with a wide range of musicals, classics, box sets and international film to choose from. Check the library catalogue or your reading list to ensure the item is available and if it’s not then place a reservation so you’ll be next in the queue for it. For immediate access from the comfort of your own home, why not check out Box of Broadcasts. They hold a wide variety of film and TV which can be streamed without needing to be on campus!
Journals
BrowZine is a great way of browsing journals. You can search by journal title or topic, and after setting up an account can add journals to your bookshelf. If it’s a journal the library currently subscribes to, you’ll be notified as soon as there’s a new issue available to read. With the ability to label your shelves, it’s a great way of organising your favourite subscriptions and ensuring you don’t miss out on new publications! See our earlier blog post for more information.
Drama Online
Drama Online is an online database consisting of playtexts, video, audio and secondary texts of criticism and performance practice. Through this we have access to the National Theatre Collection of full length videos. You should definitely check it out if you want a fix of live (recorded) theatre! If you’re studying on a drama degree, you may find Drama Online features on your reading lists. Where possible, we’ve linked to online plays so you don’t need to make a trip to campus for a print copy. Reading lists aside, for further research you can search on Discover More for a wide range of electronically accessible items. If you’re offsite, don’t forget to click the ‘off campus’ banner for easier access. Drama Online resources will appear on Discover More but if you’re looking for inspiration or want a browse then it’s a great database to access directly!
Archive
The Edge Hill University Archive holds some records relating to theatrical productions that have been staged at the institution. These include reviews in internally produced publications and student magazines. In addition, there are a number of photographs (some of which are included in this blog) of student performances. However, there are a lot of photographs and other documents that have not yet been catalogued, so more photographs will probably turn up! The Archivist, Dan Copley, is always looking to add things to the archive. If you have any records relating to Edge Hill theatre productions or concerts (programmes, tickets, photographs, etc) that you would like to donate, please get in touch!
Research
On World Theatre Day we’ll also be celebrating the the diverse, fascinating, and game-changing research outputs from our academics. Head over to our Twitter account @EHULearnService where our Research Support Librarian will be tweeting theatre-based research!
Useful Links
World Theatre Day – For more information on the day itself and access to the Online Celebration on Saturday 27th March.
Film and Television Literature Index – provides a comprehensive collection of full-text and bibliographic coverage from scholarly and popular sources. It also spans the entire spectrum of film and television studies.
International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance – Contains full text for top performing arts journals and books.
Performing Arts & Media Subject Resources – These pages should provide a great starting point for students in these disciplines.
