The London Stage

Searching for Books:

  Subject Headings in BearCat - the SUNY Potsdam Library Catalog

Drama = works on drama as a literary form	Theater = works on drama as acted on stage	Theaters = works on facilities used to stage drama
English Drama English Drama - Elizabethan English Drama - History	Theater - England - London Theater - England - History Theater - Great Britain Theater and society Women in the theater--England	Theaters - England - London Theaters - Great Britain

Major Reference Books on Theater:

• Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Handbooks:
  • The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. (Ref PN 1861 .W67 1994) - vol. 1 = Europe.
  • McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. (Ref PN 1625 .M3 1984)
  • The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre. (Ref PN 2035 .C27 1988)
  • The Oxford Companion to the Theatre. (Ref PN 2035 .O9 1983)
  • Modern World Drama: an encyclopedia. (Ref PN 1851.M36) - plays and playwrights
  • Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo. (Ref PN 1625 .E7)- in Italian
  • A Shakespeare Companion, 1564-1964. (Ref PR 2892 .H3 1964)
  • A Dictionary of the Drama : a guide to the plays, playwrights, players, and playhouses of the United Kingdom and America from the earliest times to the present. (Ref PR 623 .A3)
• Biography: (in addition to the above titles)
  • Biographia Dramatica; or, A companion to the playhouse: containing historical and critical memoirs, and original anecdotes of British and Irish dramatic writers, from the commencement of our theatrical exhibitions. (Ref PR 621.A1 B2 1966)
  • Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559-1642. (Ref PR 651.F5 1962)
• Play Lists;
  • The London Stage, 1660-1800; a calendar of plays, entertainments & afterpieces, together with casts, box-receipts and contemporary comment. Compiled from the playbills, newspapers and theatrical diaries of the period. (PN 2592 .L6)
  • Annals of English Drama, 975-1700. (Ref PR 625.A1 H25 1964) - a chronology and index
  • A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama, to the Restoration. (Ref PR 625.3.A1G78 1970) - a descriptive list of plays to 1669.
  • 50 Modern British Plays: a reader's guide. (Ref PR 736.N5 1982)
• Bibliographies of History and Criticism; - selected titles
  • Theatre: history, criticism, and reference. (Ref PN 1620.A1 C48 1967)
  • British Theatre History. (Ref PR 625.A1 C6 1955) - a very selective list of books
  • Theatre and allied arts; a guide to books dealing with the history, criticism, and technic of the drama and theatre, and related arts and crafts. (Ref PN 1620.A1 B18)
  • Theatre Books in Print; an annotated guide to the literature of the theatre, the technical arts of the theatre, motion pictures, television, and radio. (Ref PN 1620.A1 S2 1966)
  • English Drama to 1660 (excluding Shakespeare). (Ref PR 641.A1P46 1976
  • English Drama and Theatre, 1800-1900. (Ref PR 721.A1C72 1978)
  • Caroline Drama: a bibliographic history of criticism. (Ref PR 671.A1F67 1978)
  • English Drama, 1900-1950. (Ref PR 736.A1M545 1977)
  • European Drama Criticism, 1900-1950. (Ref PN 1721.A1P2 1977)
  • Modern Drama Scholarship and Criticism: an international bibliography. (Ref PN 1851.A1C37) 2 vols. covering 1966-1990.
  • Shakespearean Criticism. (Ref PR 2965.S54 1984) - a large, and growing, set of volumes.
  • A Selective Index to Theatre magazine. (Ref PN 2000.T512)
  • How to locate reviews of plays and films : a bibliography of criticism from the beginnings to the present. (Ref PN 1707.A1 S19)
  • Theatre and stage; an encyclopaedic guide to the performace of all amateur dramatic, operatic, and theatrical work. (Ref PN 2035 .D6 1951)

Source Materials in the Field of Theatre.

In Microfilm at XPN1

Content: Includes 80 books, periodicals, manuscripts, journals and diaries on drama and the theater. The source materials are in English, French, German, Italian, and Latin.

The collection includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, journals and diaries containing selected primary and secondary sources of historical and critical importance for the study of drama and theatre in Europe and America and covers the period from 1568-1929. It contains contemporary reviews of notable performances, treatises on theatre architecture, descriptions of set designs, theatre histories, drama criticism, actor's manuals, memoirs, and diaries by famous performers. Among the periodicals included are: The Mask (1908-1929), The Mirror of Taste and Dramatic Censor (1810-1811), and The Theatrical Inquisitor (1812-1815).

Selected titles in the Crumb Library collection:

• History of the London stage and its famous players, 1576-1903. (PN 2596.L6 B3 1969)
• The rakish stage : studies in English drama, 1660-1800. (PR 708.C6 H8 1983)
• The first London theatre: materials for a history. (PN 2596.L6 W28 1969)
• Sheridan to Robertson; a study of the nineteenth-century London stage. (PN2596.L6 W3 1963)
• The Jacobean and Caroline stage. (PN 2592 .B4) 7 vols
• Who's who in the theatre. (PN 2012 .W5) scattered years, 1912-
• Theatre world annual (London) : a pictorial review of West End productions with a record of plays and players. (PN 2596.L6 T542) a few years only

Finding Periodical Articles about the Theater:

• The Times (London). This newspaper is available on microfilm for the years 1788 - 1997 in microfilm cases at AP 4.T5. Indexing of the newspaper contents for 1914-1996 is at Ref AI 21 .T46. An index for the years 1790-1905 is on microfilm at AP 4.T52. Articles from recent years in The Times are available through Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe on the library web site.
• British Humanities Index. (1960-1992) is on paper at Ref AI 3 .A72. An index to British periodicals in the humanities, including theatre.
• Online indexes for recent articles - under "Finding Articles" on the library web site. These include InfoTrac: Expanded Academic, ProQuest and Wilson OmniFile Select; among others.

Literature Resource Center

This online resource available through the library web site includes biographical, critical, and bibliographic information on writers and their works, including playwrights. It also links to some journal articles in full-text online.