Theatre & Performance
This guide covers sites for live performance, theatre and dance design including costume, scenography and technical aspects.
Other relevant web guides: Art History
- Starting Points
- Organisations
- Galleries & Museums
- Selected Sites
- E-Journals
- Discussion Lists
- Nominated Resources
Starting Points
AHDS Performing Arts
AHDS Performing Arts collects and promotes the use of digital data resources to support research and teaching in the performing arts.
http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts
Artifact
Artifact is a UK based guide to quality arts internet resources, including a music and performing arts section.
http://www.artifact.ac.uk/
Backstage
A developing gateway to performing arts collections in the UK. It's aim is to produce a single point of entry to find and search such collections.
http://www.backstage.ac.uk
Digital Librarian: Performing Arts
A comprehensive list of performing arts web-sites, mainly in the US and UK.
http://www.digital-librarian.com/performing.html
Euro-festival Info Centre
A guide to European performing arts festivals.
http://www.euro-festival.net
The International Theatre Institute
Details of the organisation including the World Theatre Directory, an on-line guide to organisations, festivals, colleges and resources around the world.
http://www.iti-worldwide.org
Literary Resources on the Net
The theatre page of an American academic literature resource site with good links to UK sites.
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/theatre.html
PALATINE - The Performing Arts Learning and Teaching Network
The site includes almost 4,000 reviewed links to performing arts websites.
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/palantine
Performing Arts Links
A good general web guide to theatre and dance, covering such topics as organisations and history, reviews, design and technology.
http://www.theatrelibrary.org/links/index.html
Organisations
American Ballet Theater
Includes a very good online ballet directory.
http://www.abt.org
Association of British Theatre Technicians
Includes pages on training, books, safety and a mail discussion group.
http://www.abtt.co.uk
Association of Lighting Designers
Includes details of training courses and an excellent links page.
http://www.ald.org.uk
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Includes details of repertory and backstage information.
http://www.brb.org.uk
Bolshoi Theatre
Details on the theatre and its opera and ballet companies.
http://www.bolshoi.ru
Centre for Performance Research
News and projects from the Centre for Performance Research at the University of Aberystwyth.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/~cprwww/index.html
Drama Centre London
Drama Centre London was founded in 1962. It represented a response to the creation of a National Theatre that was to make demands on the actor hitherto without precedent. It was and is a true example of conservatoire training since it made available to students in the UK a selection of the work of major innovators in theatre practice from both sides of the Atlantic.
http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/drama/
English National Ballet
Includes an image bank and a good links page.
http://www.ballet.org.uk
English National Opera
Details of current and future productions.
http://www.eno.org
International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians
Professional organisation covering scenography, theatre architecture, technology and other areas of theatrical technical development.
http://www.oistat.org
Metropolitan Opera
A very detailed site which includes comprehensive opera synopsis pages.
http://metopera.org/home.html
National Council for Drama Training (NCDT)
The NCDT is an independent organisation responsible for the accreditation of British drama schools. Its web-site lists all accredited courses and offers a very good links page.
http://ncdt.co.uk
National Resource Centre for Dance
Organisation to support the development of dance study in the UK.
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/NRCD
National Theatre
The official National Theatre website
http://www.nt-online.org/home.html
New York City Ballet
Includes a ballet bibliography.
http://www.nycballet.com
New York Library for the Performing Arts
One of the world's best libraries for the performing arts. The site details the various collections and includes an excellent 'dance resources on the Internet' section.
http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
New Royal Opera House web site, containing details about the new House and its companies.
http://www.royalopera.org
Royal Shakespeare Company
The official RSC site.
http://www.rsc.org.uk
Sadler's Wells
Includes a good dance links page.
http://www.sadlers-wells.com
Scottish Ballet
Includes a good dance links page.
http://www.scottishballet.co.uk
Scottish Theatre Archive
A guide to the Scottish Theatre Archive held by the library of Glasgow University. Contains links to other Scottish theatre web-sites.
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/index.html
Shakespeare's Globe
The official site of the new Globe Theatre.
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org
The Shakespeare Institute Library
Details of The Shakespeare Institute Library in Stratford-upon-Avon, including the on-line catalogue and Shakespeare Performance Archive.
http://www.is.bham.ac.uk/shakespeare/about.htm
Society of British Theatre Designers
Excellent site including a picture gallery of members' designs, and a list of training courses.
http://www.theatredesign.org.uk
University of Bristol Theatre Collection
A guide to and details of The University of Bristol's theatre research centre and archive. The catalogue includes theatre designs and The Old Vic archive.
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection
Galleries & Museums
Theatre Museum
Home page for the national museum of the performing arts in London (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum) giving background to the collection, location and access.
http://theatremuseum.vam.ac.uk
PeoplePlay UK
1500 digital images from the Theatre Museum collection including interactive guided tours and activities.
http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk
Selected Sites
Arts Archive
A UK database of performance, plays, people and productions nationwide.
http://www.arts-archive.com
ballet.co
The most comprehensive British ballet site with information on companies and dancers, reviews and a monthly magazine.
http://www.ballet.co.uk
The Costume Gallery
This site contains lots of information about historical costume.
http://www.costumegallery.com
Costumer's Manifesto
Everything from costume history to making and buying costumes, and lots of links.
http://www.costumes.org
Didaskalia
A comprehensive guide to the classical theatre.
http://didaskalia.open.ac.uk
The Digital Performance Archive
Website and searchable database for digital performance work.
http://dpa.ntu.ac.uk/dpa_site/main.html
International Theatre Design Archive
A digital theatre design archive from the United States Institute for Theater Technology at Southern Illinois University.
http://www.siue.edu/ITDA
Laban Centre
Conservatoire for professional contemporary dance training and research.
http://www.laban.org/index.phtml
Life in Elizabethan England
Everything you ever wanted to know about life in Elizabethan England, the site is specifically for "writers, actors and
re-enactors".
http://www.renaissance.dm.net/compendium
Lighting Links on the Net
From the Western Australian Academy for the Performing Arts, a comprehensive and international guide to theatre lighting.
http://www.lightinglinks.net
The Live Art Archive
Archive of information about existing Live Art / Performance Art materials, records and publications primarily in the UK.
http://art.ntu.ac.uk/liveart
Londondance.com
News, reviews and interviews about the world of dance, with a good directory of links.
http://www.londondance.com
Medieval Drama Links
A personal web-site which collates useful web-sites on the subject of medieval drama and theatre.
http://www.the-camerino-players.com/medievaldrama/index.html
Merce Cunningham
Official site of the Cunningham dance foundation giving details about the choreographer's life and works.
http://www.merce.org/
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
Enormous guide to everything Shakespearean on the Internet.
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu
Operabase
A comprehensive site listing opera productions world-wide. It can be searched by title of opera, singer, conductor etc. It also includes reviews and links to the Grove Dictionary of Opera.
http://www.operabase.com
Paris Music Hall Collection
From the University of Georgia, Hargrett Library, a collection of over 6000 original costume and 1000 curtain designs from Paris music halls, 1920-38.
http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/selections/paris/index.html
Performance Index
Statements and records of more than 80 international performance artists and theorists.
http://www.thing.at/performance-index
Playbill Online
News, reviews, and features about the American stage.
http://www.playbill.com
The Puppetry Homepage
Comprehensive site about the world of puppetry.
http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry
Records of Early English Drama
International scholarly project on the early theatre. The site also contains many links.
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~reed/reed.html
Sheppard Technical Production
A personal web-site which offers a comprehensive guide to the technical theatre production industry including over 800 links and a glossary of terms.
http://www.shepperd.co.uk
Skenotheke: images of the ancient stage
A project from the University of Saskatchewan containing images of ancient theatres and a very good links page.
http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/skenotheke.html
Small-cast One-act Plays Online
Free access to over 700 plays for small casts.
http://www.heniford.net/1234
Stagelink
A web based directory for technical stage production.
http://www.stagelink.com/
Templeman Library Theatre Collections
Information about the University of Canterbury, Kent theatre collections, including access to the collections' catalogues.
http://library.ukc.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/theatre.htm
Theatre Net
News, reviews and listings for UK theatre.
http://www.theatrenet.co.uk
Theatrecrafts.com
From the University of Exeter School of Drama and Music this site is particularly good for information on theatre lighting and sound. It also includes the "biggest" glossary of technical theatre terms on the web.
http://www.theatrecrafts.com
Touchstone
A co-operative database funded by the British Library to provide a single point of access to significant Shakespeare collections in the UK, it includes Shakespeare in production.
http://www.touchstone.bham.ac.uk
UK Theatre Web
Guide to professional and amateur performing arts in the UK.
http://www.uktw.co.uk/index.html
What's On Stage
Do not use Back button to Return to this webguide, simply 'Single Click on the Right Mouse Button when the cursor is over the Back button, and select Theatre Webguide'.
News, reviews, and features on the British theatre scene.
http://www.whatsonstage.com
WWW Virtual Library for Theatre and Drama
Particularly good for image collections, mailing lists, e-journals and organisations.
http://www.vl-theatre.com
E-Journals
The Stage
A selection of articles from each week's edition of the theatre trade paper. The site also includes links pages, legal advice and job vacancies.
http://www.thestage.co.uk
Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory
Essays, scripts, interviews and articles on performance from a feminist perspective.
http://www.womenandperformance.org
Discussion Lists
There are some active Mailbase lists on live art, theatre, dance. Also worth checking are:
Live Art Archive
http://art.ntu.ac.uk/liveart
Stetson University Theatre Department
Good list of American and international theatre related discussion groups
http://www.stetson.edu/csata/thr_guid.html
Nominated Resources
Web sites and other web-based resources nominated by users of this site will be posted here.