Theatre Studies

Collection overview

Read / Download Subject Guide (PDF)

The Library's holdings in theatre studies can be found across the collections, particular strengths include:

Historical coverage of UK theatre from the medieval period onwards
Critical and theoretical coverage of the theatre
Performance art and theory
Practical aspects of stagecraft
Works by and about English dramatists
Works by and about Romance language, US and Latin American dramatists

Collection location

Historical, theoretical and critical works about theatre are located in the FILM and MEDIA collection (5th floor South Block)
Works by and about English dramatists are located in the ENGLISH collection (6th floor South Block)
Recent issues of theatre studies periodicals are displayed in the Goldsmiths Library (4th floor South Block). Older periodicals are located at 3rd Floor South Block PS and in the closed access stacks. If the catalogue states the location STACK SERVICE, please request at the Stack Service desk on the 4th floor South Block
Material about the theatre is also located within the Area Collections of Latin American Studies and United States Studies
To locate individual titles use the online catalogue

Related collections

Dictionaries and other reference works are located in the Goldsmiths Library (4th floor South Block)
Film, media and television studies
The Latin American Studies and United States Studies Area Collections
The DVD collection consists of over 800 films and operas, these can be obtained from the Enquiries Desk (4th floor South Block) and must be viewed within the library.
Special Collections - especially the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature which holds material on illusion and early moving images, and the Malcolm Morley Library of material on all aspects of nineteenth and early twentieth century theatre, particularly theatre history and stagecraft
Archives - Senate House Library holds a significant collection of archives on the theatre and drama

Classmarks for Theatre Studies

All the following classmarks have a numerical prefix of (3), eg FILM and MEDIA 5th floor (3) YX3ed MAN.

Theatre Studies	YX-YXO
History of British theatre	YX3e
Comparative drama	YXC
Tragedy	YXE
Historical drama	YXF
Comedy	YXH
Stage management	YXK
Stage design	YXL
Acting	YXM

Film Studies	YXP-YXT
Television drama	YXUT
Oral expression (rhetoric, speech)	YY

Media Studies (general)	YZ
History of broadcasting	YZA
Radio broadcasting	YZB
Television studies	YZD

English literature (general)	YB-YS
Medieval	YD
Shakespeare	YH
Nineteenth century	YM-O
Twentieth century	YP-Q

For a more detailed explanation of classmarks see the Library's leaflet 'A guide to the classification scheme'.

Other libraries

For more information about Theatre Studies holdings in other academic libraries in the London area, please consult the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries website: www.m25lib.ac.uk. For elsewhere in the UK, consult the Consortium of University and Research Libraries catalogue: www.copac.ac.uk.