Research Guides: Theatre: Getting Started

The Value of Research in Theatre

Theatre is a showcase of humanity put forward for public viewing via the stage. A conglomeration of actors, tech specialists, writers, designers, and more work together to put together a production. But a fundamental part of presenting a successful play or musical, and one that is often overlooked, is the research that goes into building that production from the ground up. How do you know you are being accurate to the historical period being represented in a period play? How do you accurately portray a specific accent? How do you build a set that represents the play's location? All of these considerations are solved with careful and thoughtful research.

This libguide is designed to assist theatre students and professionals with gathering materials (databases, open source websites, and book recommendations) to build up your research into many of the fields that make up the theatre and its productions. Please explore the tabs to the left to get started on your research journey.

Not convinced about the value of research in theatre? Check out these resources below:

Research Methods in Theatre and Performance by Baz Kershaw (Editor); Helen Nicholson (Editor)
ISBN: 9780748646081

Publication Date: 2011

How have theatre and performance research methods and methodologies engaged the expanding diversity of performing arts practices? How can students best combine performance/theatre research approaches in their projects? This book's 29 contributors provide hands-on answers to such questions. Challenging and debating received research wisdom and exploring innovative procedures for rigorous enquiry via archives, technology, practice-as-research, scenography, performer training, applied theatre/performance, body in performance and more, they create a focussed compendium of future research options.
Practice-As-Research by Ludivine Fuschini (Editor); Simon Jones (Editor); Baz Kershaw (Editor); Angela Piccini (Editor)
ISBN: 0230220010

Publication Date: 2009

This groundbreaking integrated book and DVD presents an exploration of the major fissures of established knowledge created by a new trans-disciplinary, worldwide project. Through an innovative combination of formats, it aims to embody the principles of performance and screen practice-as-research in its structure and design.
Mapping Landscapes for Performance As Research by Shannon Rose Riley; Lynette Hunter
ISBN: 9780230222199

Publication Date: 2009

Although the sciences have long understood the value of practice-based research, the arts and humanities have tended to structure a gap between practice and analysis. This book examines differences and similarities between Performance as Research practices in various community and national contexts, mapping out the landscape of this new field.
Practice As Research in the Arts by Robin Nelson
ISBN: 9781137282903

Publication Date: 2013

This book takes a fresh "how to" approach to Practice as Research. At the "performance turn" it argues that old prejudices should be abandoned and that a PaR methodology and its modes of "doing-knowing" should be fully accepted in the academy. It refines Robin Nelson's earlier models for PaR but sustains the dynamic and dialogic interplay between different modes of knowledge-production in a multi-mode research inquiry. It advances strategies for articulating and evidencing the research inquiry and offers practical guidance to practitioner-researchers on how to conduct a PaR inquiry.

The Cambridge Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Theaterdian Theatre by Kerry Powell (Editor)
ISBN: 9780521791571

Publication Date: 2004

This 2004 Companion is designed for readers interested in the creation, production and interpretation of Victorian and Edwardian theatre, both in its own time and on the contemporary stage. The volume opens with a brief overview and introduction surveying the theatre of the time followed by an essay contextualizing the theatre within the frame of Victorian and Edwardian culture as a whole. Succeeding chapters examine specific aspects of performance, production, and theatre, including the music, the actors, stagecraft and the audiences themselves; plays and playwriting and issues of class and gender are also explored. Chapters also deal with comedy, farce and melodrama, while other essays bring forward new topics and approaches that cross the boundaries of traditional investigation, including analysis of the economics of theatre and of the theatricality of personal identity.
The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History by David Wiles (Editor); Christine Dymkowski (Editor)
ISBN: 9780521149839

Publication Date: 2012

Scholars, amateur historians and actors have shaped theatre history in different ways at different times and in different places. This Companion offers students and general readers a series of accessible and engaging essays on the key aspects of studying and writing theatre history. The diverse international team of contributors investigates how theatre history has been constructed, showing how historical facts are tied to political and artistic agendas and explaining why history matters to us. Beginning with an introduction to the central narrative that traditionally informs our understanding of what theatre is, the book then turns to alternative points of view - from other parts of the world and from the perspective of performers in fields such as music-theatre and circus. It concludes by looking at how history is written in the 'democratic' age of the Internet and offers a new perspective on theatre history in our globalised world.
The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies by Tracy C. Davis (Editor)
ISBN: 9780521874014

Publication Date: 2008

Since the turn of the century, Performance Studies has emerged as an increasingly vibrant discipline. Its concerns - embodiment, ethical research and social change - are held in common with many other fields, however a unique combination of methods and applications is used in exploration of the discipline. Bridging live art practices - theatre, performance art and dance - with technological media, and social sciences with humanities, it is truly hybrid and experimental in its techniques. This Companion brings together specially commissioned essays from leading scholars who reflect on their own experiences in Performance Studies and the possibilities this offers to representations of identity, self-and-other, and communities. Theories which have been absorbed into the field are applied to compelling topics in current academic, artistic and community settings. The collection is designed to reflect the diversity of outlooks and provide a guide for students as well as scholars seeking a perspective on research trends.
A Concise Companion to Shakespeare and the Text by Andrew Murphy (Editor)
ISBN: 1280932554

Publication Date: 2008

"A Concise Companion to Shakespeare and the Text" introduces the early editions, editing practices, and publishing history of Shakespeare's plays and poems, and examines their influence on bibliographic studies as a whole. The first single-volume book to provide an accessible and authoritative introduction to Shakespearean bibliographic studies. Includes a helpful introduction, notes on Shakespeare's texts, and a useful bibliography.
The Oxford Handbook of American Drama by Jeffrey H. Richards (Editor); Heather S. Nathans (As told to)
ISBN: 0199731497

Publication Date: 2014

This ambitious collection of essays will cover American drama in its entirety - from its inception in colonial America, through its many incarnations in the nineteenth century, to its zenith in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Differentiating itself from other treatments of the genre, the handbook will not only highlight the major works of the twentieth century, but will also attend carefully to earlier works and contexts.
The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre by Phyllis Hartnoll (Editor); Peter Found (Editor)
ISBN: 9780192825742

Publication Date: 1993

This new edition of an extremely popular reference work has been completely revised both to widen its coverage of the theater and to bring existing entries up to date. Based on the highly acclaimed fourth edition of The Oxford Companion to the Theatre, it offers theater-goers an indispensable handbook to all aspects of the stage. The range of the book is international and it places a wealth of information right at the reader's fingertips. There are entries on dramatists, actors and actresses, directors, theaters, and critics. In addition, there are entries on theater styles, drama festivals, and fascinating details about everything from theater companies, designers, and producers to winners of the Pulitzer Prize.