New E-Resource – Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture 

We are very pleased to announce that Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture is now available to Cambridge University members.

British Theatre, Music, and Literature features a wide range of primary sources related to the arts in the Victorian era, from playbills and scripts to operas and complete scores. These rare documents, many of them never before available, were sourced from the British Library and other renowned institutions, and curated by experts in British arts history. Covering more than a century, British Theatre, Music, and Literature is without equal as a resource for 19th century scholars.

This unparalleled collection provides a detailed look at the state of the British art world with, for example, not only manuscripts and compositions, but also documents such as personal letters, annotated programs, meeting minutes, and financial records, offering scholars an unmatched glimpse into the inner workings of the arts world and life in Victorian Britain.

Image credit – ‘BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall’ by Paul Hudson on Flickr 

Access is for 2023.

Text from the Gale platform.

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies

New on ejournals@cambridge A-Z : Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies

Now available to the University of  Cambridge electronically from volume 1 (2012) to present.

From the Ingenta Connect website for the journal:

The Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies (JICMS) is a fully peer reviewed English language journal, which explores Italian cinema and media as sites of crossing, allowing critical discussion of the work of filmmakers, artists in the film industry and media professionals. The journal intends to revive a critical discussion on the auteurs, celebrate new directors and accented cinema, and examine Italy as a geo-cultural locus for contemporary debate on translocal cinema.”

Access Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies via the Journal Search or from the iDiscover record.

Image credit: by Tookapic on Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/night-television-tv-video-8158/

Digital Theatre +

Digital Theatre Plus has moved to a new platform here.

You can now access a range of exciting new resources on the new Digital Theatre+, including 15 enhanced concise introductions.

In addition to the original specially commissioned essays by leading academics, these accessible and authoritative guides now include a selection of audio-visual and written materials from across DT+ to extend students’ learning and inspire further research. 

Cambridge University Libraries A-Z of e-resources has been updated.

World Theatre Day – Live Theatre Collections

We have access to a number of collections of live theatre performances that you can enjoy in your own home.

Digital Theatre Plus captures the moments before the curtain rises and after the curtain falls, providing valuable insight into the play making process. We share the hidden drama of the weeks, days, and hours before ‘lights up’ on stage. By revealing the world of the rehearsal room, dressing room, backstage and beyond, our documentaries and interviews introduce theatre as a vibrant, exciting art form through a familiar and accessible medium.

Drawing on 10 years of NT Live broadcasts, alongside high-quality archive recordings never previously seen outside of the NT’s Archive, the National Theatre Collection now contains 24 films.

  • Comedies: She Stoops to ConquerOne Man, Two Guvnors, and London Assurance
  • 20th century classics: YermaThe Cherry OrchardThe Deep Blue Sea and Les Blancs
  • Shakespeare plays: HamletOthelloKing LearMacbethJulius CaesarCoriolanusTwelfth NightThe Winter’s Tale and Romeo and Juliet
  • Literary adaptations: FrankensteinJane EyreTreasure Island and Peter Pan
  • Greek classics: Antigone and Medea
  • World historical drama: Dara

The Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy on Screen

JULIUS CAESAR * HENRY IV * THE TEMPEST

Harriet Walter leads an all female cast in these three productions set in a women’s prison.

Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 1 (2008-2015) and 2 (2016-2018)

This collection features 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage from leading actors including Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, and Roger Allam’s Olivier Award-winning role as Falstaff in Henry IV.  Founded by the pioneering American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, Shakespeare’s Globe is dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare’s work and the theatre for which he wrote.

Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018) includes 9 landmark productions from the theatre’s most recent seasons, including two productions from Emma Rice’s tenure as Artistic Director and the first production from the indoor Jacobean theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

The RSC Live Collection.

The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. The RSC produces an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers.

New e-resource : Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy on Screen

Through the support of anonymous donors the University of Cambridge now has full access on and off campus to the Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy on Screen.

The Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy began in 2012 with an all-female production of Julius Caesar led by Dame Harriet Walter. Set in a women’s prison, the production asked the question, ‘Who owns Shakespeare?’ Two further productions followed: Henry IV in 2014 and The Tempest in 2016, all featuring a diverse company of women. The Trilogy enthralled theatre audiences in London and New York and was shared with women and girls in prisons and schools across the UK. The film versions were shot live in a specially built temporary theatre in King’s Cross in 2016.

Julius Caesar

Link to Donmar Trilogy on Screen via a picture of the Julius Caesar poster

Power, betrayal, justice. Phyllida Lloyd directs a cast including Harriet Walter in Shakespeare’s great political drama, part of the Donmar Warehouse’s all-female Shakespeare Trilogy.

Set in the present-day in the world of a women’s prison, Julius Caesar could not be more timely as it depicts the catastrophic consequences of a political leader’s extension of his powers beyond the remit of the constitution. As Brutus (Harriet Walter) wrestles with his moral conscience over the assassination of Julius Caesar (Jackie Clune), Mark Antony (Jade Anouka) manipulates the crowd through his subtle and incendiary rhetoric to frenzied mob violence. There follows the descent of the country into factions and the outbreak of civil war.

Henry IV      

WhLink to the Donmar Trilogy via poster from productionat makes a king? What makes a father? Shakespeare’s monumental history play travels to the heart of family, duty and country.

This innovative film, recorded before a live audience, documents the Donmar Warehouse’s all-female stage production, adapted from William Shakespeare’s two plays about King Henry IV, Prince Hal and Falstaff.

The bold, contemporary production is presented as if played by inmates of a women’s prison and was described by critics as ‘unforgettable’. The director for both stage and screen is Phyllida Lloyd, and Dame Harriet Walter is Henry IV.

The Tempest

Link to the Donmar Trilogy via an image of the poster for the TempestThe final instalment in the Donmar Warehouse’s all-female Shakespeare Trilogy sees Harriet Walter take on the role of Prospero in this evocation of the eternal struggle for freedom, morality and justice.

Directed for both stage and screen by Phyllida Lloyd. Set on an isle ‘full of noises’, this magical production features a glowing score by Joan Armatrading. Critics celebrated the original staging as ‘A glorious reminder that genuine diversity offers astonishing creative benefits’.

 

Text taken from the Bloomsbury Drama Online platform.

 

New e-resource : Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018)

Through the support of anonymous donors the University of Cambridge now has full access on and off campus (via Raven) to Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018).

Link to Globe on SCreen 2 via a poster image for the platformShakespeare’s Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018) includes landmark productions from the theatre’s 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons, including the first production from the indoor Jacobean theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

This new collection of nine productions has been added to the productions already available to view on Drama Online from the Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen 1 (2008-2015) collection.

 

 

 

Productions available include Measure for Measure:

Link to the Cambridge Digital Library digitised copy of Measure for Measure

 

“Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt”

 

Lucio (Act 1, Scene 5)

 

 

 

 

 

Text image credit: ” Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies; Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies” Classmark SSS.10.6 held at Cambridge University Library. Available from the Cambridge Digital Library

Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies

New on ejournals@cambridge A-Z : Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies

From the Ingenta Connect website for the journal:

The Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies (JICMS) is a fully peer reviewed English language journal, which explores Italian cinema and media as sites of crossing, allowing critical discussion of the work of filmmakers, artists in the film industry and media professionals. The journal intends to revive a critical discussion on the auteurs, celebrate new directors and accented cinema, and examine Italy as a geo-cultural locus for contemporary debate on translocal cinema.”

Now available to the University of  Cambridge electronically from volume 6 (2018) to present.

Access Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies via the Journal Search or from the iDiscover record.

Image credit: by Tookapic on Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/night-television-tv-video-8158/

Journal of Beckett Studies

New on ejournals@cambridge A-Z : Journal of Beckett Studies

From the Intellect website for the journal:

The Journal of Beckett Studies has been the journal of record for the established and expanding field of Beckett studies for over forty years. It has always been blind peer-reviewed and is recognised internationally as a scholarly journal of high standard.

“The Journal of Beckett Studies was founded by Beckett’s biographer James Knowlson and well-known Beckett critic John Pilling in 1976.

Now available to the University of  Cambridge electronically from volume 9, issue 2 (2000) to present.

Access Journal of Beckett Studies via the Journal Search or from the iDiscover record.

Image credit: “45” by Klas G on Flickr – https://flic.kr/p/49cGqP

Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen

The English Faculty Library and the University Library are delighted to announce the availability online of the Drama Online “Shakespeare Globe on Screen” collection.

Access the collection via the Drama online platform here.

The Globe’s Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole says, “We are thrilled to have our productions used as an example of world-class Shakespeare in performance by Drama Online. Sharing the pure and simple joy of seeing Shakespeare in the theatre he wrote for with as many people as possible is in our DNA, which is why we were the first theatre in the world to create its own on-demand video platform, Globe Player. In Drama Online, Bloomsbury and Faber & Faber have created a fantastic portal for students, and we’re delighted that Globe productions will be some of the first video content on offer there.”

Plays are listed here and identified by a video icon next to them.  Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors and Titus Andronicus will be available in 2016.

All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare centres on the tale of Helena’s quest to marry the man she loves. The production, directed by John Dove, stars Sam Crane and Ellie Piercy as Bertram and Helena, and includes performances by James Garnon as troublemaker Parolles and Janie Dee as Bertram’s interfering mother, the Countess of Roussillon. With lavish staging and costume, the production is a triumph that, according to The Independent, ‘leaves the audience reeling with happiness by the end.’ Run time: 166 mins

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare with John Light, Pearce Quigley, Michelle Terry, Luke Thompson and Matthew Tennyson. Hermia loves Lysander and Helena loves Demetrius but Demetrius is supposed to be marrying Hermia… When the Duke of Athens tries to enforce the marriage, the lovers take refuge in the woods and wander into the midst of a dispute between the king and queen of the fairies. Shakespeare put some of his most dazzling dramatic poetry at the service of this teasing, glittering, hilarious and amazingly inventive play, whose seriousness is only fleetingly glimpsed beneath its dreamlike surface. Run time: 172 mins

As You Like It by William Shakespeare starring Brendon Hughes, Jack Laskey, Trevor Martin, Jamie Parker and Naomi Frederick. Thea Sharrock’s irresistible production of Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy stirs wit, sentiment, intrigue and love into a charming confection which challenges the traditional rules of romance. Run time: 147 mins

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Famous for being the first dramatized version of the Faustus tale, the play depicts the sinister aftermath of Faustus’s decision to sell his soul to the Devil’s henchman in exchange for power and knowledge. In the first-ever staging of this menacing drama at the Globe Theatre, Matthew Dunster’s production features Paul Hilton as the arrogant, power-hungry Faustus and Arthur Darvill as the sardonic Mephistopheles, and includes several impressive magical stunts along the way. Run time: 166

Henry IV Part 1 by William Shakespeare. The first instalment of what is widely acknowledged to be Shakespeare’s greatest historical saga, Henry IV Part 1 is an epic tale of power, treachery and war, exploring the complexity of father-son relationships. Featuring an Olivier Award-winning performance from Roger Allam as Falstaff, the comical mentor to Jamie Parker’s Prince Hal, this is a celebrated presentation of the English classic, expertly directed by Dominic Dromgoole. Run time: 171 mins

Henry IV Part 2 by William Shakespeare. Dominic Dromgoole’s acclaimed Olivier Award-winning production is brought to its conclusion in Part 2 of Shakespeare’s historical masterpiece. Henry IV is a thrilling tale of family, treachery and war that surveys the entire panorama of English life. Staged with ‘terrific aplomb’ (Daily Telegraph) and featuring a stellar line-up, this magnificent Globe Theatre performance showcases some of the Bard’s deftest dramatic skill, and confirms why Henry IV is regarded as one of Shakespeare’s finest works. Run time: 177 mins

Henry V by William Shakespeare Capped by one of the most famous speeches ever written, King Henry V recalls the momentous English victory at Agincourt. With comic sub-plots to be found among Henry’s soldiers, the production boasts some terrific performances including Sam Cox as the ‘splendidly unhinged’ Pistol (Telegraph). In the title role is Jamie Parker, who ‘casts such a rapt spell that you feel the entire audience would rise up to march behind him.’ (Independent). Run time: 164 mins

Henry VIII by William Shakespeare is one of Shakespeare’s final plays, a political thriller based on the power struggle between the Tudor court and the eponymous king’s ambitious first minister, Cardinal Wolsey. Mark Rosenblatt’s spectacular 2010 production was the Globe Theatre’s first staging of the historical drama since 1613. Featuring stellar performances from Dominic Rowan, Miranda Raison and Anthony Howell, it bursts with intrigue. Run time: 161 mins

Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare with Philip Cumbus, Trystan Gravelle, William Mannering and Jack Farthing. Using every kind of verbal gymnastics to poke fun, Shakespeare’s most intellectual comedy is brought to hilarious life in Dominic Dromgoole’s highly entertaining production, rich in visual humour and sexual innuendo. Run time: 167 mins.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare featuring Joseph Millson, Samantha Spiro, Stuart Bowman, Billy Boyd, Gawn Grainger. When three witches tell Macbeth that he is destined to occupy the throne of Scotland, he and his wife choose to become the instruments of their fate and to kill the first man standing in their path, the virtuous King Duncan. But to maintain his position, Macbeth must keep on killing. From its mesmerising first moments to the last fulfilment of the witches’ prophecy, Shakespeare’s gripping account of the profoundest engagement with the forces of evil enthrals the imagination. Run time: 150 mins

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare contrasts the happiness of lovers Claudio and Hero, and the cynicism of sparring partners Beatrice and Benedick, who are united in their scorn for love. Marking the debut of director Jeremy Herrin at the Globe Theatre, this production features Eve Best as the feisty and high-spirited Beatrice and Charles Edwards as her cynical counterpart, Benedick. Run time: 166 mins.

Othello by William Shakespeare featuring Eamonn Walker and Tim McInnerny. One of Shakespeare’s most exciting, atmospheric and heart breaking plays. This is a tale of uncontrollable jealousy, deception and murder driven by one of theatre’s greatest villains. Run time: 180 mins.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare with Adetomiwa Edun, Ellie Kendrick, Philip Cumbus, Penny Layden, Rawiri Paratene Dominic Dromgoole’s production brings refreshing clarity to one of Shakespeare’s most famous and best-loved tragedies, drawing out the contemporary relevance of this passionate teenage love story. Run time: 171 mins

The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare with Christopher Benjamin, Serena Evans, Sarah Woodward, Nathan Amzi, Gareth Armstrong and William Belchambers. The only one of Shakespeare’s plays to be set within his own class and country, this critically-acclaimed production was described by the Daily Telegraph as `brimming with humanity, ingenuity and irresistible charm’. Run time: 145 mins

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare tells the tale of the sharp-tongued Kate, who must marry before her younger sister, Bianca, is allowed to find a suitor. Undaunted by her waspish reputation, Petruccio attempts to woo the not-so-fair maiden, but is faced with a tirade of poisonous insults. Samantha Spiro stars as cantankerous Kate, capable of knocking a grown man down with her fist. With a stellar supporting cast, the production is a triumph, thanks to its ‘riotous mixture of verbal dexterity and slapstick’ (The Daily Telegraph). Run time: 167 mins

The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Prospero, Duke of Milan, usurped and exiled by his own brother, holds sway over an enchanted island. He is comforted by his daughter Miranda and served by his spirit Ariel and his deformed slave Caliban. When Prospero raises a storm to wreck this perfidious brother and his confederates on the island, his long contemplated revenge at last seems within reach. Run time: 161 mins.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Under the direction of Tim Carroll the hilarious tale of misdirection and deception is performed here by an all-male cast, among whom we find Mark Rylance as Olivia and Roger Lloyd-Pack as Sir Anthony Aguecheek. The production also marks Stephen Fry’s triumphant return to the stage as the pompous Malvolio. Run time: 164 mins

 

Donmar Warehouse Study Guides

donmar

The Donmar Warehouse offers freely available behind the scenes study guides to some of their productions. The guides offer background information to the playwrights and the play as well as detailing the process of putting on productions at the Donmar.

“For each of our productions, we create an exclusive Behind the Scenes guide, providing a unique look at the enormous amount of work and creativity that goes into producing a Donmar show. These guides include interviews, rehearsal diaries, production photography, information about the play and playwright, and much, much more. We also include exercises for use by students and teachers at the back of every guide.”

Click on the images below to take e look at some of the guides.

Philadelphia-CTA   RichardII

CTALuiseMiller    AStreetcarCTA

Coriolanus    Henry IV CTA