Databases

Discover the creative decisions made by directors and designers at the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and its predecessor, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company. Explore how the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and other playwrights have been adapted, interpreted, presented and understood since the early twentieth century. Chart performance history through more than 1,400 prompt books, complemented by photographs, original designs, sheet music and production records for its most innovative productions.

Includes over 40 high-definition online videos of William Shakespeare’s plays featuring the world’s best Shakespearean actors, like David Tennant, Sir Antony Sher, Paapa Essiedu, and Simon Russell Beale, and directors like Robin Lough and Dewi Humphrey. Contains The Tempest, King Lear, Hamlet and other famous performances filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford-upon-Avon theater between 2013 to 2017.