Research Guides: Shakespeare Research Guide: Historical and Biographical Sources

Performance History

There are some specialized resources that cover performance history specifically.

Records of Early English Drama (REED)
Transcribed collection of historical documents recording evidence of all kinds of theater and performance in England from the Middle Ages to 1642.

The print version is much more extensive, and is divided up by region.

ARTSTOR This link opens in a new window
Artstor is a museum image database. It includes images directly from stage productions as well as other kinds of Shakespeare-based art. You may find it useful to limit by medium.
ArtStor is expected to be retired by August 1, 2024. For additional information please review the ER Dashboard.

International Database of Shakespeare on Film, Television and Radio
Compiles "Shakespeare-related content in film, television, radio and video recordings" from the 1890s until today.
Designing Shakespeare
Images and reviews of productions from the late twentieth century.

Performance History in General Resources

More general resources also cover this well. For instance:

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
“Theatrical production” and “Performance history” are two subject terms dealing with the way that these plays have been staged. Both of these are great search terms.
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
A great place to find information about production decisions, or reviews of recent or influential productions.

Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Lists several short biographies of Shakespeare from a few different perspectives.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
You can find entries on Shakespeare in encyclopedias on many different subjects; there is a lot of depth here. I'd recommend searching by document title to keep your results relevant.

For history not directly related to Shakespeare (but that surely influenced him), you may want to try these resources:

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
This is especially useful when you don't need articles that relate to Shakespeare specifically. For instance, if I wanted to consider how he may have been affected the trade laws, I can do a search for trade law, and I can use the "Historical Period" search to see only the results from within Shakespeare's lifetime.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Searches across several primary source collections. Most of the material here is from a later date than is useful, so make sure that you limit to the appropriate time period.