Play Review Resources, Reference Department, Davis Library

Play Review Resources

Locating reviews often involves detective work to establish when and where productions have been staged. The date and location of a particular production determine the best sources for reviews. For Michael Frayn's play "Copenhagen," which ran in London and New York during 1999 and 2000, the approach to locating reviews will differ from that for Tennesee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in New York in 1955, Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" in 1890, or a 19th century production of Shakespeare.

Literary critical analysis may also be valuable in considering individual productions, and could have been written at any time since a play's original publication.

This Guide lists some of the major resources both for finding reviews and identifying productions, and for locating critical analysis.

Table of Contents

Print Sources That Reprint Reviews
Print Sources that Reprint Reviews and Critical Analysis
Sources that Track Productions
Online Databases that Include Reviews and Criticism, Some Full Text
Online Indexes to Scholarly Criticism
Just for Shakespeare

Print Sources that Reprint Reviews

The New York Times Theater Reviews, 1870-2002. Original set, updated in 2-year cumulations. (Reference Row 17)
Reprints, in chronological order, reviews appearing in the New York Times. Cumulative indexes by titles and names give the dates of reviews. Cumulated indexes cover 1920-1970. Indexes in the biennial volumes thereafter.
See also New York Times Historical Newspaper, below, for online.

National Theatre Critics Reviews, 1940-1997. Monthly. (Earlier title New York Theatre Critics Reviews. (Reference Row 17)
Reprints reviews from a variety of New York and US publications. In earlier years covered only New York productions but now has broadened to cover major regional theaters.
Cumulated indexes for 1940-1986. Some papers available for more recent years through Lexis/Nexis Academic.

The London Theatre Record, 1981-. Monthly. (Reference Row 17).
Reprints, in chronological order, reviews appearing in a variety of British publications. Covers both London and regional theater. Cumulated title index to 1981-1990.

Print Sources that Reprint Reviews and Critical Analysis

Drama Criticism. 1991-. (Reference Row 4)

Shakespearean Criticism: Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeares's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. 1984-. (Reference Row 5)
Both sets reproduce criticism, analysis, and reviews from periodicals and books. Cumulative indexes locate material on specific works. Valuable for beginning with material contemporary to the author.

Sources that Track Productions

Index to The London Stage, 1660-1800. (Reference PN2592.L63 S3)
Index to the massive set of records listing productions of the London Theaters: The London Stage,1660-1800; A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces, together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment. Compiled from the playbills, newspapers and, theatrical diaries of the period. (Davis PN2592.L6)
Chronological with indexes. Continued by:

The London Stage: A Calendar of Plays and Players. 1890-1959. (Reference PN2596.L6 W37, PN2596.L6 W38, PN2596.L6 W383 1982, PN2596.L6 W384 1984, PN2596.L6 W3845 1990, PN2596.L6 W3846 1991, PN2596.L6 W3847 1993)
Continues the previous work.

Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon: A Catalogue-Index to Productions of the Shakespeare Memorial/Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1879-1978. (Reference PN2596 .S82S86 v.1-2) + First Supplement (1979-1993)
References to reviews when available.

British Playwrights 1956-1995: A Research and Production Sourcebook.
(Reference PR736 .B75 1996)
British Playwrights 1880-1956: A Research Guide and Production Sourcebook. (Reference PR736.B7 1996)
Quotes from and cites reviews.

Mullin, Donald. Victorian Plays: A Record of Significant Productions on the London Stage, 1837-1901. (Reference PN2596.L6 M85 1987)
Alphabetical by play title.

Encyclopedia of the New York Stage, 1920-1950. (Reference PN2277.N5 L36 1985, PN2277.N5 L364 1989, PN2277.N5 L365 1992)
Alphabetical by play title. Reviews are quoted.

Internet Broadway Database.
The official database for Broadway theatre information, providing records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre. Details include pertinent people as well as interesting facts and production statistics. Get a list of every production of Hamlet on Broadway or of your favorite actor's roles. Find out what played at a particular theatre or what opened in a specified season.

Print Indexes to Reviews

Salem, James. A Guide to Critical Reviews. Part 1, American Drama 1909-1982; Part. 3, Foreign Drama 1909-1977. (Reference Desk Z5782.S343). Part 2, The Musical 1909-1989 (Reference Z5782.S343)
A selective guide to substantial reviews.

Dramatic criticism Index; A Bibliography of Commentaries on Playwrights from Ibsen to the Avant-Garde. Compiled and edited by Paul F. Breed and Florence M. Sniderman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1972.
Davis Reference Desk Z5781.B8; also UL Reference

Cumulated Dramatic Index 1909-1949. (Reference Row 17)
A valuable index to articles on theater and stagecraft, including reviews, in American and British publications.

Online Databases that Include Reviews and Criticism, Some Full Text

Academic Search Premier.
Covers popular and scholarly journal articles with many full-text articles. Academic Search Premier provides information from a wide range of academic areas including business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics. This multidiscplinary database features full-text for over 4,000 journals with many dating back to 1975, abstracts and indexing for over 8,200 scholarly journals, and coverage of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor. It also includes coverage of over 6,800 peer-reviewed journals. (Source: vendor website.)
Search for play title words as "Reviews & Products" (e.g., copenhagen), and select "Document Type" Entertainment Review.

MasterFILE Premier.
Provides abstracts and indexing for over 2,700 periodicals, plus searchable full text for nearly 1,800 active periodicals. Subjects covered include general reference, business, health, multi-cultural and more. (Source: vendor website.)
Search title as "Subject Terms" (e.g., copenhagen) and select "Document Type" Entertainment Review.

Expanded Academic ASAP Indexing and selected full-text 1980-.
Indexing and selected full-text from more than 1,500 general interest, scholarly, and trade publications in all subject areas. Overlaps with the two above databases.
Search for play title as "Named Work" (e.g., copenhagen) and theater review as "Keyword" (default search).

Historical Newspapers via Chadwyck-Healey. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More, indexing 1790-1980.
Provides indexing for the Times of London for the years 1790-1980 and the New York Times for the years 1851-1922.

LexisNexis Academic. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More, All full-text, Dates of coverage vary, most post-1980.
A massive, full-text database heavy on news, business, and legal information. For reviews, select the News category and then Arts & Sports.

New York Times Historical Newspaper. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More. All full-text, 1851-1998.
Over 3,400,000 pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles covering the entire publishing history of the newspaper, from 1851 to the most recent 4 or 5 years. Researchers can use the images to find not only news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements, but also historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements. An unparalleled resource.

Reader's Guide Retrospective. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More, Not full-text, but covers 1890-1982.
Indexing of over 500 popular periodicals and magazines for a period of over 100 years. From the presidency of Benjamin Harrison to the election of Ronald Reagan, from the Spanish-American War to the Cold War, from the "robber barons" to the oil embargoes, the Readers' Guide provides access to articles chronicling the daily lives and the momentous events of the 20th century.

Nineteenth Century Masterfile. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More,1802-1906.
The 19th Century Masterfile compiles a rich and growing assortment of indexes to 19th century printed material (actually from about 1774 to 1920). Includes Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906), an index to periodicals, newspapers, and books. Locates both reviews and criticism.

Periodicals Index Online (Formerly PCI: Periodicals Contents Index). (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More). 1770-most recent 4 or 5 years.
Indexes academic journals from North America, Great Britain, and Western Europe. Includes scholarly criticism and book reviews of published texts.

Online Indexes to Scholarly Criticism

MLA International Bibliography. (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More). 1926-present. (Now with some earlier indexing and links to JSTOR articles.)
Indexes criticism in scholarly journals and books worldwide. In earlier years limited to the Americas and Europe but now truly international in scope.

ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature) part of Literature Online (LION). (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More). 1920-.
ABELL aims to list, for English-language literatures, monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world. The bibliography has been issued annually, beginning in 1920.

Literature Resource Center (LRC). (UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Article Databases & More). Literature Resource Center offers a wealth of critical and biographical information about more than 120,000 authors from the Classical period to the present, including selections from Drama Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.

Just for Shakespeare

Shakespearean Criticism: Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeares's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. 1984-. (Reference Row 5)/
Reproduce criticism, analysis, and reviews from periodicals and books. Cumulative indexes locate material on specific works. Valuable for beginning with material contemporary with Shakespeare.

World Shakespeare Bibliography Online. 1967-ongoing.
Annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare. The annual bibliography is available online in Volumes 1-31 (1950-1989) of Shakespeare Quarterly. For the years not online the bibliography is shelved with the journal (Davis Library PR2885.S63).

Babula, William. Shakespeare in Production, 1935-1978: A Selective Catalogue. New York: GArland, 1981.
Davis Reference PR3091.B3

Champion, Larry S. The Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986.
Davis Reference Z8811.C53 1993

For more Humanities Assistance,
Please contact Tommy Nixon, Humanities Librarian
tommy_nixon@unc.edu
(919) 962-1151

Can't Find What You Are Looking For? How Can We Help You?