Category Archives: Drama

Roll Up, Roll Up! Dip into our Exciting New Resource!

Posted on by

We’re thrilled to bring you our new acquisition, Victorian Popular Culture from Adam Matthew Digital. This primary source archive is an important research resource for historians, social scientists and literary scholars, spanning the period from 1779 to 1930 and showcasing popular entertainment in Britain, America and Europe.

Explore a wealth of media history in the form of printed books, early film, posters, playbills, photographs, objects and ephemera as well as contextual essays and an interactive chronology. Collections include: Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema; Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment, Spiritualism, Sensation; Magic and Circuses, Sideshow and Freaks.

Access is via IP address. To begin searching go to:

www.victorianpopularculture.amdigital.co.uk

Database Trial – Victorian Popular Culture

Posted on by

Take a trip back in time to the smoky world of music halls and circus tents with our latest database trial courtesy of Adam Matthew Digital.

Victorian Popular Culture is a portal comprised of four modules, inviting users into the darkened halls, small backrooms, big tops and travelling venues that hosted everything from spectacular shows and bawdy burlesque, to the world of magic, spiritualist séances, optical entertainments and the first moving pictures…

To begin searching go to www.victorianpopularculture.amdigital.co.uk

Access is via IP address and the trial runs to 15th December 2017. Please note that PDF download options are not available during this  trial.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn – s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk  – with your comments.

Weekend of Weird at the Martin Hall

Posted on by

2026

LU Arts is remaining in the Halloween spirit this November with a weekend long exploration of everything Weird, hosted in the Martin Hall Theatre on Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th November.

A Weekend of Weird brings together writers, performers, filmmakers, artists, publishers, academics, enthusiasts and celebrants to ask: what is the Weird? Where did it come from? Where is it going?

The Weird is an emerging field that encompasses literature, film, music, art and performance. Its world is subtly strange, uncanny, irrational, inexplicable, questioning our everyday environments and perceptions and implying that our world is far more bizarre and disturbing than we would like to believe.

The weekend will comprise panel discussions, live performances, film screenings and a specialist book fair. It is organised by Radar in collaboration with Nick Freeman and Dan Watt from Loughborough University’s School of the Arts, English and Drama.

A Weekend of Weird centres around a series of main panel discussions with contributions from John Hirschhorn-Smith, Andrew Michael Hurley, Timothy Jarvis, James Machin and Mark Valentine. These sessions will be interspersed with live performances and a series of specially curated film programmes.

For this programme Radar has commissioned new works by Joey Holder, Ben Judd, Tai Shani and artist collective Reactor. There will also be screenings of work by Sidsel Christensen and Pauline Curnier Jardin.

Full programme information can be found on the LU Arts website here:

http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/events/event/a_weekend_of_weird

Delve Into The Deep Blue Sea With Flix & LU Arts

Posted on by

deep%20blue%20sea%20banner

LU Arts and Flix are back this September bringing a new screening of Terence Rattigan’s post-war drama The Deep Blue Sea from National Theatre (NT) Live.

Helen McCrory, known for her role in Penny Dreadful and Peaky Blinders, appears alongside Tom Burke of War and Peace in this new, critically acclaimed production by Carrie Cracknell.

The Deep Blue Sea will be screened next Thursday, 1st September, at 7pm in the Cope Auditorium in the Edward Barnsley building. For full details and to pre-book your tickets, please visit the LU Arts website.

Database Trial: Eighteenth Century Drama

Posted on by

d218d8635edd40fbb240ce7560974acfThis month we’re trialling an Adam Matthew resource that should be of much interest to English & Drama students or anybody interested in the history of British theatre.

Eighteenth Century Drama features the John Larpent Collection from the Huntington Library – a unique archive of almost every play submitted for licence between 1737 and 1824, as well as hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays. Explore the Larpent plays, papers of prominent theatrical figures of the period, including correspondence, financial documents, and portraits. Cross-reference this with essential searchable databases created from information in The London Stage 1729-1800 and A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800.

To begin searching please go to: www.eighteenthcenturydrama.amdigital.co.uk – access is via IP address and the trial runs to 17th June 2016.

NB: Please note that PDF download options are not available during trials.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn.

Arts Showcase

Posted on by

arts%20showcase%20banner

The Library’s Leisure Reading initiative and Student Book Club will be represented on Wednesday (17th February) at a special showcase being held by the School of the Arts, English and Drama down at Martin Hall and the Shirley Pearce Square.

Other events to look forward to at the Arts Showcase will include live performances from the Stage Society, creative workshops, spoken word performances and open mic slots.

On the hour, between 11am and 1pm, members of the Stage Society will be giving a whistle-stop tour of this year’s productions with three shows in 15 minutes.

The School’s Creative Writing Group will be leading 15 minute informal drop-in workshops at quarter past the hour, providing a taste of what creative writing at Loughborough is like.

In association with the Speech Bubble, the Students’ Union biannual spoken word event, students and staff will be presenting their own creative work at half past each hour.

Finally, open mic slots will be available in five three-minute intervals per hour for willing attendees share their work.

Information on many other arts-based projects on campus will also be available on the day. These include representatives from Flix (the University’s student-run cinema), LU Arts, The Student Wordsmith and the School’s own student-led publishing company, Lamplight Press.

The Arts Showcase will take place 11am-2pm at Shirley Pearce Square.

Drama Online Database Trial – New Content Added

Posted on by

drama-online-logo1A new module, Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen, has been made available to access as an additional part of the trial we’re running of the Drama Online database which we launched earlier this month.

Experience the magic of live theatre from the world’s most famous stage. Watch stunning Shakespeare and early modern films, recorded live on stage in high definition and surround sound, including award-winning performances, critically acclaimed productions and leading actors including Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry.

The trial has been extended to run until 21st January. We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial and it would be very helpful if you are able to comment on each module.  Please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk

Database Trial – Routledge Performance Archive

Posted on by

Logo_Routledge-Publishers_US-2We’re currently trialling another database from the Routledge Publishing stable, The Routledge Performance Archive, a developing resource produced in partnership with Digital Theatre, providing unique access to an unprecedented range of audio-visual material from past and present practitioners of performance.

This ground-breaking and constantly growing online collection delivers essential resources direct to the classroom, lecture theatre and library, and provides unlimited opportunities to explore themes, make linkages, and discover new approaches, including the following features:

  • Watch exclusive videos from practitioners’  own archives
  • Listen to unique audio material
  • Read first-hand accounts, authoritative definitions and contextualising commentary
  • Make connections across many decades of theatre-making
  • Construct maps, timelines and genealogies
  • Explore themes and ideas about performance practice
  • Discover practitioners, methods, styles of work
  • Identify influences and approaches
  • Compare cultures and eras.

The fully searchable and cross-referenced content will be updated each quarter, with exciting additions coming soon from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s National Video Archive of Performance Recordings, and the British Library’s Experimental Theatre and Live Art Collection.

To begin using the Routledge Performance Archive please go to http://www.routledgeperformancearchive.com – access is via IP address or from off-campus login via the VPN.

The trial will end on December 18th 2015.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk with your comments.

Database Trial – Drama Online

Posted on by

drama-online-logo1Between now and the New Year we’re running a trial of Drama Online, a resource that should be of great interest to English & Drama students as well as anyone interested in dramatic and performance arts.

Over 1000 plays by new writers as well as iconic names feature on this ground-breaking digital resource which provides contextual and critical background through scholarly works and practical guides.  The award-winning Drama Online introduces new writers alongside the most iconic names in playwriting history, providing contextual and critical background through scholarly works and practical guides. The constantly growing collection meets the full range of teaching needs for theatre studies, literature courses and drama schools. From the epic to the monologue; ensemble to one-person plays; comedy to tragedy; the historical to the contemporary; and from the highly political to the profoundly personal, there is plenty to discover. The unique Play Tools with Character Grids, Words and Speech graphs and Part Books offer a new way to engage with plays for close study or for performance.

The trial includes the following modules:

LA Theatre Works

Over 300 audio recordings of thought provoking drama from canonical texts such as Caryl Churchill’s literary classics such as Twelve Angry Men, iconic modern works from the oeuvre of leading American playwrights including Arthur Miller, David Mamet and Eugene O’Neill; Pulitzer Prize-winning titles such as Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and contemporary works such as Lucy Prebble’s Enron.  The audio plays are of the highest quality and feature leading actors such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Jamie Lee Curtis and hundreds more.

Nick Hern Books

The Nick Hern Play Collections features over 350 plays from one of the UK’s leading specialist theatre publishers.  The collection will feature important works from Howard Brenton, Jez Butterworth, Caryl Churchill, David Edgar, Helen Edmundson, Liz Lochhead, Conor McPherson, Rona Munro, Enda Walsh and Nicholas Wright.

To begin using Drama Online please go to http://dramaonlinelibrary.com – access is via IP address or from off-campus login via the VPN.

The trial will end on January 10th 2016. We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial and it would be very helpful if you are able to comment on each module.  Please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk

Speech Bubble Returns

Posted on by

1958199_531061097007542_1135064194_nSpeech Bubble, Loughborough University Arts’ popular open-mic spoken word event, returns to the Student Union on Monday 1st December.

Headlining the evening will be cult performance poet and musician Attila the Stockbroker, supported, as always on Speech Bubble nights, by the very finest student wordsmiths that campus can offer.

The night kicks off at 7.30pm in the Cognito Bar in the SU Building. Admission is free to students and £3 for visitors.