MS 838 05

MS 838 05

Theatre Collection: Publicity

Series

18th – 21st century

1 box and 55 items

This series contains a variety of material relating to theatre publicity including playbills, posters, programmes, adverts, tickets, souvenirs and games:

A. Playbills
Collection of 55 English playbills with date range 1814-1862 including Shakespeare plays (such as Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Richard III, Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Much ado about nothing, As you like it, Timon of Athens, King Henry the Eight, King John) and other plays (such as Guy Mannering, Perseus and Andromeda, Discarded son, School for scandal, Robison Crusoe, Douglas, Gamester, Louis XI, Corsican brothers, Jack Sheppard).
It features Charlotte Cushman, Charles Kean and his wife Ellen Tree, Edmund Kean, Walter Baynham, Benjamin Nottingham Webster, Julia Daly, William Macready, William Farren and Samuel Phelps acting or producing at the following theatres: Theatre Royal (Glasgow, London, Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast, Cork), Princess's Theatre (Glasgow, Oxford), Owen’s Charles St Theatre, Adelphi Theatre, Royal Olympic Theatre, Prince’s Theatre Royal. It also includes Mr & Mrs Charles Kean farewell round of pieces, Melbourne, 19th c. and Readings from the poets by Charles Kean, Llandudno, July 1861.


B. Posters
20th century posters including:
- One large poster of Shylock (Merchant of Venice), Stafford & Co., Nottingham, c.1930, lithograph.
- One large poster of ‘Eleonora Duse in “La signora delle camelie”’, Asolo, 1984 (series no. 1140).
- Poster for A shot in the dark featuring Judi Dench, Lyric Theatre, London, 1963?
- Poster for Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Criterion Theatre, London, 1955?
- 12 posters of National Theatre productions including Othello, The long voyage home, The woman, Jumpers, and others, second half 20th century


C. Programmes
- Programme for the first production of Look back in anger by John Osborne, Royal Court Theatre (London), 1956.
- Programme for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde featuring Henry Irving and Richard Mansfield, Royal Lyceum Theatre, 1888.
- Programme for the Gala performance of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov featuring Sir Laurence Olivier, Chichester Theatre, 1962.
- Programme for Douglas, a tragedy in five acts by B. Pollock including 11 plates with theatrical scenes and characters, London, B. Pollock, [1870?]


D. Adverts
Three copies of The Theatrical Observer; and daily bills of the play: no. 293 (23 October 1822), no. 1286 (19 January 1826), no. 3581 (8 June 1833).


E. Tickets
3 tickets for the Tercentenary celebration of Shakespeare’s birth in Stratford-Upon-Avon:
- Ticket for the Twelfth Night, 26 April 1864
- Ticket for the morning concert, 28 April 1864
- Ticket for the dress ball, 29 April 1864


F. Souvenirs
Album with souvenirs of Richard the Second by permission of Charles Kean, London 1957 including an envelope with a drawing of the Royal Princess’s Theatre, two design costumes and two copies of a folding card opening in the form of a rose with views of theatrical scenes (one of these mounted).


G. Games
Playing cards for The game of Shakespeare’s plays in original leather case, 19th century.

Krr.2.11: Bound volume of 137 playbills from the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, [Plymouth], [Theatre Royal?], 1835-1836.

Ie11.2.02: Playbill for 51st performance of Macbeth at the Royal Princess's Theatre under the management of Charles Kean, 20 July 1853, [London, 1853].

Lhh.6.41: T. Rattigan, Playbill comprising "The Browning version" and "Harlequinade", London, Hamish Hamilton, 1949.

Kqq.1.horiz.01-07: Seven scrapbooks of theatre material, [England], 1885-1906.

If1.2.01(05): Edmund Kean: theatre programmes. London, New York, Harrogate, 1983.

40 boxes of modern productions including Shakespeare, Teaching collection.