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Theatre Collection
Department of Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
Cantocks Close
Bristol, UK
BS8 1UP

Phone: (0117) 3315086
Email: theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk

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Theatre Collection Women's Theatre Collection

Sarah Bernhardt

The Women's Theatre Collection has created a record of women's contribution to theatre, including information on women

  • Playwrights
  • Directors
  • Actors
  • Characters
  • Administrators
  • Theatre groups

It was established in 1990 to provide a centre for playscripts by women of performed but not necessarily published plays. Such writings are often lost as companies move onto new projects or cease to operate, and the Theatre Collection offers a site to save them as well as make them available to visiting scholars. The 400+ typescripts are supplemented by a reference library of published texts and supporting critical, historical and biographical books which together form an invaluable resource, the first of its kind in the world. Scripts have been donated by, among others: April de Angelis, Michelene Wandor, Jean Nelson, Julia Pascal, Sarah Kane, Pat West, Tash Fairbanks and Bryony Lavery. A growing number of texts are in languages other than English, enabling us to offer an international resource.

Women of Twilight Poster, Embassy Theatre, London

Furthermore, archive collections offer an insight into the involvement of individuals and small companies in the theatre and comprise papers on

  • Margaret Macnamara (playwright)
  • Marie Scharning (actress)
  • Sylvia Rayman (playwright)
  • The Conference of Women Theatre Directors and Administrators
  • Moving Target Theatre Company

A wide range of ephemeral material - fliers, programmes, some correspondence, photographs - adds usefully to the texts and documents to highlight individual productions and companies.

We are dependent on theatre professionals depositing or donating material to ensure that the collection continues to grow. If you have any such papers, please contact the Director for further information.

View a list of the contents of the Women's Theatre Collection.

Other Useful Sites
The Women's Library
The Feminist Archive
Womens Projects and Productions - New York
Women's Theatre - USA


For further information about the Theatre Collection please tel. 0117 331 5086 (daytime) or email theatre-collection@bristol.ac.uk.