Theatre Collection Theatre Programmes

Theatre programmes are the most comprehensive resource for researching information about specific theatre productions, with information about the cast, as well as the supporting staff who contribute to a theatrical production.

Theatre programmes vary in their format, but can also provide information about

• production cast lists
• biographies of actors, writers, directors
• historic information about the play
• production photographs
• cast photographs
• contemporary advertisements
• histories of theatres
• synopsis of the play

The Theatre Collection holds over 150,000 theatre programmes from London and provincial theatres dating from the late 19th century. Information about earlier productions can be found in our playbill collection.

For further information about our programme holdings search the online catalogue.

Read an article by Anne Hancock comparing the theatre of today with that of the 1950s using her personal collection of programmes now deposited with the Theatre Collection.