All Video Collections
Below you will find the video collections to which an institution can subscribe on Drama Online. To see the collections you can access, please log in and visit the Browse Collections page.
An essential resource for students of theatre design and production, as well as contemporary theatre practice, this collection offers a gateway into Asia’s rich theatrical traditions. It includes interviews with leading performers and practitioners and a tranche of filmed performances, documentaries, rehearsal footage, and training videos from Butoh to Bollywood, Bunraku to Topeng.
Film adaptions of core curriculum plays from Sophocles, Anton Chekhov, Henrik Isben and Oscar Wilde alongside modern classics such as Blue/Orange, by playwright Joe Penhall, starring Brian Cox.
From the nuances of American puppetry and the skills of Australian Circus performers, to large-scale sculptural productions and political dance pieces, this collection's rich array of biopics, interviews, workshops, and filmed performances provides a unique multi-media insight into the traditions and adaptations of British, American, and Australian theatre over the last fifty years.
Four great Victorian plays performed by Dominic Dromgoole's new theatre company, founded as he left Shakespeare's Globe: A Woman of No Importance, Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Phyllida Lloyd's all-female trilogy, Julius Caesar, Henry IV, and The Tempest, set in a women's prison. Led by renowned actor Harriet Walter, with an ethnically diverse cast drawn partly from ex-offenders, it stunned audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
Spanning the schools of mime, acrobatics, and puppetry, as well as the theatrical traditions of Belgium, Serbia, and Germany, this collection offers rare filmed recordings, archival footage, and critical commentaries by leading directors. It explores avant-garde groups such as France's Théâtre du Mouvement, Denmark's Odin Teatret, and Serbia's JEL Theatre.
Shakespeare's history plays featuring a star-studded cast including: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Whishaw, Judi Dench, Hugh Bonneville, and Tom Hiddleston.
From The Outstanding Actor author and acting teacher Ken Rea, comes this masterclass collection of 10 actor training videos. Watch Professor Ken Rea in action coaching actors via exercises and games to help unlock the inner workings of trained actors and the secrets of giving your best performance.
A captivating production that rebalances gender casting, Peake's Hamlet is a female character who takes on a male mantle, a fierce and textured Hamlet who imbues the role with anger, indignation, and purpose.
- National Theatre Collection 1: 30 filmed performances including: comedies such as One Man, Two Guvnors; 20th Century classics including A Streetcar Named Desire, Les Blancs, and Yerma; 9 Shakespeare plays; literary adaptations such as: Frankenstein and Small Island; and Greek Classics including Antigone and Medea
- National Theatre Collection 2: 20 filmed performances including: vibrant contemporary plays such as Angels in America and Barber Shop Chronicles; 20th Century classics such as A View from the Bridge and All My Sons; turn of the century plays for contemporary audiences such as Hedda Gabler, Julie and Three Sisters
- National Theatre Collection 3: 20 filmed performances from Greek tragedy and Shakespeare to plays about Generation Z, including: Antony and Cleopatra starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo; Chiwetel Ejiofor playing the title role in Everyman, directed by Rufus Norris and Othello starring Giles Terera, Rosy McEwen and Paul Hilton
From the songs of Brecht to the provocations of Burlesque, the collection offers a rich insight into the creative processes of some of the industry’s most esteemed writers and directors. Highlights include: a discussion on the art of directing by the playwright David Mamet; a masterclass with Jacques Lecoq; and interviews with acclaimed international actors, writers, and directors such as Peter Brook, Jean Genet, Peter Stein, and Ryszard Cieslak.
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best. Made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world, the RSC produces an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context alongside the work of his contemporaries and today's writers. Subscribe to RSC Live to access all of the films, or purchase flexibly:
- RSC Live 1 (2013-17 productions): 17 films from 2013 to the cutting-edge 2016-17 production of The Tempest starring Simon Russell-Beale.
- RSC Live 2 (2018-19 productions): 10 films from 2018 and 2019, including Twelfth Night starring comedy icon Adrian Edmondson.
- RSC Live 3 (2021-22 productions): 7 films performed or broadcast in 2021 and 2022 including Henry VI: Parts One, Two and Three and a production of The Winter's Tale set across a 16-year span, from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to the moon landing.
A Shakespeare acting masterclass from top international acting coach Patsy Rodenburg starring Joseph Fiennes.
Showcases behind-the-scenes videos at the Globe, candid interviews with renowned Shakespeare actors and directors, controversial adaptations of the Bard, and more. Highlights include: several filmed adaptations of Hamlet, from a 1940's retelling, to slapstick Shakespeare in Hamlet Stooged!; three filmed adaptations of Macbeth, including Gregory Doran's acclaimed RSC production, Sir Patrick Stewart's Macbeth, and OzFrank's inversion of the classic: Voodoo Macbeth.
- Shakespeare's Globe on Screen 1 (2008-2015): 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage from leading actors including Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, and Roger Allam's Olivier Award-winning Falstaff in Henry IV.
- Shakespeare's Globe on Screen 2 (2016-2018): Features 9 landmark productions, including The Duchess of Malfi (2015), the first production from the indoor Jacobean theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
Shakespeare's Globe to Globe Festival on Screen
- Shakespeare's Globe to Globe Festival on Screen 1: In the summer of 2012, Shakespeare's Globe hosted the hugely successful Globe to Globe Festival which saw companies from across the world perform in over 30 different languages. You will find 10 of these performances in this collection from Coriolanus in Japanese to The Winter's Tale in Yoruba.
- Shakespeare's Globe to Globe Festival on Screen 2: 10 more Globe to Globe Festival filmed performances, representing multiple cultures and languages, from All's Well That Ends Well performed in Gujarati to Julius Caesar in Italian.
- Shakespeare's Globe to Globe Festival on Screen 3: A further 10 festival filmed performances, representing multiple cultures and languages, from Measure for Measureperformed in Russian to Troilus and Cressida in Maori.
Steven Berkoff, world-renowned writer, director, and actor known for his villainous Hollywood roles in Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo and The Krays, lifts the complex villains of Shakespeare from page to stage. This vividly direct and compelling film offers a unique exploration and analysis of Iago, the Macbeths, Shylock, Richard III, plus several heroes including Henry V, Coriolanus, and Oberon.
Major early modern drama titles staged and filmed specifically for educational use: Doctor Faustus, The Duchess of Malfi, Volpone, and School for Scandal. Accompanied by cast and crew interviews.
Stratford Festival Shakespeare Collections
Located in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, the Stratford Festival is the largest classical repertory theatre company in North America.
Masterclasses, documentaries, and actor interviews guide students and early-career practitioners through the art of auditioning, vocal training, and stage combat. Through a tailored selection of 'How To' resources, this collection is also essential for those specialising in the design elements of theatre, such as make-up artistry, set design, theatre safety, and lighting.
Seven educational films from Pumpkin Interactive, the UK's leading producer of high-quality video content for schools, colleges and universities, which will enable users to understand first-hand the process of creating theatre from inception through to performance.
