Shakespeare in Performance

This digital resource, from the collections of the world-famous Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., features prompt books (scripts marked for performance) of various Shakespeare plays from the seventeenth up to the twentieth century. Over 1,000 prompt books of 34 Shakespeare plays are included in this resource, including editions owned by many notable actors and directors such as Sir Laurence Olivier and John Philip Kemble. Ten per cent of the collection showcases prompt books for Hamlet, while six per cent are for Merchant of Venice and Macbeth, respectively.

These primary source materials are often the only evidence which...