Research Guides: Theatre: Reviews of Plays

Finding Reviews

Generally, reviews of plays will be found in newspapers, theatre magazines and journals, and websites devoted to theatre.

Your strategy for finding reviews of theatrical performances starts with the time and location: where and when the performances that you are interested in will greatly effect your strategy.

General Search Tips

Use whatever information you already know in your search. Include elements like
- Work title
- Director, performer, or designer
- Critic's name
Use quotation marks and use AND between each element, such as: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" AND "Tennessee Williams"
The quotation marks let the database know that you need those words to appear together and in that order and the AND limits the results to articles containing both phrases.
Look for options in whatever tool you are searching to limit your search (often in the advanced search, if there is one) to:
- a particular time period if you need reviews of a premiere, for example
- a particular newspaper/publication
- to just "Reviews" as an item type

You can use some of these strategies to search in Library Search. However, Library Search does not search the everything that the library has access to (for example, newspapers and Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive), and it can bring back too many things. Make sure to narrow your search results to "Reviews" (under "Resource Type").

1. If the performance is contemporary, start with Newspaper Search. This searches most of the current newspapers that the library subscribes to. You can also search by city in Journal Finder to see if we have access to newspapers for any individual city and what their date coverage is.

These popular newspapers also have their own databases, though are also generally searchable in Newspaper Search: New York Times, Wall Street Journal (Online) (East Coast Print), Washington Post

If you need more help with contemporary newspapers, consult the Newspapers Research Guide.

2. If the performance is historical, use ProQuest Historical Newspapers. You can also search by city in Journal Finder to see if we have access to newspapers for any individual city and what their date coverage is.

These popular newspapers also have their own databases: New York Times Historical, Wall Street Journal Historical, Washington Post Historical, London Times Digital Archive, Philadelphia Inquirer Historical
If you need more help with historical newspapers, contact the Performing Arts Librarian, or consult the Historical Newspapers Research Guide.

Theatre Magazines and Journals can be found in the following databases:

Performing Arts Periodicals Database (1864-current) This link opens in a new window
To search, type in the title of the piece at the top of the screen. Then, under 'Limit Your Results' in the field 'Document Type' select 'Entertainment Review.' You can also limit the results of 'Year of Publication,' e.g. 1980-2009.
Provides indexing, detailed abstracts, and full text for articles covering a wide range of subjects in the performing arts, including dance, film, drama, opera, stagecraft, comedy, pantomime, puppetry, magic, and television, from 1864 to the present.
Primary Sources Collection (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
The Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (1880-2000) has access to several trade and popular magazines that have theatre reviews, such as Back Stage, The Stage, and Variety.

Other popular theatre magazines and journals that frequently include reviews:

While newspapers may employ full-time theatre critics who have made a career reviewing theatre, many people are also reviewing contemporary productions online. Here is a selection of theatre websites and review aggregators.