The London Stage Eighteenth Century Drama: Censorship, Society and the Stage

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These London Stage data sets are an open access feature of Adam Matthew's Eighteenth Century Drama collection. For more information about this unique archive of almost every play submitted for licence between 1737 and 1824, and hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays. please visit the Adam Matthew website.

The London Stage Database, 1660-1800

The London Stage is a key reference work documenting theatrical performances in eighteenth-century London. This information has been compiled from the playbills, newspapers and theatrical diaries of the period. The original edition was published by Southern Illinois University Press between 1960-1968.

Within this database, it is now possible to search all performances between 1660 and 1800 that are listed in The London Stage using the title of the performance, names of performers, date ranges and theatres.

The London Stage Data Associations

The London Stage is a key reference work documenting theatrical performances in eighteenth-century London.

This text analysis tool has been developed to illustrate trends within and between theatres, across years, between works performed, roles enacted and actors included in The London Stage to inform further research.

The London Stage Data Visualisations

The London Stage data visualisations illustrate the following information for the period 1660-1800:

Performances per Year
Working Actors
Active Theatres
Number of Performances per Decade
Most Performed Works