See famous Shakespearian actors at Arts and Humanities Data Service

The collection documents forty years of Shakespearian performance in London and Stratford, which totals nearly 1,000 productions of the playwright's works. It includes cast lists, excerpts from reviews and other information on each production. Most importantly, Designing Shakespeare includes images of the plays in performance, allowing viewers to see how the plays have been staged and designed. We can see Ian McKellen performing the role of Macbeth in Trevor Eyre's 1978 production; Judi Dench in Richard Eyre's 1989 version of Hamlet; and Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren in the lead roles of a 1998 production of Anthony and Cleopatra. 

Besides the cast lists and images, there are also multimedia resources, including video and audio interviews with relevant directors, talking through various issues relating to the performance of Shakespeare. There are also Virtual Reality models of the various theatres mentioned in the collection and users, with the aid of a downloadable plug-in, can view and zoom through the different spaces that directors have used in staging Shakespeare. 

The resource was created by Dr Christie Carson, of Royal Holloway University of London, and funded by the then Arts and Humanities Research Board (now the Arts and Humanities Research Council). 

Recently updated to provide a faster and more efficient interface, the resource is available here. 

The AHDS is supported by funds from Jisc and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.