Research Guides: Theatre Research: Reviews and Popular Journalism

Reviews in Recent Newspapers

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
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LexisNexis Academic provides electronic access to hundreds of newspapers from around the U.S. and the world, most of them within one day of publication. Retrospective coverage varies but in some cases goes back to the 1980s.
Perform a search on the play title and the term "review". You can then limit your results to a specific paper.

Use the following links to locate newspaper reviews

New York Times, 1851-2019 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
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Provides the full archive of the New York Times, from the first date of issue. View retrieved articles as PDFs or view the entire newspaper page for context. The detailed indexes, which cover 1851-1993, allow one to search by named person, company name, place, or type of article (editorial, obituary, review, etc.)
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
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Covers: 1999-. Provides cover-to-cover full text for national (U.S.) and international newspapers. In addition, full-text television and radio news transcripts are provided from CBS News, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, NPR, etc.

Finding Reviews and Popular Journalism

Newspapers and magazines are the major sources for reviews of plays and theatrical performances. In addition, many scholarly journals (such as Theatre Journal and New England Theatre Journal) include production reviews.

To find books collecting past reviews, search OneSearch Advanced Search with these subject headings:

Theater--Reviews
Dramatic criticism

Online Newspaper Indexes

These resources will help you locate reviews from newspapers published prior to the 1980's

Chicago Defender 1910-1975 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
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Includes the full image of articles published in the Chicago Defender from 1910 to 1975. The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S. You can browse individual issues by clicking Publications at the top of the screen, or search by keyword(s), author(s), article title, date ranges, and more. Includes illustrations and advertisements.
Times Digital Archive, 1785-Onwards This link opens in a new window
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Covers: 1785-[5 years ago]. Provides a fully searchable archive of this major world newspaper back to the 18th century, including both page images and search text transcription.

Print Indexes in the Library

It can be difficult to find reviews in earlier newspaper editions. Look in these paper resources for review indexing.

The New York Times Index. 1851- and Personal Name Index to the New York Times. REF AI 21 .N44 and Z5301 .F28.
The Times of London Index. 1790-. REF AI 21 .T5 and AI 21 .T46
Arkansas Gazette Index and Democrat-Gazette Index. 1964-. (Covers 1819-1894 and 1960- ). REF AI 21 .A75.

Newspaper indexes: A Location and Subject Guide for Researchers (REF PN4855 .M55 1977) lists indexes available by place of newspaper publication. Though dated, still useful .

University Libraries

Research Guides

Theatre Research

Reviews in Recent Newspapers

Finding Reviews and Popular Journalism

Online Newspaper Indexes

Print Indexes in the Library

New Books