Subject guides: Theatre and Performance Studies: Multimedia, Documentaries, & Streaming Video

Multimedia, documentaries and streaming video

Monash University Library has online and physical collections of films, documentaries, TV shows, music, and more for you to use in your study and research.

Music & Multimedia Guide
A guide to the Multimedia Collection at Monash University Library.

DVDs and music items are located on Level 1 of the Matheson Library, and can be most easily found by using Monash Library Search to find a Call Number:

Streaming Performance Resources

Berliner Philharmoniker digital concert hall This link opens in a new window
The Digital Concert Hall is the virtual concert venue of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the Internet. Here you can experience the orchestra performing live at the Philharmonie in Berlin. The database includes live streams, concerts, movies and interviews with the performers.
Bloomsbury drama online This link opens in a new window
Drama Online is a fast-growing study resource which features playtexts, audio plays, streaming video, and scholarly books from leading theatre publishers such as Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare and Faber. The focus is on the most studied, performed and critically acclaimed plays from the works of Aeschylus to works of the present day. Collections available include; Globe on screen; Stage on screen; Acting masterclass with Patsy Rodenburg; Maxine Peake's Hamlet; Critical studies and performance practice (ebooks); Hollow Crown (filmed performances of Shakespeare); Nick Hern streaming videos, Oberon books collection, and more.
Bloomsbury drama online. Critical studies and performance practice This link opens in a new window
This collection features hundreds of academic books from the prestigious Methuen Drama and The Arden Shakespeare imprints. Together they offer invaluable critical, contextual and pedagogic content from leading voices in theatre, performance and Shakespeare studies. The titles in this collection are grouped under two broad areas: Context and Criticism and Theatre Craft. The collection also includes 60 actor training videos through PATAZ: Physical Actor Training - an online A-Z.
Dance in video This link opens in a new window
Searchable database containing streaming video files covering the full scope of 20th and 21st century dance. The collection includes performances, documentaries, interviews, and instructional videos from the most influential performers and companies. The diverse content supports a wide range of courses, from dance history and dance appreciation to choreography, dance composition, and improvisation.
Digital theatre plus This link opens in a new window
A digital streaming video collection of unique films of current, leading British theatre productions. Includes behind-the-scenes documentaries as well as teaching and learning resources to facilitate a deeper understanding of the productions and texts. Learning resources include a detailed introduction, plot summary, character biographies, a relationship map, language analysis, scene study, performance background and historical context for each play
Ethnographic video online This link opens in a new window
This database is is intended to be a visual encyclopedia of human behavior and culture, online in streaming video. It contains classic and contemporary documentaries; previously unpublished footage from working anthropologists and ethnographers in the field; and select feature films. It includes footage from every continent and hundreds of unique cultures. Thematic areas include: language and culture, kinesthetics, body language, food and foraging, cooking, economic systems, social stratification and status, caste systems and slavery, male and female roles, kinship and families, etc.
medici.tv This link opens in a new window
Medici.tv is a leading classical music library, offering streaming video access to thousands of live eventrs, in partnership with the world's most prestigious venues, opera houses, festivals and competitions. The programs include concerts, archives, operas, ballets, documentaries, master-classes, educational films and artist profiles.
Routledge performance archive This link opens in a new window
The Routledge Performance Archive provides exclusive access to a continually expanding range of streamed video and audio footage from performance practitioners past and present paired with relevant critical commentary. The archive contains interviews with key figures in performance history and contemporary practice; masterclasses with specialist performance trainers from around the world; footage direct from legendary practitioners; excerpted and full-length contemporary productions and experiments; documentaries, and specially commissioned contextual essays accompanying each entry.
Theatre in video This link opens in a new window
Theatre in Video brings together hundreds of the world’s most important plays, documentaries, interviews, and instructional materials in more than 550 hours of streaming video. These definitive performances, by leading actors and directors, have been licensed from a wide range of copyright holders. From celebrated productions of Shakespeare to rare, in-depth footage of the work of Samuel Beckett, the collection covers a wide range of 20th century theatre history. Interviews with directors, designers, writers, and actors, along with excerpts of live performances, deliver an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at hundreds of productions.

New Streamed Video

The library provides access to many plays online via AustralianPlays.org, Alexander Street Press, Digital Theatre Plus, Drama Online and Routledge Performance Archive. Recent additions from Alexander Street Press include The Bacchae and Antigone directed by James Thomas.

Photo & Image Resources

Monash University Library has photo and image resources free for use to staff and students.

The Monash Digital Images Library Guide is an excellent resource that provides links to multiple image databases and resources to help you find, cite and use digital images in your scholarly work.