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Finding Play Analysis and Production Reviews: Databases

Databases

Tips for Locating Reviews

Finding production reviews for different productions of the same play performed over time and in different locations can be challenging. There will generally be more reviews of English language plays that are performed in New York and London, although there will also be reviews for other major cities.  Finding reviews of local or regional productions may be more difficult.
  • First determine when your play was written/first produced, for that will determine which sources covering which time periods may have reviews. For example, Tooth of Crime was written/first produced in 1972, so you would not look in sources before that date).
  • Full text databases of newspapers and periodicals have greatly enhanced the availability of play reviews, but sometimes print sources that reprint reviews or index reviews around specific productions (see Reprint Sources) are easier to use.

Article Searching Tips

When searching in databases, try these handy tips for better results:

  • Use wildcard characters. If searching for economic conditions, type the word econ* with an astericks. That will return economies, economic, economist and any other word that starts with "econ."
  • Use quotes. When searching for two works, quotes will search for the words when they're next to each other. Thomas Jefferson will return articles with Thomas Payne and Jefferson Starship. But when "Thomas Jefferson" is searched, only those articles with his name will be returned.

Using Find @ UNC

If an article search comes back that we don't have an item:

1) Click the button

2) If available, click an article link, if not, click the journal link

3) If not available online, then Search the UNC Libraries' catalog by Title/ISSN to see if we have the journal in print.

4) If none are available, click the request via interlibrary loan link