Welcome

We’ve been hard at work developing a more inclusive structure for the ‘new and improved’ Routledge Performance Archive (RPA 2.0). We have a sophisticated new platform, a fresh new design and categorical structure, and an expanding team of academics and practitioners on board to provide a new breadth and depth of coverage of all aspects of performance. The Routledge Performance Archive is now situated within the Routledge Research Encyclopedia family to create a dynamic online audio-visual resource, with enhanced user-friendly access and content.

The RPA is both an archive and a developing online resource, bringing together artists, materials and academic specialists on theatre, dance and performance in an easily searchable, cross-referenced format that can be accessed directly in both the classroom and the individual study space. Our digital archive covers historical and contemporary practices across the globe, and ranges from full-scale performances to rehearsals, workshops and masterclasses, interviews and filmed training sessions. The goal is to bring together exclusive content with integrated research materials along with a platform to congregate disperse materials in a format that encourages broad ranging exploration.

Our subject categories are moving toward a 3-part structure, covering Theatre, Dance and Performance with considerable areas of overlap and opportunities for cross-disciplinary intersections. The accompanying commentaries are authored by experts in the field and provide biographical information and critical framing for the audio-visual materials, as well as suggesting useful avenues for further investigation. The archive is also fully keyword searchable, so users can locate material related to specific individuals, companies or practices or discover new material related to their research interests.

The Routledge Performance Archive is a vital resource for students and academics to place performance work within an active context. We will continue to add new content from a wide cross-section of performance practices, and work to create a go-to source for practitioners who want to archive their practice among the work of other practitioners and reach out to audiences beyond their immediate location. We draw on the expertise of an ever expanding field of subject editors to discover new content, in addition to working with a growing list of institutional partners to provide access to archival material.