A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 by Tobe completed in 12volumes, this monumental work here begins publication with the first two volumes--Abaco to Bertie and Bertin to Byzard. When completed, it is expected that the biographical dictionary will include information on more than 8,500 individuals. Hundreds of printed sources have been searched for this project, and dozens of repositories combed, and the names of personnel listed have been filtered through parish registers whenever possible. From published and unpublished sources, from wills, archives of professional societies and guilds, from records of colleges, universities, and clubs, and from the contributions of selfless scholars, the authors have here assembled material which illuminates theatrical and musical activity in London in the 1660-1800 period. The information here amassed will doubtless be augmented by other specialists in Restoration and eighteenth-century theatre and drama, but it is not likely that the number of persons now known surely or conjectured finally to have been connected with theatrical enterprise in this period will ever be increased considerably. Certainly, the contributions made here add immeasurably to existing knowledge, and in a number of instances correct standard histories or reference works. The accompanying illustrations, estimated to be some 1,400 likenesses--at least one picture of each subject for whom a portrait exists--may prove to be a useful feature of the Work. The authors have gone beyond embellishment of the text, and have attempted to list all original portraits any knowledge of which is now recoverable, and have tried to ascertain the present location of portraits in every medium.
A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 by Tobe completed in 12volumes, this monumental work here begins publica-tion with the first two volumes--"Abaco to Bertie "and "Bertin to Byzard. "When completed, it is expected that the bio-graphical dictionary will include informa-tion on more than 8,500 individuals. Hundreds of printed sources have been searched for this project, and dozens of repositories combed, and the names of personnel listed have been filtered through parish registers whenever possible. From published and unpublished sources, from wills, archives of professional societies and guilds, from records of colleges, uni-versities, and clubs, and from the contri-butions of selfless scholars, the authors have here assembled material which il-luminates theatrical and musical activity in London in the 1660-1800 period. The information here amassed will doubtless be augmented by other spe-cialists in Restoration and eighteenth-century theatre and drama, but it is not likely that the number of persons now known surely or conjectured finally to have been connected with theatrical en-terprise in this period will ever be in-creased considerably. Certainly, the contributions made here add immeasurably to existing knowledge, and in a number of instances correct standard histories or reference works. The accompanying illustrations, esti-mated to be some 1,400 likenesses--at least one picture of each subject for whom a portrait exists--may prove to be a use-ful feature of the Work. The authors have gone beyond embellishment of the text, and have attempted to list all origi-nal portraits any knowledge of which is now recoverable, and have tried to ascer-tain the present location of portraits in every medium.After you've found out when a play was performed, you'll want to scan through various periodicals around the date the play was performed to see if a review was published. While we have some periodicals available online (through the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection, for instance), the search functionality in those databases are not always foolproof. So you may need to search for a publication, find a date shortly after your play was performed, and then open up the publication for that date and skim through to see if you see your performer mentioned.
The process--finding the date a play was performed, choosing a periodical, looking for dates shortly after the performance date, and then reading through the periodical for those dates--is the same whether you're using an online database or microfilm.
