The West Yorkshire Playhouse Collection is housed at Leeds Special Collections. In it you’ll find extensive documentation for staged plays, musicals and dance in particular.
There is some administrative and financial material. The earliest papers in the collection are from the campaign for a repertory theatre in Leeds in the 1960s. The latest are play scripts and photographs from recent productions at the Playhouse. The collection is still added to on a regular basis.
The collection covers the first two decades of the theatre’s existence from 1970-1990, when it was known as the Leeds Playhouse and operated from a venue on the University of Leeds campus. There is material relating to Leeds Playhouse’s productions and educational activities which includes play scripts, press reviews, programmes and photographs.
The majority of material relates to productions at Leeds Playhouse’s successor theatre, the West Yorkshire Playhouse. The theatre opened at Quarry Hill in Leeds in March 1990. This part of the collection is rich in play scripts, technical drawings, programmes, press reviews, photographs, flyers and posters. There is also material relating to touring productions. The collection contains papers and photographs from the Playhouse’s community and educational activities.
The collection covers the musical activities of Opera North for over forty years from 1978. The company was established in 1977 as English National Opera North. The archives are still added to on a regular basis.
In the collection you’ll find material relating to opera and musicals staged by the company such as production folders, photographs and press reviews of performances. There is promotional material including an extensive run of programmes and some listings, flyers and posters. The collection contains a small amount of material generated by the administrative activities of Opera North.