Back to results

Archive

RSC Production Records

Description

Production records, notes etc

Please note that whilst most records are open and available for viewing, some are closed - for Data Protection, conservation or operational reasons. Please see individual catalogue entries.

Admin History

During the decade 2010 - 2019, the RSC gradually adopted a composite record keeping approach for stage management and production records. The nature of record keeping also altered, with records retained in both hard copy and in digital form. However, there was not a direct duplication of records, so stage management and production records deposited by the RSC with the SBT increased both in quantity and in the quality of detail that they provided for each production.

This change required an altered approach by SBT in appraising, arranging, accessioning and cataloguing material. From 2016 this altered approach evolved.

The key point for researchers to consider is that for productions from 2016 onwards, discrete records meeting the traditional description of 'prompt book' began to be phased out. Whilst some productions still have volumes recognisably meeting the traditional view of prompt books, increasingly the record resource for productions consists of composite records, where the management overview of the production is recorded, in conjunction with the script (often with edited changes being recorded. Increasingly, researchers should widen their research focus per production away from just 'Prompt Books' (Series RSC/SM/1) to focus also on 'Production Records' (Series RSC/SM/2), this latter series increasingly having records with 'prompt book' characteristics.