National Video Archive of Performance

At the V&A? Yes, I’ve been. The slots books up quickly so it’s best to book a month or so in advance.



No need for anything except proof of ID to register and pick up your reader card - anyone can use it.

As with the others, anyone can go there. You need to book, but it's a simple process, and the staff there have always been helpful and kind.

Similarly for the NT archive anyone is welcome to watch there.

Unlike the NYPL archive where you basically have to promise them your first born and to never reveal what was found within.

Oh where to start! 

The NT have a lot of stuff dating from the mid-late 90s and then fully from the mid 2000s. Obviously everything that has been NT Live'd is also there as well. There's also a pelthora of platforms (some audio and some visual) I would recommend searching their catalogue for a show you remember being there and seeing what they have. 

I once got very distracted while doing some research on physical materials (scripts and whatnot) because someone was watching the Barrowman Anything Goes in my eyeline and frankly that looked far more fun. 

Loads more information here: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre/archive

It's down next door to the Old Vic, rather than the main building. 

Ooh the infamous War Horse hating PhD supervisor did work on His Dark Materials and I think that was the only play she’s seen in years (spoiler she didn’t much like the theatre of it...)

The nt archives of srb's hamlet is sadly not great filming, if you go back pre nt live they have filmed from back on auditorium and it's not very much in focus, so more radio play, just to warn you. Never quite sure why when even quite recently their recordings are poor as surely limits their use, money I guess. That said I recommend the place, all the custume, staging info rtf is very interesting. The blood meeting minutes I read there are still the best minutes I've ever read 😁.

Not yet made it to v and a one, need to work out where it is as it's not st the museum is it?

Is it relatively simple to find, I'd got as far as deciding to go before realising it was an area of London I didn't know at all and wimping out.

I don't live in London but if I had the time I'd certainly investigate these! Some of the production/rehearsal stills photographers also put their photos online on their own websites, which are well worth looking up - they generally have far more images than on the theatre's own website, in some cases hundreds, and superb quality as many are taken up close, onstage. You can also find short performance or production clips and interviews on theatres' Facebook or Instagram sites - there's an interactive 360 degree rehearsal room clip of Mosquitoes on the NT's Facebook which on some browsers allows you to swipe around the room to follow the action. I presume it must be filmed from some sort of centrally positioned 360 camera placed in the middle of the room. It would be fabulous if performances could be captured on stage in this way.

This reminded me of the New York library collection of Broadway shows. Another poster said it is not straight forward to access www.nypl.org/about/divisions/theatre-film-and-tape-archive/access

It was me!

They unlike our glorious V&A and NT archive, believe their sacred works (ha) should only be available to 'real' researchers, and you have to make a case for what you want to view (they let theatre professionals and academics, and it's not difficult to make something believable up it's just a bit less...welcoming) . They also have a ridiculous 'only one viewing per lifetime' rule and a 'no rewinding' rule (you physically can't it's controlled elsewhere.)

In fairness the staff in that division were wonderful and helpful, unlike many of the others I dealt with. However I do plan to get around their 'once a lifetime' rule by coming back and haunting the sh*t out of them one day. 

By the way if anyone is interested in a career as an archivist, the NT just posted their annual assistant job position there. 

In fairness many of them ARE old VHS recordings (Broadway started recording productions as a rule far earlier, in the late 70s/early 80s if I recall)

However I’m sure none of them get watched THAT often. And also obviously someone should find some money for digitising but it’s the public library/Archive and that’s probably not going to happen sadly. Maybe my ghost will leave them some money before I haunt them

I'm guessing with V&A/Blythe House it's an access issue- they don't have sole ownership/control of the building so are probably tied to some opening hours/staffing hours there. Whereas the NT Studio is both owned by them, and generally in use at all hours anyway due to the nature of it. 

Doesn't make it less annoying- but again, much of it comes down to spectacularly underfunded organisations in the arts. 

I agree, and I can see no reason in principle that charging a 'viewing fee' or even just an 'entry fee' to the archive if donated charitably causes any obvious issues (if it's technically a charitable donation that also offers possibility of waivers or reductions for certain groups etc too to keep it accessible)