University Times

A treasure trove of the world’s most famous film versions of plays is now online for access by the Pitt community through the University Library System.

From productions of Shakespeare to rare in-depth footage focusing on the work of Samuel Beckett, the Theatre in Video link makes accessible in streaming video more than 250 film performances of the world’s leading plays, together with more than 100 film documentaries.

Also included in the collection are live television broadcasts of New York productions from the 1950s, revivals of classic works and experimental performances from the 1960s and ’70s, as well as important contemporary performances, covering a wide range of 20th-century theatre history. Unlike Hollywood adaptations, these are the original productions, captured while being performed for a live theatre audience or recorded for TV viewing.

Included in the database are landmark performances such as “The Iceman Cometh,” “Awake and Sing,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “Playboy of the Western World,” “Krapp’s Last Tape” and the complete works of Shakespeare as produced by the BBC and other theatrical companies.

Users can bookmark specific scenes, monologues and staging, and can create personal playlists of clips. There also are selected themed playlists for users to browse.

Optimally, Theatre in Video operates with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, and Firefox 1.0 or higher. In addition users will need the following:

• A Macromedia Flash Player v.8 or higher, which is available free to download at the Theatre in Video site.

• A minimum of 400 kbps of bandwidth to view performances in the standard (400×300 pixels) view and 800 kbps for the larger (700×522 pixels) view.

To access the Theatre in Video link, go to www.library.pitt.edu/articles/database_info/theatrevideo.html.

For more information, contact Dennis Smith, coordinator for collection development, at 8-7574; drs@pitt.edu.