Material relating to plays

This section includes advertisements, agreements, assignments, flyers, indentures, letters, licences, lists of plays, parliamentary acts, play texts, posters, press cuttings, programmes, receipts, reports and telegrams. There are also three large scrapbooks, two of which contain material relating specifically to Melville productions and one containing publicity material for various theatrical events.

The Melvilles were actors and theatre managers. They were involved in the assignment of plays from authors such as Christopher Hazlewood and from theatrical agents such as Harry Wall. The brothers Frederick and Walter Melville wrote their own plays, most notably the ‘Bad Women’ dramas. As part of the production of plays at theatres which the Melvilles managed, they were also involved in the production of publicity material, such as programmes, posters and advertisements.

This section is split into five catergories:

• UKC/MEL/PLAYS/TXT : play texts
• UKC/MEL/PLAYS/POS : posters
• UKC/MEL/PLAYS/PLA : material about Melville plays
• UKC/MEL/PLAYS/PUBMA : publicity material
• UKC/MEL/PLAYS/PRG : theatre programmes