Exploring artworks representing theatre, stages, plays and audiences
William Shakespeare may have written that all the world's a stage, but today on #LoveTheatreDay, all Europeana is a stage.
We've searched our collections to find artworks and photographs which give a glimpse into theatrical life over several hundred years. Whether indoor or outdoors, the theatre is a place where imagination and creativity reign.
The players, either professional or amateur, enthrall an audience with feats, some daring and some more mundane.
A Wonderfull Thing from Paris, or Madame Sacchi gratifying John Bulls curiosity, at Covent Garden Theatre, Circus Museum CC BY-SA
Around the plays and productions, artistic endeavour flourishes, evidenced by posters such as these by Dudley Hardy and Jules Cheret
And some artists remind us that sometimes the real drama and beauty happens in the audience as well as on stage.
