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On Stage: Spotlight on Our Performing Arts

There's no business like show business and this exhibition brings Australia’s performing arts history into the spotlight.

This exhibition is now closed but you can still take a virtual tour.

About

On Stage shines a spotlight on Australia's performing arts history, through the National Library's extensive performing arts collections.

From Dame to Dame, actor to audience, musicals to magic, honky tonk to hip hop, visitors will see their old favourites, discover new ones and see some objects that have never before been on display.

From all walks, many have stepped onto the stage.

Dancers, bands, and comedians. Lagerphone players too.

In a way, the history of Australian performing arts is the story of us.

From all walks of life, many live on forever. Some known to the sweet tooth, and voices ageless to time.

Now in theatres, opera houses, and big days out.

The National Library of Australia is proud to present On Stage; a spotlight on Australian performing arts.

Step into the limelight onsite or online.

Watch more On Stage videos

Exhibition checklist

On Stage: Exhibition checklist (PDF, 267.12KB)

Exhibition highlights

Black and white closeup photograph of Robert Helpmann in stage makeup, wearing a costume that features a beaded headpiece, cuff and collar.

Houston Rogers, Portrait of Sir Robert Helpmann as Oberon, 1954, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136330433

A crowd attend an outdoor music festival. They wear bright clothes, caps, sunglasses and have their hands raised in the air.

Martin Philbey, Audience at the Falls Music and Arts Festival, Lorne, Victoria, 2007, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147950306

Copy of a printed playbill containing details for a performance of Jane Shore at the Sydney Theatre in 1796.

George Hughes (Government Printer), Playbill for a performance of Jane Shore, The Wapping Landlady and The Miraculous Cure at the Theatre, Sydney 30 July 1796, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1419486 - the earliest surviving document printed in Australia.

Multicoloured poster for the 1970 Adelaide Festival of the Arts.

Kenneth Rowell, Adelaide Festival of Arts 6 - 28 March 1970, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-133748736, courtesy Victoria Rowell

A woman sits at a keyboard and smiles at the camera.

Portrait of Winifred Atwell, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144625849

Poster for Cole Bros. Circus featuring a young performer in long white socks walking across a tightrope.

Cole Bros. Circus: the Great Con Colleano “World’s Greatest Wire Artist” Performing Forward and Backward Somersaults on the Wire, 1945, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136767748

A group of performers play varied musical instruments atop a raised stage to a large crowd.

The Bushwhackers at the Smith Family Event, Sydney Showground c.1955, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-147277128

Sketch showing costume design featuring a long cape, blue and brown patterns and regal detailing.

Kristian Fredrikson, Costume design for the character of the Duke for Melbourne Theatre Company's production of The revenger's tragedy, 1975, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-509653896

Black and white photograph of a row of shopfronts. One facade reads 'Theatre Royal: Open Every Evening'.

Theatre Royal, Sydney, King St. Entrance in 1882, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137238900

The Australian String Quartet perform on a stage in a dried-up creek bed near the Clayton Station. A small group of audience members are sitting in chairs in front of the stage.

Ian Kenins, For their 1999 South Australian Outback Tour, the Australian String Quartet staged a performance in a dried-up creek bed near the Clayton Station, 1999, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-146587118

Vritual tour

Exhibition details

04 Mar 2022 – 14 Aug 2022

09:00 – 17:00

Free

Online

Gallery closed

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