When researching a specific play, search the catalog and relevant databases for the author's name and the title. It is helpful to put quotation marks around titles to treat them as a phrase, especially if they contain common words, ie. "convent of pleasure" AND margaret cavendish.
You'll also want to look more broadly at the history of the genre of theatre, or the history of theatre at that particular time. For example, studies of 17th-century comedy, closet dramas, etc., would provide valuable context for a study of The Convent of Pleasure. You'll also find scholarly studies of aspects of cultural history like fashion, courtship, marriage, travel, music, etc.
If you need to cast a wider net, beyond the UWM Libraries catalog, some databases we provide access to list books and articles beyond our collection, which you can then request. For studies of the literature side of theatre, the MLA Bibliography Database can be a useful index of work that goes beyond what we have immediate access to. For cultural history, try the Humanities International database.
MLA International Bibliography indexes international scholarly materials, including over 4,400 journals, books, working papers, and conference proceedings on language, literature, linguistics, and folklore. It is updated 10 times a year.
Humanities International Complete includes all data from Humanities International Index (more than 2,100 journals and 2.47 million records) plus unique full text content. The database includes full text for more than 890 journals.
Explore primary sources from from libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies around the world including artworks, photographs, publications, and other artifacts.
The Digital Public Library of America strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. Contains materials from all the UW System Digital Collections, Recollection Wisconsin, the National Archives and Records Administration, University of California System, the Smithsonian, and the New York Public Library.
Early English Books Online has over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661). by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War.