On Stage exhibition at National Library shows how Australian theatre has been 'keeping the lights on' throughout history

Daniel James Boud's photograph of Ange Sullivan preparing a "ghost light" at the Sydney Opera House in 2020. (Supplied: Daniel James Boud)

At the beginning of 2020, as darkness and uncertainty loomed over Australia's performing arts scene, Ange Sullivan lit a single light globe on the stage of the Sydney Opera House's Joan Sutherland Theatre.

In the years since, the photograph of Ms Sullivan, the theatre's head of lighting, has come to represent a symbol of hope for the performing arts industry and has now been placed on display at the National Library of Australia as the central piece of a new collection of works.

"A ghost light is an electric light that is left energised on the stage of an unoccupied theatre that would otherwise be completely dark," National Library director-general Marie-Louise Ayres said.

Performers' livelihoods 'taken away from them'

The opening of the collection at the National Library comes as live entertainment returns to Australian stages. (ABC News: Emma Thompson)

Ms Ayres said as the lights began to come up on stages across the country and Australians returned to their seats in the audience, the opening the library's new exhibition, titled On Stage, felt appropriate.

Ms Ayres reflected on the past two years and said she had missed going to see stage shows and the excitement of waiting for the curtains to open.

But she questioned what it must have been like for Australian performers to not be able to engage with audiences.

But the exhibition, with more than 180 items on display, also symbolises Australian theatre's history of resilience, having survived through world wars, cultural shifts and previous pandemics.

Oldest surviving printed document in Australia advertising a 'rather naughty show'

This worn playbill for a production of 'Jane Shore' in 1796 is believed to be the oldest surviving printed piece in Australia. (ABC News: Ross Nerdal)

One of the items on display at the library is a playbill for Jane Shore, which dates back to 1796.

It advertised a theatrical performance to be held in Sydney; a tragedy about the famous mistress of the medieval English King Edward IV.

The playbill is believed to be the oldest surviving printed document in Australia.

Ms Ayres said it was a "revelation for Australia" when the document "turned up in a scrapbook in Library and Archives Canada in 2007".

"I think Australians had seen themselves, in those early years of the penal colony, as all about law and order," she said.

The On Stage collection is made up of performing arts memorabilia, including playbills, images, scrapbooks and letters. (ABC News: Emma Thompson)

Exhibition curator Susannah Helman said visitors to the library could expect a peek behind the curtain, with many of the items on display coming from the personal archives of performers, dancers, and composers.

"We're very excited for people to see one of the richest aspects of the library's collection."

The exhibition is on display at the National Library of Australia from today until early August.