How do I cite a recorded performance of a play?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

To cite a recorded performance of a play, follow the MLA format template. If you watched the recording on a website, list the website as the container, the name of the site’s publisher–if different from the website’s title–and the URL:

Munby, Jonathan, director. The Merchant of Venice. By William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Globe, Shakespeare Globe Trust, 2017, www.globeplayer.tv/.

If you watched the recording on a DVD, use the final optional-element slot to indicate this:

Radford, Michael, director. The Merchant of Venice. By William Shakespeare, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD.