The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre, 1730–1830

A contributory volume covering all aspects of theatre in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Jane Moody (Edited by), Daniel O'Quinn (Author)

9780521617772, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 October 2007

320 pages, 14 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.4 x 2 cm, 0.508 kg

This Companion offers a wide-ranging and innovative guide to one of the most exciting and important periods in British theatrical history. The scope of the volume extends from the age of Garrick to the Romantic transformation of acting inaugurated by Edmund Kean. It brings together cutting-edge scholarship from leading international scholars in the long eighteenth century, offering lively and original insights into the world of the stage, its most influential playwrights and the professional lives of celebrated performers such as James Quin, George Anne Bellamy, John Philip Kemble, Dora Jordan, Fanny Abington and Sarah Siddons. The volume includes essential chapters about eighteenth-century acting, production and audiences, important surveys of key theatrical forms such as tragedy, comedy, melodrama and pantomime as well as a range of exciting thematic essays on subjects such as private theatricals, 'black' theatre and the representation of empire.

Chronology
Part I. Performance: 1. Acting and actors from Garrick to Kean Peter Thomson
2. 'Dictating to the Empire': performance and theatrical geography in eighteenth-century Britain Jane Moody
3. Scenography and technology Christopher Baugh
4. Spectatorship Jim Davis
Part II. Genres: 5. The social life of eighteenth-century comedy Lisa A. Freeman
6. Tragedy Susan Staves
7. Pantomime John O'Brien
8. Romantic melodrama Jacky Bratton
Part III. Identities: 9. The making of an English audience: the case of the footmen's gallery Kristina Straub
10. Women playwrights Misty Anderson
11. Entertaining women: the actress in eighteenth-century theatre and culture Laura J. Rosenthal
12. Race and profit in English theatre Julie A. Carlson
Part IV. Places of Performance: 13. Private theatricals Gillian Russell
14. Opera and theatre Michael Burden
15. Acting in the periphery: the Irish theatre Helen Burke
16. Theatre and Empire Daniel O'Quinn
Part V. Further Reading: 17. Reading theatre, 1730–1830 Jonathan Mulrooney
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]