The Cambridge Companion to English Restoration Theatre

Fourteen specially commissioned essays provide essential information about staging, playwrights, themes and genres in the drama of the Restoration.

Deborah Payne Fisk (Edited by)

9780521582155, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 May 2000

324 pages, 13 b/w illus.
23.8 x 15.4 x 2.5 cm, 0.647 kg

'A series of lively essays … a valuable addition to Restoration theatre criticism.' Speech and Drama

This rich and varied portrait of the drama from 1660 to 1714 provides students with essential information about playwrights, staging and genres, situating them in the social and political culture of the time. No longer seen as a privileged arena for select dramatists and elite courtiers, the Restoration theatre is revealed in all of its tumult, energy and conflict. The fourteen newly-commissioned essays examine the theatre, paying attention to major playwrights such as Dryden, Wycherly and Congreve and also to more minor works and to plays by the first professional female dramatists. The book begins with chapters on the performance of the drama in its own time, on theatres, acting and staging, and continues with the main dramatic genres and themes, with a final chapter on the critical history of the drama. The volume also includes a thorough chronology and biographies and bibliographies of dramatists.

Chronology
1. The theatre Edward A. Langhans
2. The performance Joseph Roach
3. Adaptations and revivals Michael Dobson
4. Comedy Brian Corman
5. Tragedy Christopher J. Wheatley
6. Tragicomedy Nancy Klein Maguire
7. Farce Peter Holland
8. Restoration and settlement: 1660 and 1688 Derek Hughes
9. Change, scepticism and uncertainty Jessica Munns
10. Drama and political crisis Susan J. Owens
11. Spectacle, horror and pathos Jean Marsden
12. Gender, sexuality and marriage Pat Gill
13. Playwright versus priest Michael Cordner
14. The canon and its critics Robert Markley
Biographies and selected bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG]