The Meiningen Court Theatre 1866–1890

This 1988 volume explores the rise of the Meiningen Court Theatre company during the late nineteenth century.

John Osborne (Author)

9780521303941, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 April 1988

232 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.4 cm, 0.62 kg

During the late nineteenth century a remarkable combination of circumstances and individual talents permitted the Court theatre of a small German state to become the theatrical sensation of its age. The Meiningen Court Theatre developed into an international touring company under the leadership of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen. This book is based on a wide range of published and unpublished contemporary documents, photographs and sketches (many of which are reproduced here). In this 1988 volume, Professor Osborne provides a broad cultural-historical context for the emergence of the Meiningen Company and describes in detail the style and staging of productions, as well as the personality and directorial method of the Duke himself. Two famous items in the Company's repertoire, Julius Caesar and Prinz Friedrich von Homburg, are selected for particular attention. The Meiningen Company became famous throughout Europe, and became a source of inspiration to future directors of the modern theatre such as Antoine, Brahm and Stanislavsky.

List of illustrations
Preface
1. Culture and politics: the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen in the nineteenth century
2. Art and literature: the historicist style
3. Theatre: the realist tradition in Germany
4. Emergence and development of a touring company
5. Two productions: Julius Caesar and Prinz Friedrich von Homburg
6. Policy and principles
Appendixes
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]