The Orient on the Victorian Stage

This book explores the impact of the Middle East and the Orient on writing and performance in nineteenth-century British theatre.

Edward Ziter (Author)

9780521818292, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 September 2003

246 pages, 20 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

"...this is still a timely, thought-provoking, and thoroughly impressive work." Victorian Studies

The Orient on the Victorian Stage examines the representation of the Middle East in a variety of nineteenth-century entertainment forms, such as panoramas, melodrama, pantomime, ballet and opera. Ziter argues that changes in stage craft reflected the emerging idea that the significance of objects was evident in contextual relations, and relates the development of this stage craft to orientalist exhibitions and museum displays. Unlike other theatre histories and studies of orientalism, this book examines broader strategies of spatial representation and focuses on performance and popular culture. Ziter explores the plays and productions at a number of venues, including Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, and the British Museum, among others. The book also includes an analysis of Byron's image in the theatre and an analysis of his play Sardanapalus.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: 'real sets', geography, and race
1. Spectacle and surveillance in orientalist panoramas
2. Fantasies of miscegenation on the romantic stage
3. The built-out East of popular ethnography
4. The biblical East in theatres and exhibitions
5. The geography of Imperial theatre
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]