The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660-1900
Cambridge University Press, 9/14/2006
EAN 9780521547901, ISBN10: 0521547903
Paperback, 326 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
This 2006 introduction aims to share with readers the author's enjoyment of the turbulent 240-year history of a theatre that tried, often against the odds, to be 'modern'. In each of its five parts, it deals successively with history and cultural context, with the plays and the actors who caught the imagination of their era. Peter Thomson's text, always approachable, is enriched by quotations and carefully selected illustrations that capture 'the spirit of the age' under consideration. Beginning with the reopening of the playhouses under licence from Charles II, Thomson introduces the modern English theatre by breaking off at key dates - 1700, 1737, 1789 and 1843 - in order to explore both continuity and innovation. Familiar names and well-known plays feature alongside the forgotten and neglected. This is a reading of dramatic history that keeps constantly in mind the material circumstances that produced, and sometimes oppressed, a supremely popular theatre.
Preface
Part I. The theatre restored
1660–1700
1. The material circumstance
2. The drama
3. Actors and acting
Part II. The theatre reformed
1700–37
4. The material circumstance
5. The drama
6. Actors and acting
Part III. The theatre tamed
1737–89
7. The material circumstance
8. The drama
9. Actors and acting
Part IV. Theatre in the age of reform
1789–1843
10. The material circumstance
11. The drama
12. Actors and acting
Part V. The theatre industry
1843–1901
13. The material circumstance
14. The drama
15. Actors and acting
Index of plays.