The Performing Century Nineteenth-Century Theatre's History [Paperback]

This book looks at modes of performance and forms of theatre in Nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland. On subjects as varied as the vogue for fairy plays to the representation of economics to the work of a parliamentary committee in regulating theatres, the authors redefine what theatre and performance in the Nineteenth century might be.List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Introduction: Redefining British Theatre History; P.Holland Introduction: The Performing Society; T.C.Davis & P.Holland PART I: PERFORMANCE OCCASIONS Boxing Day; J.Davis What Are Faries For?; T.C.Davis Communal Performances: Royal Ritual, Revolution, and National Acts; E.Allen George Edwardes and Musical Comedy: The Transformations of London Theatre and Society, 1878-1914; T.Postlewait PART II: PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES Nation and Neighbourhood, Jews and Englishmen: Location and Theatrical Ideology in the Theatre of Victorian London; H.Holder Theatre History and Capital on the Victorian Stage; J.Moody Modernity, Geography and Historiography: (Re)-Mapping Irish Theatre History on the Nineteenth Century; M.Phelan PART III: REPERTOIRES The Death of Tragedy; or, the Birth of Melodrama; J.N.Cox Fitting the Bill: Acting out the Season of 1813/14 at the Sans Pareil; G.Bush-Bailey Charles Mathews, Low Comedian, and the Intersections of Romantic Ideology; E.Ziter The Persistence of Closet Drama: Theory, History, Form; C.Burroughs Shakespeare and the Music Hall; R.Schoch What is a Play? Drama and the Victorian Circus; J.Bratton Index

'The Performing Century: Nineteenth-Century Theatre's History is a fine collection of essays, and unlike some other such collections is likely to be of lasting value.' - Early Popular Visual Culture

'This collection of essays marks the distance travelled in the last two decades in scholarship on nineteenth-century theatre. Thirteen essays, collectively and individually, weave history and historiography together in what are uniformly exeml3´