English Drama, 1900-1930

English Drama, 1900-1930
Author: Allardyce Nicoll
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Total Pages: 1112
Release: 2009
Genre: English drama
ISBN: 9780521129473

Acting Theory and the English Stage, 1700-1830 Volume 1

Acting Theory and the English Stage, 1700-1830 Volume 1
Author: Lisa Zunshine
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 691
Release: 2017-07-28
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1351577689

During the eighteenth century, treatises on the science of elocution, gesture and naturalness abounded. This title draws together a representative selection of the most difficult-to-access texts in the period. It helps cultural historians to examine the place of stagecraft in the eighteenth-century imagination.

English Theatre in Transition 1881-1914

English Theatre in Transition 1881-1914
Author: James Woodfield
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-07-16
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1317389433

Originally published in 1984. The turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a time of considerable change in the English theatre. Victorian attitudes were shocked or shattered by the new drama of Ibsen; the major figure of George Bernard Shaw dominated the period; theatre censorship was the subject of a long and furious contest; and staging conventions changed from the spectacular stylings of Irving and Beerbohm Tree to the masking and statuesque styles of Isadora Duncan and the inner realism of Stanislavsky. This book traces the activities of the leading figures in the English theatre, notably William Archer who introduced Ibsen to this country and who became one of the main promoters of the idea of a National Theatre. Other personalities discussed include Harley Granville Barker, particularly his association with Shaw at the Court Theatre and his part in campaigns against censorship and for changes in the staging of Shakespeare, and Edward Gordon Craig, whose rebellion against the Victorian theatre took and anti-realist direction. This is a stimulating account of the background to the modern English theatre which can only increase appreciation of its standard and variety.

Writing the History of the British Stage

Writing the History of the British Stage
Author: Richard Schoch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2016-09-12
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107166926

A study of British theatre historiography, from its origins in the Restoration to its development as an academic discipline in the twentieth century.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre

The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre
Author: Simon Trussler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2000-09-21
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780521794305

Written with style, imagination and insight, and packed with interesting illustrations, this authoritative book traces the development through the ages of plays and playwriting, forms of staging, the acting profession and the role of the actor - in fact all aspects of live entertainment. From satire and burlesque to melodrama and pantomime, this is a major history of British theatre from the earliest times to the present day. Shifting its focus constantly between those who played and those who watched, between officially approved performance and the popular theatre of the people, The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre will be invaluable to anyone interested in theatre, whether student, teacher, performer or spectator.

Shakespeare's Victorian Stage

Shakespeare's Victorian Stage
Author: Richard W. Schoch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 1998-08-20
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780521622813

This book explores the revivals of Shakespeare's history plays during the Victorian period, as staged by the famous actor-manager Charles Kean. Between 1852 and 1859, Kean produced celebrated productions of Henry V, Henry VIII, King John, Macbeth and Richard II, renowned for their unprecendented attention to antiquarian detail in sets, costumes, and properties (many of which are shown in the book's illustrations). These productions provided audiences with an unparalleled opportunity to participate in the Victorian obsession with history, especially of the medieval period. Using valuable primary sources, including promptbooks, scenic designs, costume sketches and contemporary reviews, Richard Schoch places mid-Victorian attitudes towards the theatre in the context of major intellectual and political movements of the age. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of theatre history, Shakespeare studies and Victorian culture.

Theatric Revolution

Theatric Revolution
Author: David Worrall
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2006-05-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191534900

The theatre and drama of the late Georgian period have been the focus of a number of recent studies, but such work has tended to ignore its social and political contexts. Theatric Revolution redresses the balance by considering the role of stage censorship during the Romantic period, an era otherwise associated with the freedom of expression. Looking beyond the Royal theatres at Covent Garden and Drury Lane which have dominated most recent accounts of the period, this book examines the day-to-day workings of the Lord Chamberlain's Examiner of Plays and shows that radicalized groups of individuals continuously sought ways to evade the suppression of both playhouses and dramatic texts. Incorporating a wealth of new research, David Worrall reveals the centrality of theatre within busy networks of print culture, politics of all casts, elite and popular cultures, and metropolitan and provincial audiences. Ranging from the drawing room of Queen Caroline's private theatrical to the song-and-supper dens of Soho and radical free and easies, Theatric Revolution deals with the complex vitality of Romantic theatrical culture, and its intense politicization at all levels. This fascinating new study will be of great value to cultural historians, as well as to literary and theatre scholars.