The Cambridge History of British Theatre The Cambridge History of British Theatre 3 Volume Hardback Set Series

Volume 2 of The Cambridge History of British Theatre begins in 1660 with the restoration of King Charles II to the throne and the reestablishment of the professional theatre, interdicted since 1642, and follows the far-reaching development of the form over two centuries and more to 1895. Descriptions of the theatres, actors and actresses, acting companies, dramatists and dramatic genres over the period are augmented by accounts of the audiences, politics and morality, scenography, provincial theatre, theatrical legislation, the long-drawn-out competition of major and minor theatres, and the ultimate revocation of the theatrical monopoly of Drury Lane and Covent Garden, initiating a new era. Chapters on two representative years, 1776 and 1895, are complemented by chapters on two phenomenal productions, The Beggar's Opera and The Bells, as well as by studies of popular theatre, including music hall, sexuality on the Victorian stage and other social and cultural contexts.

Preface and acknowledgments; Timeline 1660 to 1894 compiled by Joseph Donohue; Part I. 1660 to 1800: 1. Introduction: the theatre from 1660 to 1800 Joseph Donohue; 2. Theatres and repertory Robert D. Hume; 3. Theatre and the female presence Joanne Lafler; 4. Theatre, politics and morality Derek Hughes; 5. Theatre companies and regulation Judith Milhous; 6. The Beggar's Opera: a case study Calhoun Winton; 7. Garrick at Drury Lane, 1747–76 Mark S. Auburn; 8. Theatre outside London, 1660–1775 Görel Garlick; 9. 1776: a critical year in perspective Edward A. Langhans; 10. The theatrical revolution, 1776–1843 Jane Moody; Part II. 1800 to 1895: 11. Introduction: the theatre from 1800 to 1895 Joseph Donohue; 12. Presence, personality and physicality: actors and their repertoires, 1776–1895 Jim Davis; 13. Theatres, their architecture and their audiences Joseph Donohue; 14. Stage design from Loutherbourg to Poel Christopher Baugh; 15. Theatre and mid-Victorian society, 1851–70 Richard W. Schoch; 16. Gendering Victorian theatre Kerry Powell; 17. Popular entertainment, 1776–1895 Dave Russell; 18. The Bells: a case study; a 'bare-ribbed skeleton' in a chest David Mayer; 19. The new drama and the old theatre Peter Thomson; 20. 1895: a critical year in perspective Joel Kaplan; Bibliography of works cited; Index.

Joseph Donohue is Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of books and articles on the British and Irish theatre and drama, including Dramatic Character in the English Romantic Age (1970), Theatre in the Age of Kean (1975), The London Theatre at the End of the Eighteenth Century (1980) and Distance, Death and Desire in Salome (1997). He is the editor, with Ruth Berggren, of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest: A Reconstructive Critical Edition of the Text of the First Production, St James's Theatre, London, 1895 (1995).