Celebrity, performance, reception : British Georgian theatre as social assemblage / David Worrall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Worrall, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Theater.

Theater audiences--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Theater audiences.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 305 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

By 1800 London had as many theatre seats for sale as the city's population. This was the start of the capital's rise as a centre for performing arts. Bringing to life a period of extraordinary theatrical vitality, David Worrall re-examines the beginnings of celebrity culture amidst a monopolistic commercial theatrical marketplace. The book presents an innovative transposition of social assemblage theory into performance history. It argues that the cultural meaning of drama changes with every change in the performance location. This theoretical model is applied to a wide range of archival materials including censor's manuscripts, theatre ledger books, performance schedules, unfamiliar play texts and rare printed sources. By examining prompters' records, box office receipts and benefit night takings, the study questions the status of David Garrick, Sarah Siddons and Edmund Kean, and recovers the neglected actress, Elizabeth Younge, and her importance to Edmund Burke.

Contents:

Introduction: theatre, performance and social assemblage theory

Theatrical assemblages and theatrical markets

Georgian performance and the assemblage model

Theatrical celebrity as social assemblage: from Garrick to Kean

Celebrity networks: Kean and Siddons

A working theatrical assemblage: 1790s

Representations of naval conflict

Theatrical assemblage populations: the Turkish ambassador's visits to London playhouses, 1794

Historicizing the theatrical assemblage: Marie Antoinette and the theatrical queens

The regulatory assemblage: the Roman actor and the politics of self-censorship

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-45807-6

1-107-42569-7

1-139-89365-3

1-107-42338-4

1-107-42025-3

1-107-41763-5

1-107-42160-8

1-107-33879-4

1-107-41893-3

OCLC:

859537347