Romantic drama : acting and reacting / Frederick Burwick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burwick, Frederick, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Theater.

Theater--Great Britain--History--19th century.

English drama--18th century--History and criticism.

English drama.

English drama--19th century--History and criticism.

Acting--History--18th century.

Acting.

Acting--History--19th century.

Theater audiences--Great Britain--History.

Theater audiences.

Theaters--Stage-setting and scenery--Great Britain--History.

Theaters.

Theater and society--Great Britain--History.

Theater and society.

Theater--Political aspects--Great Britain--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 345 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Drama in the Romantic period underwent radical changes affecting theatre performance, acting, and audience. Theatres were rebuilt and expanded to accommodate larger audiences, and consequently acting styles and the plays themselves evolved to meet the expectations of the new audiences. This book examines manifestations of change in acting, stage design, setting, and the new forms of drama. Actors exercised a persistent habit of stepping out of their roles, whether scripted or not. Burwick traces the radical shifts in acting style from Garrick to Kemble and Siddons, and to Kean and Macready, adding a new dimension to understanding the shift in cultural sensibility from early to later Romantic literature. Eye-witness accounts by theatre-goers and critics attending plays at the major playhouses of London, the provinces, and on the Continent are provided, allowing readers to identify with the experience of being in the theatre during this tumultuous period.

Contents:

Periscopes into the theatre

Nationalism and national character

Genre: the realism of fantasy, the fantasy of realism

Acting: histrionics and dissimulation

Transvestites, lovers, monsters: character and sexuality

Setting: where and elsewhere

Gothic and anti-Gothic: comedy and horror

Blue-Beard's castle: mischief and misogyny

Vampires in kilts.

Notes:

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

Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-327) and index.

ISBN:

0-511-84788-2

1-107-20127-6

0-521-18241-7

1-282-65516-7

9786612655166

0-511-76885-0

0-511-76662-9

0-511-76969-5

0-511-76523-1

0-511-76801-X

OCLC:

645939915