Description
The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Performance brings together a selection of particularly memorable performances, beginning with Nell Gwyn in a 1668 staging of Secret Love, and moving chronologically towards the final performance of John Philip Kemble's controversial adaptation of Thomas Otway's Venice Presever'd in October 1795.
This volume contains a wealth of contextual materials, including contemporary reviews, portraits, advertisements, and cast lists. By privileging event over publication, this collection aims to encourage an understanding of performance that emphasizes the immediacy - and changeability - of the theatrical repertoire during the long eighteenth century.
Offering an invaluable insight into the performance culture of the time, The Routledge Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Performance is a unique, much-needed resource for students of theatre.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Actress and Royal Mistress: "Pretty Witty Nell"
2. Magical Transformations: A Queen and her Many Worlds
3. Betterton's Last Lear
4. Soldiers Abroad: The Recruting Officer in Charleston, South Carolina
5. The Pleasures of Celebrity Scandal: The Rover's Endurance
6.Opposition Cato: Royal Players at Leiceister House
7. An African Weeps for Oroonoko: The Royal Slave
8. Tom Thumb in Manhattan: Lewis Hallam’s Theatrical Enterprise
9. The Chinese Festival Riots
10. National Fantasy/Wardrobe Malfunction: Royal Command Performance of Thomas Arne’s Love in a Village
11. Ethnic Spectacle: Charles Macklin in The Merchant of Venice and Love a-la-Mode
12. An Actor's Farewell: Garrick in The Wonder
13. The Re-Coronation of George III: Commemorating Handel
14. Imperial Pantomime: John O’Keefe and Philippe Jacques De Loutherbourg's Omai, or A Trip Around the World
15. Stealing Venice Preserv’d
