Description
The theatre was a crucial forum for the representation of Irish civility and culture for the eighteenth-century English audience. Irish actors and playwrights, operating both as individuals and within networks, were remarkably popular and potent during this period, especially in London. As ideas of Enlightenment percolated throughout Britain and Ireland, Irish theatrical practitioners - actors, managers, playwrights, critics and journalists - exploited a growing receptivity to Irish civility, and advanced a patriot agenda of political and economic autonomy. Mobility, toleration and the capacity to negotiate multiple allegiances are marked features of this Irish theatrical Enlightenment, whose ambitious participants saw little conflict between their twin loyalties to the Crown and to Ireland. This collection of essays responds to recent work in the areas of eighteenth-century theatre studies, Irish studies and Enlightenment studies. The volume's discussions of genre, colonialism, gender, race, music, slavery, and dress open up new avenues of scholarship and research across disciplines.
Table of Contents
Introduction: staging an Irish Enlightenment David O'Shaughnessy; Part I. Representations and Resistance: 1. Straddling: London-Irish actresses and their characters Felicity Nussbaum; 2. John Johnstone and the possibilities of Irishness, 1783–1820 Jim Davis; 3. The diminution of 'Irish' Johnstone Oskar Cox Jensen; Part II. Symbiotic Stages: Dublin and London: 4. Midas, Kane O'Hara and the Italians: an interplay of comedy between London and Dublin Michael Burden; 5. Trading loyalties: Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal and the Irish propositions Robert W. Jones; 6. Sydney Owenson, Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and the domestic stage of post-inion politics Colleen Taylor; Part III. Enlightened Perspectives: 7. Civility, patriotism and performance: Cato and the Irish history play David O'Shaughnessy; 8. From Ireland to Peru: Arthur Murphy's (anti)-imperial dramaturgy Bridget Orr; 9. The provincial commencement of James Field Stanfield Declan Mccormack; 10. Worlding the village: John O'Keeffe's 'Excentric' pastorals Helen Burke.
