Victorian Theatrical Burlesques

Victorian Theatrical Burlesques PDF Author: Richard Schoch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317242378
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
First published in 2003. Wildly popular in their own day, Victorian burlesques are now little read, scarcely studied, and never performed. Giving long overdue emphasis to an unjustly neglected theatrical tradition, this critical edition - the first to focus on Victorian burlesques of Victorian plays - represents a valuable scholarly tool for students and scholars of modern drama, theatre history, and nineteenth-century popular culture. Victorian Theatrical Burlesques includes a 'state-of-the-art' introduction which provides a general overview of theatrical burlesques in the Victorian era, emphasising performance history. Sustained reference is made to burlesques other than those presented in the anthology. Through its general introduction, prefaces and annotations to individual plays, checklist of burlesque plays, and bibliography, the unique volume allows both specialist and non-specialist readers to see Victorian burlesques as a rich historical record of shifting attitudes toward drama and the theatre.

Victorian Theatrical Burlesques

Victorian Theatrical Burlesques PDF Author: Richard Schoch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317242378
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 2003. Wildly popular in their own day, Victorian burlesques are now little read, scarcely studied, and never performed. Giving long overdue emphasis to an unjustly neglected theatrical tradition, this critical edition - the first to focus on Victorian burlesques of Victorian plays - represents a valuable scholarly tool for students and scholars of modern drama, theatre history, and nineteenth-century popular culture. Victorian Theatrical Burlesques includes a 'state-of-the-art' introduction which provides a general overview of theatrical burlesques in the Victorian era, emphasising performance history. Sustained reference is made to burlesques other than those presented in the anthology. Through its general introduction, prefaces and annotations to individual plays, checklist of burlesque plays, and bibliography, the unique volume allows both specialist and non-specialist readers to see Victorian burlesques as a rich historical record of shifting attitudes toward drama and the theatre.

Victorian Classical Burlesques

Victorian Classical Burlesques PDF Author: Laura Monros-Gaspar
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472537882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The Victorian classical burlesque was a popular theatrical genre of the mid-19th century. It parodied ancient tragedies with music, melodrama, pastiche, merciless satire and gender reversal. Immensely popular in its day, the genre was also intensely metatheatrical and carries significance for reception studies, the role and perception of women in Victorian society and the culture of artistic censorship. This anthology contains the annotated text of four major classical burlesques: Antigone Travestie (1845) by Edward L. Blanchard, Medea; or, the Best of Mothers with a Brute of a Husband (1856) by Robert Brough, Alcestis; the Original Strong-Minded Woman (1850) and Electra in a New Electric Light (1859) by Francis Talfourd. The cultural and textual annotations highlight the changes made to the scripts from the manuscripts sent to the Lord Chamberlain's office and, by explaining the topical allusions and satire, elucidate elements of the burlesques' popular cultural milieu. An in-depth critical introduction discusses the historical contexts of the plays' premieres and unveils the cultural processes behind the reception of the myths and original tragedies. As the burlesques combined spectacular effects with allusions to contemporary affairs, ambivalent and provocative attitudes to women, the plays represent an essential tool for reading the social history of the era.

Victorian Epic Burlesques

Victorian Epic Burlesques PDF Author: Rachel Bryant Davies
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350027197
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This anthology presents annotated scripts of four major burlesques by key playwrights: Melodrama Mad! or, the Siege of Troy by Thomas John Dibdin (1819); Telemachus; or, the Island of Calypso by J.R. Planché (1834); The Iliad; or, the Siege of Troy by Robert Brough (1858) and Ulysses; or the Ironclad Warriors and the Little Tug of War by F.C. Burnand (1865). Beloved legend, archaeological riddle and educational staple: Homer's epic tales of the Trojan War and its aftermath were vividly reimagined in nineteenth-century Britain. Classical burlesques-exceptionally successful theatrical entertainments-continually mined the Iliad and Odyssey to lucrative comic effect. Burlesques combined song, dance and slapstick comedy with an eclectic kaleidoscope of topical allusions. From namedropping boxing legends to recasting Shakespearean combats, epic adaptations overflow with satirical commentary on politics, cultural highlights and everyday current affairs. In uncovering Homer's irreverently playful afterlife, this selection showcases burlesque's development and wide appeal. The critical introduction analyses how these plays contested the accessibility of classical antiquity and dramatic performance. Textual and literary annotations, with contemporary illustrations, illuminate the juxtaposed sources to establish these repackaged epics as indispensable tools for unlocking nineteenth-century social, cultural and political history. Resources for further study are available online.

Victorian Theatrical Burlesques

Victorian Theatrical Burlesques PDF Author: Richard W. Schoch
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781315192796
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"This title was first publihsed in 2003. Burlesque was one of the most reviled - and most appealing - types of theatrical performance in the Victorian age. Wildly popular in their own day, burlesque plays are now little read, scarcely studied, and never performed. Yet, as Richard Schoch here shows, burlesques are a distinctive form of metatheatrical criticism-plays about plays-and thus offer us a unique opportunity to understand how drama changes over time. This critical edition is the first to focus exclusively on Victorian burlesques of Victorian plays. Victorian Theatrical Burlesques provides a general overview of theatrical burlesques in the period, emphasizing performance history. Sustained reference is made to burlesques other than those presented in the anthology. The volume also includes prefaces to each of the plays, fully annotated scripts, illustrations of burlesque performances, a checklist of burlesque plays, and a bibliography. The plays presented include H.J. Byron's 'Miss Eily O'Connor' (1861), a burlesque of Dion Boucicault's sensation melodrama 'The Colleen Bawn'; Byron's '1863; or, The Sensations of the Past Season' (1863), a burlesque of a stage version of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novel 'Lady Audley's Secret'; F.C. Burnand's 'The Very Latest Edition of Black-Eyed Susan' (1866), a burlesque of Douglas Jerrold's nautical melodrama 'Black Eyed-Susan'; Byron's The 'Corsican 'Bothers'; or, The Troublesome Twins' (1869), a burlesque of Dion Boucicault's melodrama 'The Corsican Brothers'; and Charles Brookfield's and J.M. Glover's 'The Poet and the Puppets' (1892), a burlesque of Oscar Wilde's 'Lady Windermere's Fan'. Through its general introduction, prefaces and annotations to individual plays, checklist of plays, and bibliography, the volume allows both specialist and non-specialist readers to see Victorian burlesques as a rich historical record of shifting attitudes toward drama and the theatre. Giving long overdue emphasis to a unjustly neglected theatrical tradition, this"--Provided by publisher.

Victorian Classical Burlesques

Victorian Classical Burlesques PDF Author: Laura Monros-Gaspar
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472537858
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
An annotated critical anthology of four major classical burlesques, exploring the popular, iconic and literary refigurations of classical myths on the Victorian popular stage.

The theatre of ideas, a burlesque allegory; and 3 one-act plays, The goal, Her tongue, Grace Mary

The theatre of ideas, a burlesque allegory; and 3 one-act plays, The goal, Her tongue, Grace Mary PDF Author: Henry Arthur Jones
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description


Not Shakespeare

Not Shakespeare PDF Author: Richard W. Schoch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521800150
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Burlesque has been a powerful and enduring weapon in the critique of 'legitimate' Shakespearean culture by a seemingly 'illegitimate' popular culture. This was true most of all in the nineteenth century. From Hamlet Travestie (1810) to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (1891), Shakespeare burlesques were a vibrant, yet controversial form of popular performance: vibrant because of their exuberant humour; controversial because they imperilled Shakespeare's iconic status. Richard Schoch, in this study of nineteenth-century Shakespeare burlesques, explores the paradox that plays which are manifestly 'not Shakespeare' purport to be the most genuinely Shakespearean of all. Bringing together archival research, rare photographs and illustrations, close readings of burlesque scripts, and an awareness of theatrical, literary and cultural contexts, Schoch changes the way we think about Shakespeare's theatrical legacy and nineteenth-century popular culture. His lively and wide-ranging book will appeal to scholars and students of Shakespeare in performance, theatre history and Victorian studies.

W.S. Gilbert

W.S. Gilbert PDF Author: Jane W. Stedman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780198161745
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) was the most brilliant dramatist of Victorian England. A daring and cynical playwright, the forerunner of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, he was also a prolific journalist and humorous poet (his Bab Ballads are still widely read), and he achieved worldwide fame through his long collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan, a collaboration that created such classics as H. M. S. Pinafore, The Mikado, and all the other Savoy operas. Now the story of this remarkable writer's life - and of his stormy relationship with Sullivan - is here chronicled by a renowned authority on Gilbert and on the theatrical and literary scene in Victorian London. For this biography, Jane W. Stedman has returned to original sources, has interviewed survivors, and has scoured a whole variety of Victorian periodicals for reviews, and personal comment. Gilbert emerges as a much more complex and interesting figure than has previously been thought. The book is a worthy companion piece to Arthur Jacobs's recent biography Arthur Sullivan: A Victorian Musician.

Playfulness in Shakespearean Adaptations

Playfulness in Shakespearean Adaptations PDF Author: Marina Gerzic
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000073122
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Four hundred years after William Shakespeare’s death, his works continue to not only fill playhouses around the world, but also be adapted in various forms for consumption in popular culture, including in film, television, comics and graphic novels, and digital media. Drawing on theories of play and adaptation, Playfulness in Shakespearean Adaptations demonstrates how the practices of Shakespearean adaptations are frequently products of playful, and sometimes irreverent, engagements that allow new ‘Shakespeares’ to emerge, revealing Shakespeare’s ongoing impact in popular culture. Significantly, this collection explores the role of play in the construction of meaning in Shakespearean adaptations—adaptations of both the works of Shakespeare, and of Shakespeare the man—and contributes to the growing scholarly interest in playfulness both past and present. The chapters in Playfulness in Shakespearean Adaptations engage with the diverse ways that play is used in Shakespearean adaptations on stage, screen, and page, examining how these adaptations draw out existing humour in Shakespeare’s works, the ways that play is used as a pedagogical aid to help explain complex language, themes, and emotions found in Shakespeare’s works, and more generally how play and playfulness can make Shakespeare ‘relatable,’ ‘relevant,’ and entertaining for successive generations of audiences and readers.

Theatre in the Victorian Age

Theatre in the Victorian Age PDF Author: Michael R. Booth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521348379
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
A comprehensive survey of the theatre practice and dramatic literature of the Victorian period.