Criticism, Performance, and the Passions in the Eighteenth Century
Criticism, Performance, and the Passions in the Eighteenth Century
Great art is about emotion. In the eighteenth century, and especially for the English stage, critics developed a sensitivity to both the passions of a performance and what they called the transitions between those passions. It was these pivotal transitions, scripted by authors and executed by actors, that could make King Lear beautiful, Hamlet terrifying, Archer hilarious and Zara electrifying. James Harriman-Smith recovers a lost way of appreciating theatre as a set of transitions that produce simultaneously iconic and dynamic spectacles; fascinating moments when anything seems possible. Offering fresh readings and interpretations of Shakespearean and eighteenth-century tragedy, historical acting theory and early character criticism, this volume demonstrates how a concern with transition binds drama to everything, from lyric poetry and Newtonian science, to fine art and sceptical enquiry into the nature of the self.
- Presents transition as a new lens through which to analyse eighteenth-century performance and its reception
- Provides accessible and innovative discussion of canonical and non-canonical works
- Traces the joint evolution of theatrical criticism and trends in performance practice and theory
Reviews & endorsements
Criticism, Performance and the Passions in the Eighteenth Century is an impressive study of the theory and practice of eighteenth-century acting. Focusing on 'transition' as a key component of the actor's art, James Harriman-Smith offers us a new way to understand and appreciate the emotional power of theatrical performance in the age of David Garrick. Conceptually astute and deeply immersed in primary sources, his book is a major contribution to British theatre history. Richard Schoch, Queen's University Belfast
Harriman-Smith's strikingly original work is on the performance of 'transitions' – emotional turns from one passion to another – in the long eighteenth century. Using information gathered from plays, letters, manuals on speaking and acting, promptbooks, periodicals and paintings, Theatre and the Passions in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Transition shows how 'jolts' in the passions affected everything from David Garrick's performances to the writing of lyric odes and the construction of Shakespeare criticism. The extraordinary insights offered by this book will transform our understanding performance and text in the eighteenth-century. Tiffany Stern, University of Birmingham
'The Art of Transition is a welcome and even thrilling book because it offers its reader a new word for thinking about - and through that word, a new way of reading - the eighteenth-century archive.' David Francis Taylor, The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
'This is a welcome and even thrilling book because it offers its reader a new word for thinking about - and through that word, a new way of reading - the eighteenth-century theatrical archive.' David Francis Taylor, The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cat
Product details
February 2024Paperback
9781108812832
248 pages
229 × 152 × 13 mm
0.367kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Dramatic Transition
- 2. Zara
- 3. Odes
- 4. King Lear
- 5. Dramatic Character.
