Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


The Orient on the Victorian Stage

The Orient on the Victorian Stage

The Orient on the Victorian Stage

Edward Ziter , New York University
January 2008
Available
Paperback
9780521048392

Looking for an inspection copy?

This title is not currently available for inspection.

£41.00
GBP
Paperback
GBP
Hardback

    The Orient on the Victorian Stage examines the representation of the Middle East in a variety of nineteenth-century entertainment forms, such as panoramas, melodrama, pantomime, ballet and opera. Ziter argues that changes in stage craft reflected the emerging idea that the significance of objects was evident in contextual relations, and relates the development of this stage craft to orientalist exhibitions and museum displays. Unlike other theatre histories and studies of orientalism, this book examines broader strategies of spatial representation and focuses on performance and popular culture. Ziter explores the plays and productions at a number of venues, including Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, and the British Museum, among others. The book also includes an analysis of Byron's image in the theatre and an analysis of his play Sardanapalus.

    • Explores the influence of the Middle East and Asia on nineteenth-century theatre
    • Examines a wide range of performance genres including opera, theatre, ballet, exhibitions, melodrama, and even museum displays
    • Includes valuable and informative illustrations

    Awards

    Received an honorable mention for the Joe Callaway Prize for best book on drama

    Read more

    Product details

    September 2003
    Hardback
    9780521818292
    246 pages
    229 × 152 × 17 mm
    0.52kg
    20 b/w illus.
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • List of illustrations
    • Acknowledgements
    • Introduction: 'real sets', geography, and race
    • 1. Spectacle and surveillance in orientalist panoramas
    • 2. Fantasies of miscegenation on the romantic stage
    • 3. The built-out East of popular ethnography
    • 4. The biblical East in theatres and exhibitions
    • 5. The geography of Imperial theatre
    • Notes
    • Select bibliography
    • Index.
      Author
    • Edward Ziter , New York University

      Edward Ziter is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at Ohio State University. He has published articles in Theatre Survey, Theatre Journal and The Wordsworth Circle and in two anthologies, Land/Scape/Theatre: Views of the 20th Century and Living Displays. He has co-edited the reviews section of Theatre Journal.