The Cambridge History of British Theatre 3 Volume Hardback Set
The Cambridge History of British Theatre 3 Volume Hardback Set
Peter Thomson, University of Exeter
Joseph Donohue, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Baz Kershaw, University of Bristol
£517.00
GBPThis three-volume set explores the rich and complex histories of English, Scottish and Welsh theatres from early Britain to the present. Volume 1 begins in Roman Britain and ends with Charles II's restoration to the throne imminent. Volume 2 begins in 1660 with the restoration of King Charles II to the throne and the re-establishment of the professional theatre, interdicted since 1642, and follows the far-reaching development of the form over two centuries and more to 1895. Volume 3 explores the rich and complex histories of English, Scottish and Welsh theatres in the 'long' twentieth century since 1895. Original essays written by leading British and American historians and critics investigate the major aspects of theatrical performance, combining an interest in the written drama with an understanding of the material conditions of the evolving professional theatre that the drama helped to sustain.
- Three volumes looking at the turbulent public life of performance in Britain
- Essays written by leading British and American scholars
- Each volume features 'case studies' of famous plays in performance and is fully illustrated
Reviews & endorsements
'… a set that will stand as the most valuable resource on British theater for some time to come. Essential.' Choice
'… exceptional … destined to prove one of the most erudite, and yet accessible, resources for theatre scholars and students as well as serious theatre practitioners … must be hailed as perhaps the most carefully compiled and comprehensively covered history ever attempted. … I know of no library that has any other theatre history (focusing exclusively on British theatre) on its shelves to challenge this great new work's pole position in the theatre reference stakes … All in all, a great work.' Amateur Stage
Product details
December 2004Multiple copy pack
9780521827904
1744 pages
310 × 245 × 162 mm
3.83kg
109 b/w illus.
Temporarily unavailable - available from TBC
Table of Contents
- Volume 1. Origins to 1660: General preface
- Chronology
- Part I. Pre-Elizabethan Theatre:
- 1. From Roman to Renaissance in drama and theatre
- 2. Faith, pastime, performance and drama in Scotland to 1603
- 3. The Bible as play in Reformation England
- 4. Drama in 1553: continuity and change
- Part II. Elizabethan Theatre:
- 5. The development of a professional theatre, 1540–1660
- 6. Drama outside London after 1540
- 7. 'An example of courtesy and liberality': great households and performance
- 8. The birth of an industry
- 9. Theatre and controversy, 1572–1603
- 10. The condition of theatre in England in 1599
- 11. Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour: a case study
- 12. London professional playhouses and performances
- Part III. Jacobean and Caroline Theatre:
- 13. Working playwrights, 1580–1642
- 14. Theatre and controversy, 1603–42
- 15. The Stuart masque and its makers
- 16. Clowns, fools and knaves: stages in the evolution of acting
- 17. Thomas Middleton's A Game at Chess: a case study
- 18. The condition of the theatres in 1642
- 19. Theatre and Commonwealth
- Works cited
- Index. Volume 2. 1660–1895: Preface and acknowledgements
- Timeline:
- 1660 to 1894
- Part I. 1660–1800:
- 1. Introduction: the theatre from 1660 to 1800
- 2. Theatres and repertory
- 3. Theatre and the female presence
- 4. Theatre, politics and morality
- 5. Theatre companies and regulation
- 6. The Beggar's Opera: a case study
- 7. Garrick at Drury Lane, 1747–76
- 8. Theatre outside London, 1660–1775
- 9. 1776: a critical year in perspective
- 10. The theatrical revolution, 1776–1843
- Part II. 1800 to 1895:
- 11. Introduction: the theatre from 1800 to 1895
- 12. Presence, personality and physicality: actors and their repertoires, 1776–1895
- 13. Theatres, their architecture and their audiences
- 14. Stage design from Loutherbourg to Poel
- 15. Theatre and mid-Victorian society, 1851–1870
- 16. Gendering Victorian theatre
- 17. Popular entertainment, 1776–1895
- 18. The Bells: a case study
- a 'bare-ribbed skeleton' in a chest
- 19. The new drama and the old theatre
- 20. 1895: a critical year in perspective
- Bibliography of works cited
- Index. Volume 3. Since 1895: Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- List of illustrations
- Part I. 1895–1946:
- 1. British theatre, 1895–1946: art, entertainment, audiences – an introduction
- 2. The London stage, 1895–1918
- 3. Provincial stages, 1900–1934: touring and early repertory theatre
- 4. Popular theatre, 1896–1940
- 5. Case study: Cicely Hamilton's Diana of Dobson's, 1908
- 6. A critical year in perspective:
- 1926
- 7. The London stage, 1918–45
- 8. Social commitment and aesthetic innovation, 1895–1946
- PART II. Scottish and Welsh Theatres, 1895–2002:
- 9. Towards national identities: theatre in Scotland
- 10. Case study: Ena Lamont Stewart's Men Should Weep, 1947
- 11. Towards national identities: Welsh theatres
- 12. Case study: refashioning a myth, performances of the tale of Blodeuwedd
- Part III. 1940–2002:
- 13. British theatre, 1940–2002: an introduction
- 14. The establishment of mainstream theatre, 1946–79
- 15. Alternative theatres, 1946–2000
- 16. Developments in the profession of theatre, 1946–2000
- 17. Case study: Theatre Workshop's Oh What a Lovely War, 1963
- 18. 1979 and after: a view
- 19. British theatre and commerce, 1979–2000
- 20. New theatre for new times: decentralisation, innovation and pluralism, 1975–2000
- 21. Theatre in Scotland in the 1990s and beyond
- 22. Theatre in Wales in the 1990s and beyond
- 23. English theatre in the 1990s and beyond
- Bibliography
- Index.
