David Worrall explores the presentation of foreign cultures and ethnicities on the popular British stage from 1750 to 1840. Under the 1737 Licensing Act, Covent Garden, Dury Lane and regional Theatres Royal held a monopoly on the dramatic canon. Excluded from polite dramatic discourse, non-patent theatres produced harlequinades, melodrama, pantomimes and spectacles. Worrall argues that this illegitimate stage was the site for a plebeian Enlightenment. Discussions about natural and civil rights, voyage and discovery, and Britain's relationship with other cultures were relentlessly enacted. Romantic period drama is a growing field for study. Worrall combines thorough historical analysis with an enjoyment of the vitality and diversity of the works discussed.

"'This book is extensively documented and benefits from Worrall's thorough research of dramatic subgenres. Summing Up: Recommended'"