Manchester University Press
Introduction
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Abstract
Yeandle and Newey argue for the vital role played by theatre in political and popular culture of the long nineteenth century. Using Peter Burke’s description of the ‘performative turn,’ they outline the conditions for, and the consequences of the emergence of theatre and performance studies as an essential component in the reconstruction of the Victorian past. They argue that the theatre was not only one of the most important cultural institutions of the nation, but also an industry, increasingly founded on a model of speculative capitalism, but still enmeshed within older oligarchic structures of regulation and custom. The theatre of the nineteenth century offers a case study at large for the transformation of the public sphere and the creation of a spectacular public culture in Victorian Britain.
Abstract
Yeandle and Newey argue for the vital role played by theatre in political and popular culture of the long nineteenth century. Using Peter Burke’s description of the ‘performative turn,’ they outline the conditions for, and the consequences of the emergence of theatre and performance studies as an essential component in the reconstruction of the Victorian past. They argue that the theatre was not only one of the most important cultural institutions of the nation, but also an industry, increasingly founded on a model of speculative capitalism, but still enmeshed within older oligarchic structures of regulation and custom. The theatre of the nineteenth century offers a case study at large for the transformation of the public sphere and the creation of a spectacular public culture in Victorian Britain.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Series introduction v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Contributors x
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- Part I: Conceptualising performance, theorising politics 17
- 1 ‘To the last drop of my blood’ 21
- 2 The platform and the stage 44
- 3 Bubbles of the day 59
- 4 Theatrical hierarchy, cultural capitaland the legitimate/illegitimate divide 75
- 5 Performance for imagined communities 96
- 6 Women’s suffrage and theatricality 111
- Part II: Politics in performance 129
- 7 English pantomime and the Irish Question 131
- 8 ‘Executed with remarkable care and artistic feeling’ 152
- 9 Drury Lane imperialism 174
- Part III: The performance of politics 195
- 10 ‘Love, bitter wrong, freedom, sad pity, and lust of power’ 199
- 11 Sir Robert Peel as actor-dramatis 216
- 12 The performance of protest 237
- 13 Class, performance and socialist politics 259
- Index 276
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Series introduction v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Contributors x
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
- Part I: Conceptualising performance, theorising politics 17
- 1 ‘To the last drop of my blood’ 21
- 2 The platform and the stage 44
- 3 Bubbles of the day 59
- 4 Theatrical hierarchy, cultural capitaland the legitimate/illegitimate divide 75
- 5 Performance for imagined communities 96
- 6 Women’s suffrage and theatricality 111
- Part II: Politics in performance 129
- 7 English pantomime and the Irish Question 131
- 8 ‘Executed with remarkable care and artistic feeling’ 152
- 9 Drury Lane imperialism 174
- Part III: The performance of politics 195
- 10 ‘Love, bitter wrong, freedom, sad pity, and lust of power’ 199
- 11 Sir Robert Peel as actor-dramatis 216
- 12 The performance of protest 237
- 13 Class, performance and socialist politics 259
- Index 276
