Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. The Censorship of Eighteenth-Century Theatre
  • Cited by 3
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      August 2023
      August 2023
      ISBN:
      9781108866576
      9781108496254
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108866576
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.549kg, 280 Pages
      Dimensions:
      Weight & Pages:
      • Subjects:
      Literature, British Theatre, English Literature 1700-1830, Drama, Theatre, Performance Studies
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Literature, British Theatre, English Literature 1700-1830, Drama, Theatre, Performance Studies
    Information

    Book description

    This collection reveals the wide-ranging impact of the Stage Licensing Act of 1737 on literary and theatrical culture in Georgian Britain. Demonstrating the differing motivations of the state in censoring public performances of plays after the Stage Licensing Act of 1737 and until the Theatres Act 1843, chapters cover a wide variety of theatrical genres across a century and show how the mechanisms of formal censorship operated under the Lord Chamberlain's Examiner of Plays. They also explore the effects of informal censorship, whereby playwrights, audiences and managers internalized the censorship regime. As such, the volume moves beyond a narrow focus on erasures and emendations visible on manuscripts to elucidate censorship's wide-ranging significance across the long eighteenth century. Demonstrating theatre archives' potency as a resource for historical research, this volume is of exceptional value for researchers interested in the evolving complexities of Georgian society, its politics and mores.

    Reviews

    ‘Take a bow. This roll-call of leading scholars in theatre history work as a company to uncover the complex stories of censorship that unfolded after the stage Licensing Act of 1737. They delve into the substantial archives of manuscripts submitted for license to the Lord Chamberlain’s office and explore ways of interpreting the record that are of significance for historians not only of literature and theatre, but also of the city, of social class, and of culture. Like all good theatre, this essay collection will have a long life in the memory of its audience and the work that follows it.’

    Ros Ballaster - University of Oxford

    ‘This exciting collection of essays offers insightful analyses of the impact of the threat and reality of theatrical censorship in the eighteenth-century on writing and performance. Perhaps even more importantly, it models new ways of working with and thinking about theatrical archives such as the Larpent Collection and the Lord Chamberlain’s Plays.’

    Elaine McGirr - University of Bristol

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents
    References

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.