Originally published in 1984, this book recreates the unique atmosphere of the Restoration playhouses in order to demonstrate how theatrical conditions spurred authors into creating new forms of tragedy, comedy and opera.
Originally published in 1984, this book recreates the unique atmosphere of the Restoration playhouses in order to demonstrate how theatrical conditions spurred authors into creating new forms of tragedy, comedy and opera, the techniques of which anticipated the ideas of ‘gestus’ and ‘alienation’ first articulated by Bertold Brecht in the 20th century. The book explores the ways in which the theories of the time affected the practice, showing the crucial importance of Dryden’s work in the playhouse and of the collaboration of authors and theatre companies. It examines particular texts, to highlight the themes and present the spectrum of dramatic experience in action. The book, which is extensively illustrated, also shows how the Restoration style, although developed by particular actors and dramatists, declined under the commercial pressures of the end of the century.
Introduction.
1. The Restoration: Poems 16591667
2. Admiration and
Truth: Drama and Criticism 16601679
3. Fancy and Delight: Comedy and
Criticism 16631672
4. Judgement and Instruction: Poems, Comedy and Satire
16731679
5. The Exclusion Crisis: Poems, Plays and Satires 16791681
6. The
Tory Triumph: Poems 16821686
7. A Catholic Reign: Poems 16851688
8. A
Protestant Revolution: Poems and Plays After 1688
9. Reactions to History:
Translations and Criticism 16811698
10. Nature, Love and War: The Fables and
The Secular Mask
Jocelyn Powell (19381986) was Director and Head of the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham. He was Director of operatic productions for the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, where his work placed particular empahsis on performances of rare seventeenth- and eighteenth-century opera.
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