ABSTRACT
What were the causes of Restoration drama's licentiousness? How did the elegantly-turned comedy of Congreve become the pointed satire of Fielding? And how did Sheridan and Goldsmith reshape the materials they inherited? In the first account of the entire period for more than a decade, Richard Bevis argues that none of these questions can be answered without an understanding of Augustan and Georgian history. The years between 1660 and 1789 saw considerable political and social upheaval, which is reflected in the eclectic array of dramatic forms that is Georgian theatre's essential characteristic.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |21 pages
Introduction
part |84 pages
The Restoration 1660–1688
chapter |14 pages
Thespis Redux
chapter |1 pages
Entr'acte
chapter |13 pages
The Noble Experiment: Heroic Drama
chapter |4 pages
The Jaws of Defeat: Tragicomedy
chapter |14 pages
The World Well Lost: Tragedy
chapter |32 pages
Mask and Veil: Comedy
chapter |4 pages
Scenes and Machines: Operatic Drama
part |77 pages
Reform, Retrenchment and Control 1689–1737
chapter |14 pages
From Revolution to Robinocracy
chapter |23 pages
Sorrows Like Your Own: Augustan Tragedy
chapter |33 pages
Anything Goes: The Diversity of Comic Drama
chapter |5 pages
Sister Arts: Operatic Drama 1689–1737
part |71 pages
The High Georgian Era 1738–1779