ABSTRACT
A study of Godwin’s drama must consider the speci c historical conditions of the London playhouses at this particular moment. Did the theatres have political agency? Was it possible to harness their political agency for the dissemination for political justice? What precisely was the extent of a theatre’s political agency and with whom did it lie – author, audience or regulatory powers? is chapter will try to answer these questions, perhaps not de nitively, but from Godwin’s perspective. ere are three sections to this chapter which taken together should illuminate that the Georgian theatre represented a very potent ideological force for Godwin’s political project. By considering the in uence of Rousseau and the material conditions of the theatres, Godwin’s involvement in various aspects of London life and the relationship between his thinking on education and the theatre, the case will be made for a closer inspection of the literary texts that emerged from this milieu.
