Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T00:21:34.837Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Dramaturgy in nineteenth-century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Mary Luckhurst
Affiliation:
University of York
Get access

Summary

Literary administration and the (actor-) manager 1800–1900

If German entrepreneurs were exploring and developing the function and purpose of dramaturgs, English managers were not. Lessing enjoyed popularity as a playwright, but the Hamburgische Dramaturgie remained untranslated in Britain (and America) for much of the century. Without exception a nation's first official dramaturg or literary manager appears in its state-subsidised national theatre, and England not only had none to offer, but lacked the political momentum to acquire one. Commerical success had to be guaranteed for a theatre to stay afloat, so emphasis remained firmly on box-office returns and low-risk strategies. Product, not process, dominated actor-managers' waking thoughts. Dramaturgical functions had nevertheless to be undertaken, and though, as in the eighteenth century, much can be put down to organised chaos, it is clear that unofficial, ‘hidden’ play readers, advisers, researchers and literary administrators played an important and intriguing rôle at certain theatres.

Theatre historians agree that a major feature of the nineteenth century was the irresistible rise of the manager, and that managers at the main London and regional theatres had normally made names as actors. Another feature of the age was an extraordinary growth in theatre-building: Nicoll lists nine London theatres in regular use in 1800, 89 by 1850 and 144 by 1900; in the English regions, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, he calculates that there were around 58 theatres in 1850 and 351 by 1900.

Type
Chapter
Information
Dramaturgy
A Revolution in Theatre
, pp. 45 - 77
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×