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Prodigals and Profligates; or, a Short History of Modern British Drama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

John Stokes
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Abstract

In 1996 John Stokes was appointed to the first endowed Chair in Modern British Literature at King's College, London, where English has been taught since the 1830s. In this version of his inaugural lecture, delivered on 6 November 1997, he traces the transformations undergone by the figure of the prodigal son in the drama of the last hundred years and argues for recognition of the part played by actors in determining the course of theatrical history.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1999 , pp. 26 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

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References

Notes and References

1. Around Theatres (London: Hart-Davis, 1953), p. 392.

2. Rudyard Kipling's Verse (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940), p. 579–80.

3. Plays Unpleasant (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965), p. 96.

4. The Importance of Being Earnest, ed. Jackson, Russell (London: Ernest Benn, 1980), p. 34Google Scholar.

5. Phillips, William H., St. John Hankin: Edwardian Mephistopheles (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979), p. 44Google Scholar.

6. The timing was apposite, as the Aldwych development scheme and the new Kingsway thoroughfare, publicized as about to make London an entertainment centre to rival Paris, was officially opened by the King in October.

7. 26 September 1905.

8. The Plays of St. John Hankin (London: Martin Seeker, 1923), p. 158.

9. The Importance of Being Earnest, p. 47.

10. Phillips, St. John Hankin, p. 252.

11. Ibid., p. 11.

12. The Quintessence of Ibsenism, revised edition (London: Constable, 1913), p. 207.

13. The Profligate (London: Heinemann, 1891), p. 123.

14. Duchess Theatre, 13 September 1934.

15. London: Heinemann, 1934, p. 21.

16. London: Heinemann, 1938.

17. Grove, Valerie, Dear Dodie: the Life of Dodie Smith (London: Pimlico, 1997), p. 110Google Scholar.

18. An Actor and His Time (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981), p. 90.

19. Plays Four (London: Methuen, 1993), p. 355.

20. Sheridan Morley, ‘Introduction’, Plays Four, ibid., p. xiii.

21. Royal Court Theatre, 17 September 1997.

22. Globe Theatre, 24 November 1948.

23. Peter Whitebrook, programme notes.

24. Osborne, John, Collected Plays, Volume 1 (London: Faber, 1993), p. 368Google Scholar.

25. The Times Literary Supplement, 28 September 1905.

26. See Hawtrey, Charles, The Truth at Last, ed. Somerset Maugham (London: Butterworth, 1924)Google Scholar.

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28. Hankin, The Two Mr. Wetherbys. Coward, I'll Leave it to You; Maugham, Jack Straw.

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33. Anstey's, F.The Man from Blankley's opened on 25 04 1901 and ran for 119 performances at the Prince of Wales. It was revived in 1906Google Scholar.

34. The Era, 27 April 1901, p. 13.

35. Review of Carton's, R. C.Lord and Lady Algy, Daily Telegraph, 11 06 1898Google Scholar.

36. Arthur, Sir George, From Phelps to Cielgud (London: Chapman and Hall, 1936), p. 213Google Scholar.