Women, Nationalism, and the Romantic Stage: Theatre and Politics in Britain, 1780-1800In the 1780s and 90s, theater critics described the stage as a state in political tumult, while politicians invoked theater as a model for politics both good and bad. In this study, Betsy Bolton examines the ways Romantic women performers and playwrights used theatrical conventions to intervene in politics. This well illustrated study draws on canonical poetry and personal memoirs, popular drama and parliamentary debates, political caricatures and theatrical reviews to extend current understandings of Romantic theater, the public sphere, and Romantic gender relations. |
Contents
The politics of Romantic theatre | 9 |
Varieties of romance nationalism | 45 |
Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson | 73 |
Perdita Robinson and William | 106 |
9 | 112 |
5335 | 135 |
Mimicry politics and playwrighting | 141 |
Hannah Cowleys Day in Turkey | 173 |
7 | 202 |
Notes | 212 |
Select bibliography | 230 |
Other editions - View all
Women, Nationalism, and the Romantic Stage: Theatre and Politics in Britain ... Betsy Bolton No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
actresses Alexina appears audience benevolence British Museum BM Burke Buttermere caricature century chapbook character claim Colman's colonial comedy Cowley's critics cultural Cymon Day in Turkey debates despotism domestic dramatic romance Edmund Burke eighteenth Elizabeth Inchbald Emma Hamilton emphasized English fantasy farce farcical female dramatist femininity feminized figure Frances Abington French Garrick's gender George Gillray's Greque Hannah Cowley hero heroic Horatio Nelson imagination imperial instance invoked James Gillray Lady Hamilton Lady Priory late eighteenth-century Lauretta linked literary London male Mary Robinson mimic mimicry Miss Dorillon mixed drama moral Museum BM Sat Naples Nelson patriotic Perdita performance play playwright plot poet popular presented prince prologue prose romance public sphere public women remains revolution role romance nationalism Romanticism Russia Samuel Foote scene seems sentimental drama sexual Sir William slave social Southey spectacle spectators stage romance subordination suggests theatrical analogy Thomas Rowlandson tion Turkey Urganda woman Wordsworth