Victorian Classical Burlesques: A Critical AnthologyThe Victorian classical burlesque was a popular theatrical genre of the mid-19th century. It parodied ancient tragedies with music, melodrama, pastiche, merciless satire and gender reversal. Immensely popular in its day, the genre was also intensely metatheatrical and carries significance for reception studies, the role and perception of women in Victorian society and the culture of artistic censorship. This anthology contains the annotated text of four major classical burlesques: Antigone Travestie (1845) by Edward L. Blanchard, Medea; or, the Best of Mothers with a Brute of a Husband (1856) by Robert Brough, Alcestis; the Original Strong-Minded Woman (1850) and Electra in a New Electric Light (1859) by Francis Talfourd. The cultural and textual annotations highlight the changes made to the scripts from the manuscripts sent to the Lord Chamberlain's office and, by explaining the topical allusions and satire, elucidate elements of the burlesques' popular cultural milieu. An in-depth critical introduction discusses the historical contexts of the plays' premieres and unveils the cultural processes behind the reception of the myths and original tragedies. As the burlesques combined spectacular effects with allusions to contemporary affairs, ambivalent and provocative attitudes to women, the plays represent an essential tool for reading the social history of the era. |
Contents
| 1 | |
2 Antigone Travestie | 61 |
3 Alcestis the Original StrongMinded Woman | 87 |
4 Medea or the Best of Mothers with a Brute of a Husband | 135 |
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Common terms and phrases
ADMETUS Aegisthus Agamemnon Alcestis allusions Antigone Antigone Travestie Apollo audience Blanchard's Antigone British Library Brough's Medea character CHORUS CHRYSOTHEMIS CLYTEMNESTRA Colchis comic CREON Creusa CREUSA MEDEA cultural daughter death Dickens divorce Electra English Euripides example Exeunt Farren folio Francis Talfourd Greek tragedy Hall Haymarket Haymarket Theatre HERCULES HERMON heroine History I'm a flirt Infanticide ISMENE JASON King Lady Laura Monrós-Gaspar LC Enter LC Exit Legouvé List of Roles look LYCAON LYCUS Macintosh manuscript marriage married Medea Miss NEMESIS nineteenth century NURSE Olympic Olympic Theatre opera Oracle ORCUS Orestes Original Strong-Minded Woman ORPHEUS Oxford paratext performed PHOCIAN PHOEDRA POLAX plot Polynices popular PYLADES reference Robson scene SD SONG Sings Sophocles stage Strand Theatre Talfourd's Alcestis Talfourd's Electra Theatre in London theatrical there's topical Victorian burlesque Victorian classical burlesque Victorian England what's wife William women