Victorian Drama

  • The Philanderer

    The Philanderer

    The second of Shaw’s “unpleasant” plays, written in 1893, published in 1898, but not performed until 1905, The Philanderer is subtitled “A Topical Comedy.” The…

  • Salome

    Salome

    Salome is Oscar Wilde’s most experimental—and controversial—play. In its own time, the play, written in French, was described by a reviewer as “an arrangement in…

  • The Octoroon

    The Octoroon

    Regarded by Bernard Shaw as a master of the theatre, Dion Boucicault was arguably the most important figure in drama in North America and in…

  • Lady Audley's Secret - A Drama in Two Acts

    Lady Audley’s Secret – A Drama in Two Acts

    Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s shocking and suspenseful novel Lady Audley’s Secret was one of the most popular examples of the “sensation fiction” craze of the 1860s.…

  • The Broadview Anthology of Nineteenth-Century British Performance

    The Broadview Anthology of Nineteenth-Century British Performance

    This collection provides a representative set of theatrical performances popular on the nineteenth-century British stage. All are newly edited critical editions that account for variant…

  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    The Importance of Being Earnest

    The Importance of Being Earnest marks a central moment in late-Victorian literature, not only for its wit but also for its role in the shift…

  • The Second Mrs Tanqueray

    The Second Mrs Tanqueray

    The Second Mrs. Tanqueray was the theatrical sensation of the London stage in 1893. It established Pinero as the leading English dramatist of serious social…

  • Mrs Warren's Profession

    Mrs Warren’s Profession

    One of Bernard Shaw’s early plays of social protest, Mrs Warren’s Profession places the protagonist’s decision to become a prostitute in the context of the…