The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama – Second Edition
  • Publication Date: December 15, 2024
  • ISBN: 9781554815746 / 1554815746
  • 944 pages; 7¾" x 9¼"

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The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama – Second Edition

  • Publication Date: December 15, 2024
  • ISBN: 9781554815746 / 1554815746
  • 944 pages; 7¾" x 9¼"

This exciting second edition provides an exceptional range of plays edited by leading scholars of Restoration and eighteenth-century theatre. In addition to fifteen plays from the first edition are four new plays and one new afterpiece: Nathaniel Lee’s The Rival Queens, John Vanbrugh’s The Provoked Wife, David Garrick’s Miss in Her Teens, Richard Cumberland’s The West Indian, and Elizabeth Inchbald’s Such Things Are. Every play now features an engaging headnote and a fully edited dramatis personae, prologue, and epilogue. The innovative introduction plunges its readers into the experience of playgoing in London, and the second edition also features supplementary texts, including select actor and actress biographies and theatrical documents that provide a vivid cultural context.

Comments

“Like a revival of a beloved playtext, this second edition of The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Drama retains the features that made its predecessor a classic, alongside timely updates designed to appeal to a new generation of students and instructors. A new introduction shows, rather than tells, the major cultural, economic, and sociopolitical shifts taking place in and around the playhouse over the century, conveyed through fictional vignettes of London theatregoing in 1677, 1731, and 1780. Updated headnotes and expanded paratexts for each play—including original prologues, epilogues, and cast lists—emphasize the plays’ origins as performance texts, while a selection of dramatic criticism from the period highlights the importance of drama to eighteenth-century literary and print culture. Accessible, engaging, and reflecting two decades of especially vibrant scholarship in the field, this new edition is sure to become an essential classroom text.” — Mattie Burkert, University of Oregon

“This anthology is an invaluable resource for scholars and students. Updating the original edition while keeping canonical favorites and adding four new plays and an afterpiece, the editors offer a unique window into what it was like to go to the theatre during the Restoration and eighteenth century. Engaging and concise introductions to each of the plays by leading scholars in the field highlight significant context(s) and material for discussion. I can’t wait to use this volume in my classes!” — Laura Engel, Duquesne University

“This new edition goes beyond the original in approaching the text as performance. It is, at once, a rigorously edited and curated collection of plays by the field’s top scholars and also a usable edition well targeted towards undergraduate and graduate students. The introduction, which places the reader in the theatregoer’s shoes, seamlessly weaves an impressive range of historical and cultural contexts, and information about the logistics and materiality of the theatrical experience, into an engaging-to-read narrative.” — Jane Wessel, US Naval Academy

“Congratulations to the editors for a masterful set of decisions! They have preserved the strengths of earlier editions even as they have integrated new materials that reflect recent scholarly developments in the field. The four new plays and the new afterpiece that they have wisely selected bring out the ways women and colonial subjects were represented on stage. They have added prologues and epilogues, capsule biographies of the actors, and an appendix of supplementary texts. Best yet is an introduction perfectly pitched to undergraduates. It’s wonderful to know that most of the material I use in the classroom can now be found in one place. This an ideal teaching tool that I will be using whenever I teach Restoration and eighteenth-century drama.” — Marcie Frank, Concordia University

Online Supplement
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Actor and Actress Biographies

William Wycherley

  • The Country Wife, Peggy Thompson, ed.

George Etherege

  • The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter, John H. O’Neill, ed.

Nathaniel Lee

  • The Rival Queens; or, The Death of Alexander the Great, David Weston, ed.

Aphra Behn

  • The Rover; or, The Banished Cavaliers, Anne Russell, ed.

John Dryden

  • All for Love; or, The World Well Lost, Tanya Caldwell, ed.

Thomas Otway

  • Venice Preserved; or, A Plot Discovered, Jessica Munns, ed.

Aphra Behn

  • The Lucky Chance; or, An Alderman’s Bargain, Lori Snook, ed.

Thomas Southerne

  • Oroonoko, Joyce Green MacDonald, ed.

John Vanbrugh

  • The Provoked Wife, Diana Solomon, ed.

William Congreve

  • The Way of the World, Richard Kroll, ed.

George Farquhar

  • The Beaux’ Stratagem, Helen M. Burke, ed.

Susanna Centlivre

  • A Bold Stroke for a Wife, Nancy Copeland, ed.

John Gay

  • The Beggar’s Opera, Dianne Dugaw, ed.

George Lillo

  • The London Merchant; or, The History of George Barnwell, Lincoln Faller, ed.
    from “The Ballad of George Barnwell”

David Garrick

  • Miss in Her Teens: or, The Medley of Lovers, Leslie Ritchie, ed.

Richard Cumberland

  • The West Indian, Brett D. Wilson, ed.

Oliver Goldsmith

  • She Stoops to Conquer; or, The Mistakes of a Night, Richard A. Barney, ed.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  • The School for Scandal, Mita Choudhury, ed.

Hannah Cowley

  • The Belle’s Stratagem, Linda R. Payne, ed.

Elizabeth Inchbald

  • Such Things Are, Chelsea Phillips, ed.

Appendix: Critical Texts

  • 1. From John Dryden, An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)
  • 2. From John Dryden, Preface to An Evening’s Love; or, The Mock Astrologer (1671)
  • 3. Thomas Shadwell, Preface to The Humourists (1671)
  • 4. William Congreve, “Concerning Humour in Comedy” (1695)
  • 5. From Jeremy Collier, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698)
  • 6. From William Congreve, Amendments of Mr. Collier’s False and Imperfect Citations (1698)
  • 7. From John Vanbrugh, A Short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provoked Wife, from Immorality and Profaneness (1698)
  • 8. From Richard Steele, The Spectator(1711–14)
  • 9. From John Dennis, “A Defense of Sir Fopling Flutter” (1722)
  • 10. From Samuel Richardson, The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum; or, Young Man’s Pocket Companion (1734)
  • 11. From Colley Cibber, An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber (1740)
  • 12. From John Hill, The Actor: A Treatise on the Art of Playing (1750)
  • 13. From Oliver Goldsmith, “An Essay on the Theatre; or, A Comparison between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy” (1773)
  • 14. From Samuel Johnson, The Lives of the Poets (1779–81)

Glossary
Index of Authors and Titles

Online Supplement

  • John Dryden
    • Marriage á la Mode
    • Brian Corman, ed.
  • Colley Cibber
    • Love’s Last Shift; or, The Fool in Fashion
    • Gary A. Richardson, ed.
  • John Vanbrugh
    • The Relapse; or, Virtue in Danger, Being the Sequel of The Fool in Fashion
    • James E. Gill, ed.
  • Mary Pix
    • The Beau Defeated; or, The Lucky Younger Brother
    • Elizabeth Kubek, ed.
  • Nicholas Rowe
    • The Fair Penitent
    • Jean I. Marsden, ed.
  • Richard Steele
    • The Conscious Lovers
    • Lisa A. Freeman, ed.
  • Henry Fielding
    • The Author’s Farce
    • Jill Campbell, ed.

Diana Solomon is Associate Professor of English at Simon Fraser University. David Weston is an Adjunct Professor of English at Simon Fraser University.

  • • Restores prologues and epilogues to all plays
  • • Innovative introduction takes the reader into the experience of viewing a play in an 18th-century theatre
  • • Includes five newly edited plays
  • • New appendix of critical texts from the period