Synopses & Reviews
Students and others interested in nineteenth century drama have long been handicapped by the lack of a convenient selection of outstanding plays of the period. The present volume is the first to fill the gap. It contains: Black Ey'd Susan, by Douglas Jerold, Money, by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Masks and Faces, by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor, The Colleen Bawn, by Dion Boucicault, Lady Audley's Secret, by Miss Braddon and C.H. Hazlewood, The Ticket-of-Leave Man, by Tom Taylor, Caste, by T.W. Robertson, Two Roses, by James Albery, The Bells, by Leopold Lewis and A pair of Spectacles, by Sidney Grundy. Where no authentic published version existed, the text has been established in this edition by a collation of several variant texts, including the manuscript copies lodged for licensing purposes in the Lord Chamberlain's Department. The aim has been to provide a book useful and attractive to play-readers, producers, and performers, as well as to those studying the theatre history and dramatic literature of the period.
Synopsis
This vintage book contains a collection of notable nineteenth century plays. The purpose of this volume is to assemble a representative selection of the plays which served as acceptable material in that century. The nineteenth century saw the emergence of the modern stage as we understand it: a stage framed by the proscenium arch, lit by electricity, and boxed by canvas flats; and the evolution of this stage cannot be followed without a reference to the plays that were written for it. The plays contained herein are: Black Eyed Susan, Money, Masks and Faces, The Colleen Bawn, Lad Audley's Secret, The Ticket-Of-Leave Man, Two Roses, The Bells, and A Pair of Spectacles. Many antiquarian texts such as this are increasingly hard-to-come-by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a new prefatory biography of the author.