1st Edition
The Routledge Anthology of British Women Playwrights, 1777-1843
The Routledge Anthology of British Women Playwrights, 1777-1843 brings together ten eclectic plays by female dramatists and writers, to stimulate a rich discussion of women, writing, and theatre history. Ranging through tragedy, comedy, musical theatre and mixed-genre texts, this volume celebrates the breadth and experimental spirit of women's eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dramatic writing.
Each play is accompanied by an introductory essay that addresses its sociopolitical and theatrical contexts, and outlines its performance and reception history. The selections included here invite teachers and their students to study particular works by authors of note, but also to consider the differences between works written for page and stage. While many of the plays are recognizable as published dramas, they have been placed alongside textual artifacts that suggest plays or theatrical events of which no definitive record exists, as well as supplementary materials that invite teachers to engage their students in exploring women's dramatic writing in this era.
Organized in chronological order, The Routledge Anthology of British Women Playwrights, 1777-1843 traces a history of women's writing across genres and styles, offering an invaluable resource to students and teachers alike.
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
General Editors’ Introduction
Plays:
- Hannah More, Percy (1777) (ed. Michael Eberle-Sinatra, University of Montreal)
- Hannah More, from Essays on Various Subjects
- Hannah More, from The Private Correspondence of David Garrick
- Review: The Gentleman’s Magazine
- Review: St. James Chronicle
- Amelia Opie, Adelaide (c.1790) (ed. David Chandler, Kyoto University)
- Cecilia Lucy Brightwell, from Memorials of the Life of Amelia Opie
- William Taylor, from Historic Survey of German Poetry
- Hannah Brand, Huniades; or, The Siege of Belgrade (1791) (ed. David Chandler, Kyoto University)
- Hannah Brand, Introduction to Huniades from Plays and Poems
- Review: The British Critic
- Review: The Monthly Review
- Hannah Cowley, A Day in Turkey; or, The Russian Slaves (1791) (ed. Betsy Bolton, Swarthmore College)
- Preface to A Day in Turkey, from The Works of Mrs. Cowley
- Review: New Lady’s Magazine
- Review: Anti-Jacobin Review
- Frances Burney, Edwy and Elgiva (1795) (ed. Peter Sabor, McGill University)
- Madame D’Arblay and Dr. Burney, from Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay
- David Hume, from The History of England
- Elizabeth Inchbald, Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are (1797) (ed. Daniel O'Quinn, University of Guelph)
- Review: British Critic
- Elizabeth Inchbald, Remarks from The British Theatre
- Elizabeth Inchbald, from The Artist
- Joanna Baillie, The Election (1802) (ed. Thomas C. Crochunis, Shippensburg University)
- Review: Francis Jeffrey, from Edinburgh Review
- "An Evening with Jane Scott" (1809-12) (eds. Jackie Bratton, University of London/Royal Holloway, and Gilli Bush-Bailey, University of London/ Royal Central School of Speech & Drama)
- The Courier Notice
- Theatrical Inquisitor Notices 1813-16
- Mary Russell Mitford, Rienzi (1828) (ed. Elisa Beshero-Bondar, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg)
- Review: London Evening Standard
- Review: Berkshire Chronicle
- Catherine Gore, Quid Pro Quo; or, The Day of the Dupes (1843) (ed. Kate Newey, University of Exeter)
- Review: George Henry Lewes, from Westminster Review
Newspaper Poetry on More's Percy
Morning Chronicle, letters on More’s sources
Hannah Cowley, Preface to Albina
Hannah Cowley, "An Address" from A School for Greybeards
Hannah Cowley, Preface to The Town Before You
Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France
Mary Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Review: Literary Magazine and British Review
Review: Lady’s Magazine
From Memoirs of Mrs. Crouch
Frances Burney, from Evelina
Review: The Pocket Magazine
Hester Lynch Piozzi, from Thraliana
George Colman, the Younger, and Elizabeth Inchbald, from The British Theatre
Review: New Universal Magazine
Leigh Hunt, from A Book for a Corner
Joanna Baillie, Selected Letters
Joanna Baillie, from "To the Reader" for A Series of Plays, volume II
Joanna Baillie, from "To the Reader" for A Series of Plays, volume III
Review: British Critic
Henry Crabb Robinson, from Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence Hester Lynch Piozzi, Letter to Sir James Fellowes
Listing of Digital Resources
Mary Russell Mitford, Introduction to The Dramatic Works
Mary Russell Mitford, Letter to Barbara Holland
Review: Morning Chronicle
Notice: Ladies Monthly Museum
"Philo-Dramaticus," from Blackwood’s Magazine
Joanna Baillie, Letter to Margaret Holford Hodson
Douglas Jerrold, Testimony from the Select Committee on Dramatic Literature
Gilbert á Beckett (in imitation of Douglas Jerrold), "Humbugs of the Hour" from Scenes from the Rejected Comedies
Notices: The Scotsman and Morning Chronicle
Suggested Reading
Index
Biography
Thomas C. Crochunis is Associate Professor of English at Shippensburg University, USA. He is cofounder of the online project "British Women Playwrights around 1800" and edited the collection Joanna Baillie, Romantic Dramatist: Critical Essays (2004). He has published work on gothic drama, women playwrights and theatre managers, the teaching of women’s playwriting history, and digital humanities scholarship.
Michael E. Sinatra is Professor of English at the Université de Montréal, Canada. Sinatra is the founding director of the DH Center CRIHN, an associated fellow of the Canada Research Chair in Digital Textualities, the co-director of Nines, and the co-general editor of the series Parcours numériques. He co-edited (with Tim Fulford) The Regency Revisited (2016) in which he also published his essay, "‘Senators and actors’: Leigh Hunt’s Theatrical Criticism and the Regency."