During the eighteenth century, treatises on the science of elocution, gesture and naturalness abounded. This title draws together a representative selection of the most difficult-to-access texts in the period. It helps cultural historians to examine the place of stagecraft in the eighteenth-century imagination.
Volume 1: General Introduction, An Essay Towards an History of Dancing (1712), Censor (1717), An Elegy on the Death of Mr. Robert Wilks, etc. (1732), Prompter (1735), The History of the English Stage (1741), A Rhapsody on the Stage; or, Th e Art of Playing (1746), Human Physiognomy Explain’d (1747), An Essay on the Stage (1754), Reflections Upon Theatrical Expression in Tragedy (1755). Volume 2: The Theatrical Examiner (1757), The Theatrical Review (1757–8), A General View of the Stage (1759), The Actor: A Poetical Epistle to Bonnell Thornton (1760). The Theatrical Review: or, Annals of the Drama (1763). Volume 3: Dramatic Genius (1770), Th e Theatrical Review; or New Companion to the Play-House (1772), Macaroni (1773), The Sentimental Spouter; or, Young Actor’s Companion (1774), The Elements of Dramatic Criticism (1775), ‘The Siddoniad … a Characteristical and Critical Poem’ (1784), The Modern Stage Exemplifi ed, in an Epistle to a Young Actor’ (1788), New Thespian Oracle Containing Original Strictures on Oratory and Acting (1791), Th e New Spouter’s Companion (1792), Th e Secret History of the Green-Room: Containing Authentic and Entertaining Memoirs of the Actors and Actresses in the Three Theatres Royal (1795), Dramatic Censor or, Weekly Theatrical Report (1800). Volume 4: The Theatrical Speaker; or, an Elucidation of the Whole Science of Acting (1807), The Stranger in England (1807), The Dramatic Mirror (1808), The Prompter, or Cursory Hints to Young Actors. A Didactic Poem (1810), The Thespian Preceptor or, A Full Display of the Scenic Art (1811), The Dramatic Censor; or, Critical and Biographical Illustration of the British Stage (1811).
Biography
Lisa Zunshine
