1st Edition

English Stage Comedy 1490-1990

Edited By Alexander Leggatt Copyright 1998
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 2004. English stage comedy has weathered centuries of social and theatrical change. How did it survive? English Stage Comedy 1490–1990 is a unique and beautifully written study of the comedy of the English stage from the Tudor period to the late twentieth century. Organized thematically, it shows how this remarkably enduring genre has dealt with the tensions of social life, using its conventions as tools for social inquiry. Through an examination of comedy Alexander Leggatt demonstrates that an approach through genre, neglected in recent criticism, can have much to say about our current concerns with the relations between literature and society. English Stage Comedy 1490–1990 surveys five centuries of classic comic drama, focusing on major playwrights such as: Shakespeare, Jonson, Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, Goldsmith, Sheridan, Wilde, Shaw, Coward, Orton, Ayckbourn and many lesser-known figures.

    Introduction: Five centuries of a genre, 1 Getting control, 2 Watching society, 3 Loners, 4 Other places, 5 Parents and children, 6 Negotiations, 7 Comedy against itself, Conclusion

    Biography

    Alexander Leggatt is Professor of English at University College, University of Toronto, and is the author of Shakespeare’s Political Drama (1988, Routledge) and Jacobean Public Theatre (1992, Routledge).