Eighteenth-Century Brechtians

190 pages. Temps de lecture estimé 2h22min.
Discussing the actor mutiny of 1733, theatre censorship, controversial plays and Fielding’s forgery of an actor’s biography, the book contends that some subversive Augustan and Georgian artists were early Brechtians. Reconstructions of lost episodes in theatre history include a recounting of Fielding’s last days as a stage satirist before his Little Haymarket theatre was closed, Charlotte Charke’s performances as Macheath and Polly Peachum in The Beggar’s Opera and the 1740 staging of Jonathan Swift’s Polite Conversation on a double bill with Shakespeare’s Merry Wives . . . Some documents in this collection offer another perspective on theatre history by employing fiction – speculative reconstructions of Georgian theatre events for which historical facts are scarce or missing.  Brecht also employed fiction to reconsider history in short stories he wrote about Lucullus and Socrates, and a novel about Julius Caesar.  The stories and several new letters attributed to Fielding delve into theatre history and keep some of its controversy alive in new ways, historicizing fiction and theatre somewhat as Brecht did. It offers an unconventional, new reading of theatre history, Brecht’s tradition and stage satire.The Cast of Brechtians in Order of Appearance List of Illustrations Foreword by Peter Thomson Introduction Eighteenth-Century Brechtians Cross-Dressing Soldiers and Anti-Militarist Rakes Polly Peachum and the New Naiveté Pirates and Polly: A Lost Messingkauf Dialogue The Duchess of Queensberry Becomes Polly Peachum Macheath Our Contemporary Swift in Hollywood: Another Messingkauf Dialogue Swift’s Polite Conversation with Falstaff Henry Fielding, Brechtian Before Brecht Fielding’s London Merchant, and Lillo’s Literarization of Fielding’s Plays Tom Thumb Jones, Child Actress A World on Fire Fielding’s Cibber Letters: Counterfeit Wit, Scurrility and Cartels Bertolt Brecht Writes The Beggar’s Opera, Fielding Rewrites Polly Stage Mutineers Charlotte Charke’s Tit for Tat; or Comedy and Tragedy at War: A Lost Play Recovered? Mrs Charke Escapes Hanging Garrick and Swift’s School for Scandal—With a Digression on Yoko Ono Brecht Praises Garrick’s Hamlet A Portrait of the Artists as Beggar’s Opera Disciples—Including David Garrick, Epic Actor Walpole in America The Future of Eighteenth-Century Brechtiana: Polly Exonerated Conclusion: The Future Promise of an Earlier Age Eighteenth-Century Brechtians: A Timetable of Events Bibliography Index