The ornament of action : text and performance in Restoration comedy / Pewter Holland

Holland, Peter (1951-)

ISBN 10: 0521220483 / ISBN 13: 9780521220484

Published by Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1979

About this Item

Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Spine uniformly sun-toned. Remains well-preserved overall. Physical description; xii, 284 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. ContentsThe text and the audience -- Performance: tyheatres and scenery -- Performance: actors and the cast -- Performance and the published text -- Text and performance(1): the comedies, 1691 to 1693 -- Text and performance (2) : Wycherley's the Plain-Dealer -- Text and performance (3) : the comedies of Congreve. Subjects; 1600-1700. Comedies of manners, English History and criticism. English drama Restoration, 1660-1700 History and criticism. 1 Kg.

Seller Inventory # 447276

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The ornament of action : text and performance in Restoration comedy / Pewter Holland
• Publisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1979
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521220483
• ISBN 13: 9780521220484
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Weight: 1 kilogram

About this title

Synopsis

How was Restoration comedies performed on the Restoration stage? How did Wycherley or Congreve expect their plays to be acted? How much were they influenced by theatrical conditions and conventions? What happened in performance, when the plays were graced with 'the ornament of action'? In this book, which was originally published in 1979, Peter Holland brings together the disciplines of theatre history and literary criticism in a close study of the manner and significance of the staging of plays in the Restoration. The dramatists, working with the strengths and weaknesses of their own theatre companies very much in mind, are shown using a whole range of staging techniques in order to help their audience understand their plays. The reader can visualise the plays as they must have looked at the time of the original performance. Throughout he challenges the conventional distinction between text and performance, and seeks to turn us from readers into spectators.

Book Description

In this book, which was originally published in 1979, Peter Holland brings together the disciplines of theatre history and literary criticism in a close study of the manner and significance of the staging of plays in the Restoration.