The Theatre of Shelley

310 Pages·2010·2.642 MB·English

by  Jacqueline Mulhallen

Jacqueline Mulhallen
The Theatre of Shelley
OpenBook
Publishers
The Theatre of Shelley
Jacqueline Mulhallen has studied and worked as an actor and writer in both
England and Australia and won a scholarship to study drama in Finland.
She worked as performer and writer with Lynx Theatre and Poetry and her
plays Sylvia and Rebels and Friends toured England and Ireland (1987-1997).
Publications include ‘Focus on Finland’, Theatre Australia, 1979; (with David
Wright) ‘Samuel Johnson: Amateur Physician’, Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine, 1982; ‘Sylvia Pankhurst’s Northern Tour’, www.sylviapankhurst.
com, 2008; ‘Sylvia Pankhurst’s Paintings: A Missing Link’, Women’s History
Magazine, 2009 and she is a contributor to the Oxford Handbook of the Georgian
Playhouse 1737-1832 (forthcoming).
Jacqueline Mulhallen
The Theatre of Shelley
Cambridge
2010
Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd.,
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© 2010 Jacqueline Mulhallen.
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ISBN Hardback: 978-1-906924-31-7
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-906924-30-0
ISBN Digital (pdf): 978-1-906924-32-4
Acknowledgment is made to the The Jessica E. Smith and Kevin R. Brine
Charitable Trust for their generous contribution towards the preparation of
this volume.
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To William Alderson

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
Note on the Text xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Chapter One: The Theatrical Context – the Georgian Theatre in England 21
Chapter Two: Shelley’s Theatregoing, Playreading and Criticism 53
Chapter Three: Practical Technique – The Cenci 85
Chapter Four: Turning History into Art – Charles the First 115
Chapter Five: Ideal Drama – Prometheus Unbound 147
Chapter Six: Drama for a Purpose – Hellas & Fragments
of an Unfinished Drama 177
Chapter Seven: Satirical Comedy – Swellfoot the Tyrant 209
Conclusion 235
Appendix I: List of Performances Seen by Shelley 243
Appendix II: The Programme of Songs with the Performance of Douglas 257
Select Bibliography 259
Index 275

List of Illustrations
page
Front cover: ‘Drury Lane’ (detail) by Edward Dayes (1792).
Courtesy of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botani-
cal Gardens, San Marino, California.
1 ‘Richard III’, engraving by John White from a drawing taken in 28
the theatre by Mr. R. Cruikshank, c. 1824, from Cumberland’s
British Theatre, private collection.
2 ‘Macbeth’, engraving by John White from a drawing taken in the 30
theatre by Mr. R. Cruikshank, c. 1824, from Cumberland’s British
Theatre, private collection.
3 ‘Bernard Blackmantle reading his Play in the Green Room of 32
Covent Garden Theatre’, drawn and engraved by R. Cruikshank,
10 June 1824, from The English Spy (1825). Private collection.
4 Scenes from ‘La Sylphide’: 4.1 Engraving by T. Williams; 4.2: 49
lithograph from a drawing by A. Laederich, c. 1832. Kind per-
mission of Ivor Guest and Dance Books.
5 Covent Garden, 1828, unknown artist, from Fanny Kemble by 57
Dorothie de Bear Bobbé, private collection.
6 ‘Henry IV Pt I’, engraving by John White from a drawing taken 58
in the theatre by Mr. R. Cruikshank, c. 1824, from Cumberland’s
British Theatre, private collection.
7 ‘Cut wood with bay and mountains’, watercolour, artist 63
uncknown. Grieve Family Collection. Courtesy of Senate House
Library, University of London, MS1007/10. Set Design for
‘Winter’s Tale’, undated.
8 ‘The School for Scandal’, wood engraving by Mr. Bonner from a 64
drawing taken in the theatre by Mr. R. Cruikshank, c. 1824, from
Cumberland’s British Theatre, private collection.
9 ‘Eliza O’Neill as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, 86
Act II, Scene ii’, lithograph after George Dawe (1781-1829) by F.C.
Lewis. By kind permission of The Art Archive/Garrick Club.