The Rise Of The Victorian Actor

Author : Michael Baker
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317399102
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Rise of the Victorian Actor written by Michael Baker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1978. Between 1830 and 1890 the English theatre became recognisably modern. Standards of acting and presentation improved immeasurably, new playwrights emerged, theatres became more comfortable and more intimate and playgoing became a national pastime with all classes. The actor’s status rose accordingly. In 1830 he had been little better than a social outcast; by 1880 he had become a member of a skilled, relatively well-paid and respected profession which was attracting new recruits in unprecedented numbers. This is a social history of Victorian actors which seeks to show how wider social attitudes and developments affected the changing status of acting as a profession. Thus the stage’s relationship with the professional world and the other arts is dealt with and is followed by an assessment of the moral and religious background which played so decisive a part in contemporary attitudes to actors. The position of actresses in particular is given special consideration. Many non-theatrical sources are used here and there is a survey of salaries and working conditions in the theatre to show how the rising social status of the actor was matched by changes in his theatrical standing. A novel area of study is covered in tracing the changing social composition of the acting profession over the period and in exploring the case-histories of three generations of performers.

Author : Michael Baker
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Rise of the Victorian Actor written by Michael Baker and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Michael Baker
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317399099
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Rise of the Victorian Actor written by Michael Baker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1978. Between 1830 and 1890 the English theatre became recognisably modern. Standards of acting and presentation improved immeasurably, new playwrights emerged, theatres became more comfortable and more intimate and playgoing became a national pastime with all classes. The actor’s status rose accordingly. In 1830 he had been little better than a social outcast; by 1880 he had become a member of a skilled, relatively well-paid and respected profession which was attracting new recruits in unprecedented numbers. This is a social history of Victorian actors which seeks to show how wider social attitudes and developments affected the changing status of acting as a profession. Thus the stage’s relationship with the professional world and the other arts is dealt with and is followed by an assessment of the moral and religious background which played so decisive a part in contemporary attitudes to actors. The position of actresses in particular is given special consideration. Many non-theatrical sources are used here and there is a survey of salaries and working conditions in the theatre to show how the rising social status of the actor was matched by changes in his theatrical standing. A novel area of study is covered in tracing the changing social composition of the acting profession over the period and in exploring the case-histories of three generations of performers.

Author : Sandra Richards
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1349099309
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Rise of the English Actress written by Sandra Richards and published by Springer. This book was released on 1993-06-18 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the English actress's view of her own rise up to social and professional prominence from 1600 to the present. Examining the actress's experience as distinct from the actor's, this book charts her influence on each age's views of women's nature and their role in society.

Author : Madeleine Bingham
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317386124
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Henry Irving and The Victorian Theatre written by Madeleine Bingham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1978. Henry Irving achieved an astounding success in Britain and America as an actor; yet he lacked good looks, had spindly legs, and did not have a good voice. He said so himself. Today Irving is regarded as the archetype of the old-time actor, but in his own time he was regarded as a great theatrical innovator. Even Bernard Shaw, who attacked him pitilessly, even unto death, called him ‘modern’ when he first saw him act. Irving, the man, with his tenacious, obsessive talent, his human limitations and weaknesses, and his ephemeral glory is brought most sympathetically to life in this biography. It is written from contemporary sources, and from criticisms, lampoons, caricatures and gossip columns. If Irving reflected certain aspects of his age, this book underlines the Victorian ethic to which he appealed and the backcloths against which it was set – the extraordinary lavishness of the Lyceum productions and the incredible extravagance of social entertaining. Not the least absorbing aspect of this biography is the fascinating account of the long partnership between Irving and Ellen Terry, still in many respects an enigmatic one, but here portrayed with lively insight into character combined with understanding and deep knowledge of the social and theatrical context of the Victorian age.

Author : Jeffrey Richards
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 9781852855918
Total Pages : 530 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Sir Henry Irving written by Jeffrey Richards and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2007-01-20 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sir Henry Irving was the greatest actor of the Victorian age and was thought of by Gladstone as his greatest contemporary. He transformed the theatre, in Britain and America, from a disreputable and marginal entertainment into a respected and uplifting art form. This work gives an account of Irving and his impact on the Victorian theatre and life.

Author : Chris O'Rourke
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786730596
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Acting for the Silent Screen written by Chris O'Rourke and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A shop girl wins a newspaper competition and is transformed overnight into a transatlantic celebrity. An aristocrat swaps high society for the film studio when she 'consents' to perform in a series of films, thus legitimising acting for what some might have considered a 'low' art. Stories like these were the stuff of newspaper headlines in 1920s and reflected a 'craze' for the cinema. They also demonstrated radical changes in attitudes and values within society in the wake of World War I. Chris O'Rourke investigates the myths and material practices that grew up around film actors during the silent era. The book sheds light on issues such as the social and cultural reception of cinema, the participatory film culture expressed through fan magazines, instructional booklets and movie star competitions, and the working conditions encountered by actors behind-the-scenes of silent films. Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of archival materials, O'Rourke examines how dreams of stardom were fuelled and exploited in the interwar period, and reconstructs the personal narratives and experiences of the first generation to imagine making a living on screen.In doing so, he reveals a missing - and much sought after - piece of cinematic history to bring to life the developing industries, social attitudes and norms of a period of enormous change.

Author : Michael R. Booth
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521348379
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Theatre in the Victorian Age written by Michael R. Booth and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-07-26 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive survey of the theatre practice and dramatic literature of the Victorian period.

Author : George Taylor
Publisher : Manchester University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780719040238
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.3X/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Players and Performances in the Victorian Theatre written by George Taylor and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Richard Foulkes
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317218795
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Henry Irving written by Richard Foulkes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-17 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Henry Irving (1838-1905), the first actor to be knighted, dominated the theatre in Britain and beyond for over a quarter of a century. As an actor, he was strikingly different with his idiosyncratic pronunciation, his somewhat ungainly physique, and his brilliant psychological portrayals of virtue and villainy. He was also the director of spectacular, and commercially driven, entertainments and as the manager of the Lyceum theatre, he controlled every aspect of the performance. First published in 2008, this collection of essays by leading theatre scholars explores each element of Irving’s art: his acting, his contribution to the plays he commissioned, his flair for the stage picture, and his ear for incidental music. This book will be of interest to those studying the history of theatre.