The first collection of its kind,
Chartist Drama makes available four plays written or performed by members of the Chartist movement of the 1840s. Emerging from the lively counter-culture of this protest campaign for democratic rights, these plays challenged cultural as well as political hierarchies by adapting such recognisable genres as melodrama, history plays, and tragedy for performance in radically new settings. They include poet-activist John Watkins's
John Frost, which dramatises the gripping events of the Newport rising, in which twenty-two Chartists lost their lives in what was probably a misfired attempt to spark a nationwide rebellion. Gregory Vargo's introduction and notes elucidate the previously unexplored world of Chartist dramatic culture, a context that promises to reshape what we know about early Victorian popular politics and theatre.
About the AuthorGregory Vargo is Associate Professor of English at New York University
Book InformationISBN 9781526164100
Author Gregory VargoFormat Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Manchester University PressPublisher Manchester University Press
Weight(grams) 376g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 14mm