Description
In September 1809, during the opening night of Macbeth at the newly rebuilt Covent Garden theatre, the audience rioted over the rise in ticket prices. Disturbances took place on a further sixty-six nights that autumn and the Old Price riots became the longest running theatre riots in English history. This book describes the events in detail, sets them in their wider context, and uses them to examine the interpenetration of theatre and disorder. Previous understandings of the riots are substantially revised by stressing populist rather than class politics and the book concentrates on the theatricality of audiences, the role of the stage in shaping English self-image, and the relationship between contention and consensus.
Reviews
'Baer's impressive study persuasively questions recent interpretations of the riots as a dramatic form of class war. Marc Baer makes a useful contribution to our knowledge of both the riots and the political underworld of theatre in early nineteenth-century London.' Times Literary Supplement
`enthralling new book ...Baer's book is a ground-breaking attempt at synthesis, bringing together orthodox theatre history, politics, and the study of popular culture. As such it is greatly to be welcomed, and its complex conclusions should be required reading for anyone interested in the behaviour of crowds, be they in the theatre or at the football stadium.' Ian A. Bell, Theatre Research International
'clear and well-researched monograph ... Marc Baer offers a minutely detailed chronicle of the ruckus' Roy Porter, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, Labour History Review, Vol. 57, No. 3, Winter 1992
'rich and multifaceted case study ... His copious references masterfully knit his story into the fabric of theater, history and theory, anthropology, and social, cultural, and political history.' John Bohstedt, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, American Historical Review, February 1993
Book Information
ISBN 9780198112501
Author Marc Baer
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 145mm * 22mm
Reviews
'Baer's impressive study persuasively questions recent interpretations of the riots as a dramatic form of class war. Marc Baer makes a useful contribution to our knowledge of both the riots and the political underworld of theatre in early nineteenth-century London.' Times Literary Supplement
`enthralling new book ...Baer's book is a ground-breaking attempt at synthesis, bringing together orthodox theatre history, politics, and the study of popular culture. As such it is greatly to be welcomed, and its complex conclusions should be required reading for anyone interested in the behaviour of crowds, be they in the theatre or at the football stadium.' Ian A. Bell, Theatre Research International
'clear and well-researched monograph ... Marc Baer offers a minutely detailed chronicle of the ruckus' Roy Porter, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, Labour History Review, Vol. 57, No. 3, Winter 1992
'rich and multifaceted case study ... His copious references masterfully knit his story into the fabric of theater, history and theory, anthropology, and social, cultural, and political history.' John Bohstedt, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, American Historical Review, February 1993
Book Information
ISBN 9780198112501
Author Marc Baer
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 145mm * 22mm
