Diverse Performances by David Haldane Lawrence
For publication October 2014
Diverse Performances: Masculinities and the Victorian
Stage by the late David Haldane Lawrence, is being edited by Ross
Burgess for publication by Paradise Press, with a foreword by Jeremy
Kingston.
Based on David's PhD thesis for Birkbeck, University of London, it offers a comprehensive survey of the role of men in the context of the Victorian theatre. It includes much information about the working conditions of the London stage in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and insights into the relationships between some of the leading figures.
384 pages, with 59 illustrations, full references and select bibliography. Price £11.95.
Cover design by David Tilbury.
ISBN: 978-1-904585-74-9
Chapters
- Introduction: Masculine Ideology versus the stage
- Men in the audience
- Men before and behind the scenes
- Men on the stage
- Plays and playwrights: the struggle for control
- Masculinity in comedy and melodrama
- Conclusion: Changing power structures in the Victorian theatre
- Appendix: The hard life of the Victorian actor
Some topics
- the class divide amongst theatre audiences
- Oscar Wilde and the "green carnation" cult
- working conditions backstage
- the dangers of gas lighting and the problems of limelights
- the influence of the stage and costume designer
- the struggle for actors to achieve respectability
- Henry Irving and his close male friendships
- patriotic themes in melodrama: the sailor and the soldier
- plays about the working class and class conflict
- Uranian subtexts in 1890s drama and comedy.
Further information
David Lawrence's original PhD thesis, Masculinities and nineteenth-century British theatre: 1829 to 1901, can be consulted at http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=16&uin=uk.bl.ethos.437393 (login required).
For more about the author, see http://lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/index.php?title=David_Haldane_Lawrence,.
For more about the editor, see www.foxearth.net/works.shtml.
For more about Paradise Press, see www.paradisepress.org.uk/.
For more information about the book, and its progress towards publication, contact the editor at ross@foxearth.net.