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  • Cited by 11
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
May 2012
Print publication year:
2012
Online ISBN:
9781139051743

Book description

Deirdre McFeely presents the first book-length critical study of Dion Boucicault, placing his Irish plays in the context of his overall career. The book undertakes a detailed examination of the reception of the plays in the New York-London-Dublin theatre triangle which Boucicault inhabited. Interpreting theatre history as a sociocultural phenomenon that closely approximates social history, McFeely examines the different social and political worlds in which the plays were produced, demonstrating that the complex politics of reception of the plays cannot be separated from the social and political implications of colonialism at that time. The study argues for a shift in focus from the politics of the plays, and their author, to the politics of the auditorium and the press, or the politics of reception. It is within that complex and shifting field of stage, theatre and public media that Boucicault's performance as playwright, actor and publicist is interpreted.

Reviews

'McFeely is not so scholastically detached as to let us forget that Boucicault’s plays are fun and that he was a master of pithy dialogue and comic inventiveness. This is a wonderfully well-researched and discerning book, placing Boucicault as a much more politically motivated playwright than previous critics have ever suggested.'

Source: Irish Times

'Thoughtful and insightful …'

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

'McFeely’s sparkling collection of research on the political importance of Boucicault’s plays is detailed and comprehensive, yet her writing is not burdened with perplexing terminology or arbitrary discourse … [Her] accurate and acute analysis of primary resources provides sound evidence for her argument, while her familiar style provides an excellent foundation for the nascent theatre researcher delving into the captivating realm of Irish literature and drama.'

A. I. Cahill Source: Studies in Theatre and Performance

'There is much to like in this well-researched study, which illuminates the international reception of some of Boucicault's best-known work. … students of Boucicault will find it a rich resource.'

Nicholas Daly Source: Victorian Studies

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Contents

Bibliography

Primary sources

Works by Dion Boucicault

Boucicault, Dion, Arrah-na-Pogue; or, The Wicklow Wedding, in David Krause (ed.), The Dolmen Boucicault (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1964).
Boucicault, DionArrah-na-Pogue, manuscript of 1864 Dublin production, Harvard Theatre Collection, TS 3055.45.
Boucicault, DionThe Colleen Bawn; or, The Brides of Garryowen, in David Krause (ed.), The Dolmen Boucicault (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1964).
Boucicault, DionDaddy O’Dowd, or Turn About is Fair Play, manuscript of 1873 New York production, Princeton University Library, TC023 (Box 13).
Boucicault, DionThe Fireside Story of Ireland (London: George Routledge & Sons, n.d.).
Boucicault, DionThe Fireside Story of Ireland (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, n.d.).
Boucicault, DionIreland's Story (New York: Metropolitan Publishing Company, 1881).
Boucicault, DionJessie Brown; or, The Relief of Lucknow, in Peter Thomson (ed.), Plays by Dion Boucicault (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
Boucicault, DionKerry; or, Night and Morning, National Library of Ireland, MS. 10950 (n.d.).
Boucicault, DionLeaves from a Dramatist's Diary’, North American Review 148 (February 1889), 228–36.
Boucicault, DionThe Octoroon; or Life in Louisiana, in Peter Thomson (ed.), Plays by Dion Boucicault (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
Boucicault, DionThe O’Dowd (London: Samuel French, n.d.).
Boucicault, DionThe Poor of New York (New York: Samuel French, 1975 (1857)).
Boucicault, DionThe Rapparee; or, The Treaty of Limerick (Chicago: Dramatic Publishing Company (Sergel's Acting Drama), n.d.).
Boucicault, DionThe Rapparee, National Library of Ireland, IR82289b26 (printed prompt copy, n.d.).
Boucicault, DionThe Shaughraun, in David Krause (ed.), The Dolmen Boucicault (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1964).
Boucicault, Dion ‘Wearin’ o’ the green’ (London: Chappell & Co., 1865).
E. H. House and Boucicault, Dion, ‘Wearing of the Green’ (Philadelphia: Chas. W. A. Trumpler, 1865).

Work Ascribed to Dion Boucicault

Boucicault, Dion, Robert Emmet, in Allardyce Nicoll and F. Theodore Cloak(eds.), Forbidden Fruit & Other Plays by Dion Boucicault (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1963).

Manuscripts and Archives

British Library

Arrah-na-Pogue, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53035 F.
Arrah-na-Pogue, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53041 A.
The Colleen Bawn, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 52995 B.
The O’Dowd, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53240 E.
The Rapparee, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53087 M.
Robert Emmet, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53327 H.
The Shaughraun, The Lord Chamberlain's Plays, Add. MS. 53153 A.

Register of Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, 1852–65, Add. MS. 53703.

Register of Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, 1866–73, Add. MS. 53704.

Register of Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, 1873–6, Add. MS. 53705.

Register of Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, 1877–86, Add. MS. 53706.

British National Archives

The Lord Chamberlain's Correspondence, 1860–84.

The Home Office's Correspondence, January 1868.

National Archives of Ireland

Chief Crown Solicitors’ Papers, 1859–69.

FenianFiles, 6314R (Carton 10).
FenianFiles (Disloyal Songs), 6791R (Carton 10).

National Gallery of Ireland

Letter from Jack B. Yeats to John C. Miles, 14 December 1940, NGI file 8013.

National Library of Ireland

Earl of Kimberley file, 1864–6, Larcom Manuscripts, MS 7507.

Fenian Supplement 1865 (Letters) file, Larcom Manuscripts, MS 7688.

Trinity College Dublin Library

Arrah-na-Pogue, playbill for performance at Theatre Royal, Dublin, on 10 November 1864.

University of South Florida at Tampa

Untitled draft manuscript in Bouicault's hand, Dion Boucicault Theatre Collection, Box 7.

Newspapers and Periodicals

Academy and Literature: June 1904.
Chicago Daily Tribune: November 1884.
Daily Express (Dublin): November 1864; December 1864; November 1868; December 1876.
Daily Post (Liverpool): April 1876; May 1876.
Daily Telegraph (London): March 1865; September 1870; September 1875; January 1876; October 1880; November 1880.
Entr’acte and Limelight: Theatrical and Musical Critic and Advertiser (London): January 1876.
Era (London): November 1864; March 1865; September 1870; March 1875; September 1875; January 1876; May 1876; October 1880.
Evening Post (New York): November 1870; November 1874.
Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin): March 1861; April 1861; April 1864; October 1864; November 1864; October 1868; November 1868; April 1872; December 1876.
Illustrated London News: November 1861; May 1865; July 1865; September 1870; October 1880.
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (London): September 1875.
Irish Times (and Daily Advertiser) (Dublin): March 1861; April 1861; November 1864; July 1871; January 1876; December 1876; February 1967; December 1967.
Irish World (Brooklyn): October 1874; December 1874; January 1875; February 1875.
Manchester Examiner and Times: May 1876.
Morning Post (London): September 1875; January 1876.
Nation (Dublin): November 1864; November 1868; December 1868; March 1875; January 1876; February 1876; December 1876; January 1877.
New York Herald: December 1859; March 1873; November 1874; February 1881.
New York Times: December 1859; March 1860; July 1865; November 1870; March 1873; November 1874.
New York Tribune: March 1860; July 1865; November 1870; November 1874.
New York World: September 1874; November 1874.
Northern Whig (Belfast): December 1864.
Pall Mall Gazette (London): October 1880.
Punch (London): November 1860; May 1861; June 1861; January 1876; November 1880.
Punchinello (New York): December 1870.
The Times (London): March 1841; September 1861; November 1861; May 1863; September 1865; December 1865; August 1869; September 1870; July 1871; September 1875; January 1876; May 1876; June 1876; January 1880; March 1880; April 1880; October 1880; November 1880, May 1968.
Tomahawk (London): January 1868.

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