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Series:   Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections

A Performance History of The Fair Penitent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2024

Elaine McGirr
Elaine McGirr
Affiliation:
University of Bristol

Summary

Theatre is the most ephemeral of art forms. It is a truism that the ephemeral performance text is divorced from the static published play text. This Element is of the eighteenth-century performance history of The Fair Penitent demonstrates the interrelation of print and performance and models how readers can recover elements of performance through close attention to text. Traces of performance adhere to the mediascape in playbills and puffs, reviews and accounts. The printed text also preserves traces of performance in notation and illustration. By analysing traces found in performance trends, casting decisions, publication histories and repertory intertexts, this Element recovers how The Fair Penitent was interpreted at different points in the century and explains how a play that bombed in its first season could become a repertory staple.
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Keywords

RoweperformancehistoryactingCalista
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections
Online ISBN: 9781009351850
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 21 March 2024

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A Performance History of The Fair Penitent
  • Elaine McGirr, University of Bristol
  • Online ISBN: 9781009351850
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A Performance History of The Fair Penitent
  • Elaine McGirr, University of Bristol
  • Online ISBN: 9781009351850
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A Performance History of The Fair Penitent
  • Elaine McGirr, University of Bristol
  • Online ISBN: 9781009351850
Available formats
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