John Ruskin and the Victorian Theatre
Also by Katherine Newey: WOMEN S THEATRE WRITING IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN MARY SHELLEY S FRANKENSTEIN RUSKIN, THE THEATRE AND VICTORIAN VISUAL CULTURE (edited with Anselm Heinrich and Jeffrey Richards) Also by Jeffrey Richards: IMPERIALISM AND MUSIC SIR HENRY IRVING: A VICTORIAN ACTOR AND HIS WORLD HOLLYWOOD S ANCIENT WORLDS THE ANCIENT WORLD ON THE VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN STAGE A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: THE DEFINITIVE TITANIC FILM DIANA: THE MAKING OF A MEDIA SAINT (edited with Scott Wilson and Linda Woodhead ) THE UNKNOWN 1930s: AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF BRITISH CINEMA, 1929 1939 (editor) UNEASY CHAIRS: LIFE AS A PROFESSOR (editor)
John Ruskin and the Victorian Theatre Katherine Newey and Jeffrey Richards
Katherine Newey and Jeffrey Richards 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-52499-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35738-3 ISBN 978-0-230-27651-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230276512 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Newey, Katherine. John Ruskin and the Victorian theatre / Katherine Newey and Jeffrey Richards. p. cm. Summary: This the first sustained study of the interest of John Ruskin in the theatre of his time. It examines Ruskin s active engagement with and influence on the Victorian popular theatre. Ruskin was an enthusiastic and catholic theatre-goer, enjoying pantomime as much as Shakespeare. Through the lens of Ruskin s discussions of pantomime, melodrama, Shakespearean tragedy, and painting and the stage, Newey and Richards offer a new view of the late Victorian stage focusing on London s West End in its heyday Provided by publisher. 1. Theater Great Britain History 19th century. 2. Ruskin, John, 1819 1900 Influence. 3. Ruskin, John, 1819 1900 Knowledge Performing arts. I. Richards, Jeffrey. II. Title. PN2594.N49 2010 792.0942'09034 dc22 2010002707 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
For David Mayer
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Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements viii ix 1. John Ruskin at the Theatre 1 2. Ruskinian Influences 19 3. E.W. Godwin and Ruskinian Aesthetics 45 4. Toga Plays 83 5. Melodrama 114 6. Pantomime 140 7. Ruskinian Shakespeare 168 8. Stage Beauty 209 Endnotes 233 Index 253 vii
List of Illustrations Cover: Mary Anderson as Galatea, in Pygmalion and Galatea. The Graphic, 22 December 1883. Author s collection Figure 1: Ellen Terry as Ophelia. Author s collection 221 Figure 2: Mary Anderson as Hermione. Author s collection 222 Figure 3: Engraving of W.S. Herrick, Othello and Desdemona. Illustrated London News, 21 February 1874. Author s collection 224 Figure 4: Mary Anderson as Juliet. Author s collection 230 viii
Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for their substantial support of Ruskinian Theatre: The Aesthetics of the Late Nineteenth Century Popular London Stage, 1870 1901, the research project of which this book and Ruskin, the Theatre and Victorian Visual Culture (also published by Palgrave Macmillan) are the products. Our postdoctoral research associates, Drs Anselm Heinrich and Peter Yeandle, contributed their considerable expertise, energy and imagination to the project, and extended and developed it through their invaluable work. Other support was offered by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, that true haven for scholars, where Kate Newey was a Folger Fellow in 2006 7. The Ruskin Seminar provided a knowledgeable and interested scholarly community for testing our work in progress, and we would particularly like to thank Professors Keith Hanley and Stephen Wildman, and Dr Andrew Tate. Libraries and librarians as always make our work possible: thanks to our colleagues at the Ruskin Library (Lancaster) and the University Library, Lancaster, the Brotherton Library (Leeds), the University Library, Birmingham, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, the Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, New York, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas (Austin), the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the Theatre Museum, Blythe House. We acknowledge the generosity of these libraries and archives in allowing us to quote from archives, scrapbooks and manuscripts in their holdings. Our colleagues in the Department of History, Lancaster University, and the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts, University of Birmingham, have been interested and supportive throughout. Substantial contributions were made to this project by the participants in three annual Ruskinian Theatre colloquia from 2005 to 2007, and we thank all speakers and other participants. Personal thanks from the authors go to members of the Historiography Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research (particularly Tom Postlewait), Ken Cerniglia, Claire Cochrane, Alison Collins, Jim Davis, James Dearden, Rachel Dickinson, Richard Foulkes, Cynthia Gamble, Howard Hull, Russell Jackson, Adrien Lanusse, Emma Loveridge, Gail Marshall, Gillian Mawby, Lauren Proctor, June Rye, Richard Schoch and Sharon Aronofsky Weltman. This book, and the project from which it comes, survived both authors broken wrists and, for Kate Newey, a job and house move, three years as Head of Department and the relocation of an entire Department. Our thanks to our Palgrave editors, Paula Kennedy and Steven Hall, for bearing ix
x Acknowledgements with us. And finally, our thanks to our dedicatee, David Mayer, whose work as a theatre historian is challenging and inspirational, and whose personal support is unstinting, however much he may wish to argue with us over the contents of this book. All references to Ruskin s works are from E.T Cook and Alexander Wedderburn (eds) (1903 12) The Complete Works of John Ruskin (London: George Allen) and are indicated by CW, volume and page number parenthetically within the text. References to Ruskin s diaries are from Joan Evans and John Howard Whitehouse (eds) (1956 9) The Diaries of John Ruskin (Oxford: Clarendon) and are indicated by EW, volume and page number parenthetically within the text.