Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre
This page intentionally left blank
Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre Staging the Victorians Benjamin Poore University of York, UK Palgrave macmillan
Benjamin Poore 2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-29889-7 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 author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2012 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 978-1-349-33512-1 ISBN 978-0-230-36014-3 ( ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230360143 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. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
To Mum and Dad
This page intentionally left blank
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements viii ix Introduction: Staging the Victorians Angry Ghosts? 1 1 Staging the Bad Old Days 22 2 Staging the Empire 46 3 Staging Dickens 67 4 Staging Life Stories 97 5 Staging the Brontës 126 6 Staging Hauntings 145 Conclusion: Restaging the Victorians 174 Notes 181 Works Cited 205 Index 223 vii
Illustrations 1 Elizabeth Mansfield in Marie at York Theatre Royal (photo by Nao Nagai) 117 2 Original first-floor ticket hall with new Eurostar ticket hall beneath it, St. Pancras Station, London 171 3 The champagne bar with Eurostar platforms in the distance, St. Pancras Station, London 171 4 The new station clock, St. Pancras Station, London 173 viii
Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which has enabled me to undertake the research for this book. I would also like to thank my doctoral supervisor, Professor Dan Rebellato, who has given an extraordinary degree of thought, encouragement and attention to my work as it has developed. I am grateful to Frances Babbage and Aoife Monks for their kind, encouraging and insightful comments on my doctoral thesis. Thanks to Nigel Morris at the University of Lincoln for his stimulating thoughts on The Prestige, and to the publisher s anonymous reader for their encouraging feedback. Also, thanks to Elizabeth Mansfield and Nao Nagai for their kind permission to use a photograph from Marie. Thanks are also due to Louise LePage and Rachel Clements for their insights and engagement with my research in its various stages of deliberation and delivery. Particular thanks to Kelly Jones for her constant support and painstaking organizational help and for pointing me in the direction of so much useful material. Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre is funded by Arts & Humanities Research Council ix