Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800
Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem
By (author) Amnon Kabatchnik
Publication date:
14 August 2017Length of book:
828 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781538106150
Audiences throughout the centuries have always been drawn to theatrical productions that feature criminal activity. Playwrights from Sophocles to Anthony Shaffer have been more than willing to satisfy those cravings with productions that feature an assortment of dastardly deeds. Never was this more apparent than in the 17th and 18th centuries, where crime lurked from stage left to stage right and every bloody spot in between.In Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem, Amnon Kabatchnik profiles near fifty works of theft, treachery, court intrigue, incest, and murder produced over these two centuries. Among the plays discussed in this book are The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, Horace Walpole’s The Mysterious Mother, Friedrich Schiller’s The Robbers, and George Lillo's The London Merchant, which was based on an actual case of murder. This volume also includes American plays such as The Prince of Parthia by Thomas Godfrey and William Dunlop’s The Fatal Deception. William Shakespeare is also represented with the classics Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear.
Entries are presented chronologically, and each includes a plot synopsis, production data, opinions by critics and scholars, and biographical sketches of playwrights and key actors. Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800 will appeal to theater scholars, researchers, and any who immerse themselves in the genre of suspense, both in print and on stage.
Entries are presented chronologically, and each includes a plot synopsis, production data, opinions by critics and scholars, and biographical sketches of playwrights and key actors. Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800 will appeal to theater scholars, researchers, and any who immerse themselves in the genre of suspense, both in print and on stage.
Blood on the Stage is the latest volume in Kabatchnik’s "Blood on the Stage" series, which features intrigue, violence, and mystery in the theater. The volume begins with a brief introduction to violent drama written and performed between 1600 and 1800. As he did in previous volumes in the series (Blood on the Stage, 1975–2000, CH, May'13, 50-4758, and Blood on the Stage, 480 B.C. to 1600 A.D., CH, Jan'15, 52-2301), Kabatchnik presents a substantial list of key theatrical works of the period. He provides a thorough but manageable summary of each play, along with biographical sketches of playwrights and notes on key productions. Shakespeare is well represented, but so are works by less-known dramatists, e.g., Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, John Webster, and Aphra Behn. English plays make up the majority of the volume, but Kabatchnik provides a sense of drama beyond the English stage by highlighting plays from French, German, Irish, North American, and Spanish playwrights as well. Six appendixes address intriguing aspects of violence in the theater, including lethal poisons, revenge tragedies, witchcraft, and domestic crime. The accessibility and comprehensive nature of the volume make it a worthy resource. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.