“Our National Taste” : English Early Eighteenth-Century Stage as a Part of English National Identity
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Writing the Nation (17th & 18th Centuries) : Publication issue des Journées des Doctorant·es et Jeunes Checheur·ses de la Société d’Études Anglo-Américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles, de la Société Française d’Étude du Dix-Huitieme Siecle et de la Société d’Étude du XVIIe Siecle |
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| Citation | |
| web | Conference proceedings "Writing the Nation (17th & 18th centuries)" (2023) |
| Keywords | Eighteenth-century theatre; English theatrical identity; theory of the public sphere; foreign competition; theatre commercialization |
| Description | Late 17th– and early 18th-century English writers and commentators often referred to a seemingly self-evident entity called the “English stage”. Some critics published proposals for the improvement of the English theatre, others were concerned about the foreign theatrical influences which were affecting it. This paper aims to explore the relationship between theatre and English national identity in the writings for, and about, London theatres in the early 18th century. By employing the theory of the public sphere and by drawing on selected plays, satires, essays and other contemporaneous accounts, the paper argues that the definition of the English stage, which facilitated a growing sentiment of collective theatrical identity, was informed by three following circumstances: first, not unlike national identities as a whole, the English theatrical identity was defined in opposition to foreign genres, especially the extravagant Italian opera; further, the phrase “English stage” acquired new connotations of nostalgia and lost dramatic value with the increasing commercialization of London theatre business after the first decade of the 18th century and the growing popularity of afterpieces, which seemed to drive away the traditional Restoration repertoire; lastly, the connotations of the English stage developed together with the on-going formation of the English literary canon. This paper aims to show that nationalistic anxieties were very much at play in the discussion about the English stage in London theatres in the early 18th century and that theatre culture also contributed to the national consciousness of the English people. |
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