The theatre and drama of the late Georgian period have been the focus of a number of recent studies, but such work has tended to ignore its social and political contexts. Theatric Revolution redresses the balance by considering the role of stage censorship during the Romantic period, an era otherwise associated with the freedom of expression. Looking beyond the Royal theatres at Covent Garden and Drury Lane which have dominated most recent accounts of the period, this book examines the day-to-day workings of the Lord Chamberlain's Examiner of Plays and shows that radicalized groups of individuals continuously sought ways to evade the suppression of both playhouses and dramatic texts.

David Worrall is Professor of English Literature at The Nottingham Trent University.

• Introduction


• 1: Customs and Practices: The Regulation of the Theatres


• 2: The Suppression of the Royalty Theatre, London East End


• 3: Theatrical Oligarchies: The Role of the Examiner of Plays


• 4: Theatrical Subcultures: Fireworks, Freemasonry, and Philip De Loutherbourg


• 5: Political Microcultures: The Censorship of Thomas Dibdin's Two Farmers


• 6: The Theatricalization of British Popular Culture: Queen Caroline and the Royal Coburg Theatre


• 7: The Theatricalization of British Popular Culture: A General Historical Anthropology


• 8: Political Dramas: Harlequin Negro and Plots And Placemen


• 9: The Theatre of Crime: The Mysterious Murder and The Murdered Maid


• 10: The Theatre of Subversion: Carlile's Rotunda and Captain Swing


• Conclusion