A lively and accessible account of the most popular form of nineteenth-century English theatre, and its continuing influence today.

1. Introduction Carolyn Williams; Part I. Histories of English Melodrama: 2. Early English melodrama Matthew Buckley; 3. Gothic melodrama Michael Gamer; 4. Nautical melodrama Ankhi Mukherjee; 5. Domestic melodrama Christine Gledhill; 6. Theatres and their audiences Jim Davis; Part II. Melodramatic Technique: 7. Melodramatic music Michael V. Pisani; 8. Melodramatic acting George Taylor; 9. Stagecraft, spectacle, and sensation Hayley Jayne Bradley; Part III. Melodrama and Nineteenth-Century English Culture: 10. Melodrama and gender Katherine Newey; 11. Melodrama and class Rohan McWilliam; 12. Melodrama and empire Marty Gould; 13. Melodrama and race Sarah Meer; Part IV. Extensions of Melodrama: 14. Melodrama and the realist novel Carolyn Williams; 15. Melodrama and early [silent] film David Mayer; 16. Moving picture melodrama Jane M. Gaines; 17. Melodrama and the modern musical Sharon Aronofsky Weltman; 18. Melodrama and psychoanalysis Peter Brooks; 19. Metamodern melodrama and contemporary mass culture Juliet John.