The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama, Concise Edition, with twenty-one plays, is half the length of the full anthology without compromising its breadth. Concentrating on plays from the heyday of 1660-1737, it focuses on Restoration drama proper and Revolution drama, with a selection from the early Georgian period and the later Georgian period's "laughing comedy." Seven of the nine sub-genres (personal tragedy, tragicomic romance, social comedy, subversive comedy, corrective satire, menippean satire, and laughing comedy) of the full anthology are represented, with the preponderance of exposure given to the jewel of this theatre, its comedy. Each play is fully annotated and prefaced with an historical introduction. Also included are a general introduction, a statement of procedures, and a glossary.

This is the first new full-scale anthology of Restoration and eighteenth-century drama in over sixty years. Concentrating on plays from the heyday of 1660-1737, it focuses especially on Restoration drama proper (1660-1688) and Revolution drama (1689-1714), with a smaller selection of plays from the early Georgian period (1715-1737) and a glimpse at the later Georgian period’s “laughing comedy” (1770s and 80s). It includes nine sub-genres (heroic romance, political tragedy, personal tragedy, tragicomic romance, social comedy, subversive comedy, corrective satire, menippean satire, and laughing comedy), with the preponderance of exposure given to the jewel of this theatre, its comedy. The core canonical plays from the era—from Dryden’s All for Love and Behn’s The Rover to Congreve’s The Way of the World and Sheridan’s School for Scandal—are all here, but so are a remarkably wide range of non-canonical works. There are many more plays by women than in any previous general anthology of drama of the period. Also included are a number of works from the neglected 1660s, whose comedies feature delightful, subversive, levelling folk elements. In all there are forty-one plays; each is fully annotated and prefaced with an historical introduction. Also included are a general introduction, head-notes for each genre, and a glossary.

Ranging in approach from feminist to historicist, the eleven essays in this collection share the culturalist premise that the drama of late Stuart and early Georgian England helped to constitute the dominant ideology of the period. The contributors' varied approaches allow for the reconsideration of libertinism, the politics of sexual desire, and other classic issues, as well as such newer concerns as the social construction of the first English actresses, empiricism as an emergent epistemological discourse, cultural anxiety about novelty and repetition, and shifting tropes of inherent worth. By reading well-known works in unexpected ways and focusing on less frequently studied dramatists, from Sedley, Motteux, Pix, and Behn to Manley, Trotter, and Shadwell, the contributors also test the limits of the canon. In addition, they suggest that earlier critical perceptions, perhaps even more than the “innate worth” of the plays, determined the shape of the canon. These essays present a different image of Restoration and eighteenth-century theater, one that reveals how the drama was a site as important for the negotiation of cultural meaning as were novels and verse satires.

The ten plays in this new collection show both the continuity and the changes in comedy over the course of the Restoration and eighteenth century. Each play includes its original prologue and epilogue, as well as an historical introduction and full annotation. The editor’s Introduction provides a rich historical and literary context for the plays’ composition and production. A glossary of frequently used words likely to be unfamiliar to general readers is also included.

The Broadview Anthology of Drama: Plays from the Western Theatre is a chronological presentation of 43 plays in two volumes, ranging from the ancient theatre world to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a specific period and begins with an insightful introduction sketching the historical and theatrical landscape of that period. Contextualization for each play is provided through a thorough account of the literary and dramatic background of the play along with clear and comprehensive annotation. In addition, the editors have provided a glossary of terms used in the anthology to better equip students with a vocabulary for discussing the world of the stage.

The Broadview Anthology of Drama: Plays from the Western Theatre is a chronological presentation of 43 plays in two volumes, ranging from the ancient theatre world to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a specific period and begins with an insightful introduction sketching the historical and theatrical landscape of that period. Contextualization for each play is provided through a thorough account of the literary and dramatic background of the play along with clear and comprehensive annotation. In addition, the editors have provided a glossary of terms used in the anthology to better equip students with a vocabulary for discussing the world of the stage.

This anthology offers a selection of popular dramatic works by female playwrights from Aphra Behn in the 1670s through Hannah Cowley in the later eighteenth century. These plays were successful as plays of their time, not just as plays by women, together providing evidence that women dramatists often managed better than their male counterparts to please diverse audiences, who were notoriously fickle as well as predisposed to oppose them. Accessible to both graduates and undergraduates, Popular Plays by Women shows how these playwrights captured audiences through wit, social awareness, and dramatic dexterity. As well as including the prologues and epilogues of the four plays presented, this anthology provides additional materials in which female playwrights discuss the prejudices and special difficulties they face.

This exciting second edition provides an exceptional range of plays edited by leading scholars of Restoration and eighteenth-century theatre. In addition to fifteen plays from the first edition are four new plays and one new afterpiece: Nathaniel Lee’s The Rival Queens, John Vanbrugh’s The Provoked Wife, David Garrick’s Miss in Her Teens, Richard Cumberland’s The West Indian, and Elizabeth Inchbald’s Such Things Are. Every play now features an engaging headnote and a fully edited dramatis personae, prologue, and epilogue. The innovative introduction plunges its readers into the experience of playgoing in London, and the edition features supplementary texts, including select actor and actress biographies and theatrical documents that provide a vivid cultural context.

"Shaped by sound literary and historical scholarship, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors and includes a broad selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of the worldwide connections of British literature, and it pays attention throughout to matters such as race, gender, class, and sexual orientation ... Highlights of Volume 5: The Victorian Era include the complete texts of In Memoriam A.H.H., The Importance of Being Earnest, Carmilla, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as Contexts sections on "Work and Poverty," "Women in Society," "Sexuality in the Victorian Era," "Nature and the Environment," "The New Woman," and "Britain, Empire, and a Wider World." The third edition also offers expanded representation of writers of color, including Mary Prince, Mary Seacole, Toru Dutt, and Rabindranath Tagore."--Provided by publisher.