A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of Enlightenment

French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, ‘the general effect of the theatre is to strengthen the national character to augment the national inclinations, and to give a new energy to all the passions’.During the Enlightenment, the advancement of radical ideas along with the emergence of the bourgeois class contributed to a renewed interest in theatre’s efficacy, informed by philosophy yet on behalf of politics.While the 18th century saw a growing desire to define the unique and specific features of a nation’s drama, and audiences demanded more realistic portrayals of humanity, theatre is also implicated in this age of revolutions.A Cultural History of Theatre in the Age of Enlightenment examines these intersections, informed by the writings of key 18th-century philosophers.Richly illustrated with 45 images, the ten chapters each take a different theme as their focus: institutional frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and knowledge transmission.