The French Actress and her English Audience

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title The French Actress and her English Audience
Authors and Contributors      By (author) John Stokes
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:236
Dimensions(mm): Height 229,Width 152
Category/GenreDrama
ISBN/Barcode 9780521292610
ClassificationsDewey:792.092341 792.094109034
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 16 June 2011
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

For centuries English and French theatrical traditions have had an uneasy relationship with one another: mutual admiration, mutual envy, mutual distrust. Just as the fascination of difference lies in the potential for sameness, so these opposed traditions have observed each other at close quarters and invited each other back home. In this unusually detailed and carefully illustrated book, John Stokes explores the reception of the French actress by the English audiences, from the early nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth - a period when the relationship between England and France was transformed and redefined. Mlle Mars, Sarah Bernhardt and Edwige Feuillere are among the many actresses invoked; prominent English spectators include William Hazlitt, Charles Dickens, and Oscar Wilde. The result is a vivid coming together of theatre history and cultural studies, and will appeal to scholars of English and French literature as well as students of acting.

Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'John Stokes gives an entertaining and scholarly account ... The book is copiously and pertinently illustrated.' The Times Higher Education Supplement Review of the hardback: 'Stokes has drawn on such splendidly evocative accounts of the plays and players that one almost feels that one was present at some of these - in modern terms - extraordinarily brave and advanced stagings of French drama in London.' The Times Literary Supplement