Politics, Performance and Popular Culture Theatre and Society in Nineteenth-Century Britain

This collection brings together studies of popular performance and politics across the long nineteenth century. It creates a space in which historians and theatre scholars can develop a dialogue about the relationship between representations of politics in the theatre and the theatricality of politics itself. The essays collected here develop new connections and fresh insights into cultural politics from an archivally grounded research base. Starting from the concept that politics is performative and performance is political, it constitutes a dynamic and innovative intervention into political and cultural history. Politics, performance and popular culture begins with an investigation of popular culture as an analytical category for social and political history. Chapters examine the relationship between melodrama and radicalism at the turn of the nineteenth century, the theatre of Chartism, topical commentary in performance, suffragettes and theatricality, and ideas of a national theatre. It goes on to explore the ways in which performance represents and constructs contemporary ideologies of race, nation and empire, addressing the Irish question, imperialism and national identity through studies of pantomime, melodrama and dance history. The book includes case studies of individual politicians' use of theatrical techniques, including Robert Peel, Keir Hardie and Henry Hyndman, and an analysis of collective movements, including political protest. It approaches politics as a performative activity which drew on nineteenth-century performance practices. It explores the street as a performance space, and the historiographic possibilities of using performance as a frame to examine the political.