Shakespeare Imitations, Parodies and Forgeries, 1710-1820, Volume 1

Front Cover
Jeffrey Kahan
Taylor & Francis, 2004 - 771 pages
In their own day, the works in this collection of now all-but-forgotten plays, composed between 1710 and 1820, enjoyed much critical and commercial success. For example, Nicholas Rowe's "The Tragedy of Jane Shore" (1714) was the most popular new play of the eighteenth century, and the sixth most performed tragedy, following "Hamlet," "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet,"" Othello" and "King Lear." Even William Shirley's forgotten play, "Edward the Black Prince" (1750), "was well received with great applause" and had a stage history spanning three decades. This collection includes the performance text to the 1796 Ireland play, "Vortigern." The plays are all reset and, where possible, modernized from original manuscripts, with listed variants, and parallel passages traced to Shakespearean canonical texts. The set includes a new introduction by the editor, and raises important questions about the nature of artistic property and authenticity, a key area of Shakespearean research today.
 

Contents

Play Selection
xi
Edgar and Emmeline A Comedy in Two Acts 1761 141
xvii
VOLUME I
xxxvii
The Tragedy of Jane Shore Written in Imitation of Shakespears
1
Vortigern A Tragedy in Five Acts 1796
4
Henry II An Historical Drama 1796
69
Nicholas Rowe
175
The Revenge 1721
224
De Monfort 1800
237
Edward the Black Prince Written in Imitation of Shakespears
273
Brutus or The Fall of Tarquin 1818
321
VOLUME II
332
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