James Robinson Planché was one of the most prolific and successful of nineteenth-century playwrights. In a career spanning fifty years he wrote over one hundred and eighty pieces of all types, from pantomime and farce to melodrama and opera, for production at a wide range of London theatres. This book offers a representative selection of his most popular plays. It includes one melodrama - The Vampire; or The Bride of the Isles (1820), which represents the first treatment of the vampire theme on the English stage; one farce - The Garrick Fever (1839); three 'fairy' extravaganzas - Beauty and the Beast (1841), Fortunio and his Seven Gifted Servants (1843), and The Discreet Princess; or, The Three Glass Distaffs (1855); one 'classical' extravaganza - The Golden Fleece; or, Jason in Colchis and Medea in Corinth (1845); and one revue of events in contemporary London - The Camp at the Olympic (1853). The volume includes a lengthy introduction which sets the plays in the theatrical context of their time, a chronological record of Planché's life, a complete list of his plays, and a bibliography.

Features three female actors who were significant in their development of new and innovative ways of performing Shakespeare.

This book explores British illegitimate theatre towards the end of the eighteenth century.

Originally published in 1987, this book examines how much industrialisation improved the standard of living of the British worker, based on the experience of one representative city: Glasgow. It analyses whether there was an increase in skilled as opposed to unskilled labour in major industrial centres – as for example in Glasgow, manufacturing shifted from textiles to engineering. Other important issues such as the rate of housing construction, public health, local politics and leisure pursuits are also considered. Glasgow has a long history of working-class culture and is therefore a particularly interesting city to study.