Manchester University Press Staging the Revolution: Drama, Reinvention and History, 1647–72

Staging the revolution offers a reappraisal of the weight and volume of theatrical output during the commonwealth and early Restoration, both in terms of live performances and performances on the paper stage. It argues that the often-cited notion that 1642 marked an end to theatrical production in England until the playhouses were reopened in 1660 is a product of post-Restoration re-writing of the English civil wars and the representations of royalists and parliamentarians that emerged in the 1640s and 1650s. These retellings of recent events in dramatic form mean that drama is central to civil-war discourse. Staging the revolution examines the ways in which drama was used to rewrite the civil war and commonwealth period and demonstrates that, far from marking a clear cultural demarcation from the theatrical output of the early seventeenth century, the Restoration is constantly reflecting back on the previous thirty years. Review STAGING THE REVOLUTION: DRAMA, REVINVENTION, AND HISTORY 1647-72 (Manchester) is a truly remarkable contribution to our understanding of interregnum and post-Restoration theatre. Its central argument - that the drama across the period is marked by striking continuities as well as disruptions - is sustained with a deeply impressive scholarly command; and the sheer range of reference, both primary and secondary, is exceptional. Any easy assumptions we might have entertained about the relationship between republican culture and theatrical practice are authoritatively overturned, and the study gives the great satisfaction of returning us from a broad idea of historical change to the much greater real complexity that happened at the time., 'Rachel Willie's Staging the Revolution is an exceptional book. A polished piece of clear argumentation and persuasive writing on a notoriously undervalued and understudied period of English theatrical history, the Interregnum and the responses to the Civil War on the Restoration stage, this text is one of the best new books of the year.' 'This exquisitely researched book shifts the ground of analysis of this period in a way that will be felt for years to come.' From the Inside Flap Staging the revolution offers a reassessment of drama that was produced during the commonwealth and the first decade of the Restoration. The book examines contemporary dramatic responses to the civil war period to show that, far from marking a new beginning, the Restoration is focused upon the previous thirty years. It complements recent studies that have addressed textual exchange and royalist and republican discourse.Not all parliamentarians were opposed to the theatre and not all theatre was illegal under the commonwealth regimes. Equally, not all theatrical experience was royalist in focus. The often cited notion that 1660 marked the return to monarchical government and the rebirth of many cultural practices banned under an austere, Puritan, regime was a product of the 1650s and 1660s and it was fostered in some of the dramatic output of this period. The very presence of these dramas and their textual transmission challenges the notion that all holiday pastimes were forbidden. Staging the revolution builds upon these findings to examine ways in which drama negotiated the political moment. It explores the ways in which drama was appropriated as a means of responding to the civil wars and reinventing the recent past and also how drama was reinvented as a consequence of theatre closure. Covering some of the work of John Dryden and William Davenant as well as lesser-known, anonymous and non-canonical writers, this book will be of interest to anyone researching mid-seventeenth century British history. From the Back Cover Staging the revolution offers a reassessment of drama that was produced during the commonwealth and the first decade of the Restoration. The book examines contemporary dramatic responses to the civil war period to show that, far from marking a