{"product_id":"eighteenthcentury-brechtians-9780859893350","title":"EighteenthCentury Brechtians","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e Eighteenth-Century Brechtians \u003c\/em\u003eis a collection of essays by a well-known author on comic and radical political theatre.  It looks at stage satires by John Gay, Henry Fielding, George Farquhar, Charlotte Charke, David Garrick and their contemporaries through the lens of Brecht’s theory and practice. 15 b\u0026amp;w illustrations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEighteenth-Century Brechtians\u003c\/em\u003e is an ambitious and engaging study that takes the reader on a time-travelling journey through the past, present and future of Brechtian theatre.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eEighteenth-Century Brechtians\u003c\/em\u003e is not only illuminating but engaging, and articulates one of Schechter’s central tenets: that theatrical activism is as necessary now as it was in the eras of Gay and Brecht, and that practitioners today could learn much from the radical subversives of the past.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e -- Hannah Manktelow, University of Nottingham, UK * Theatre Notebook, Volume 72, Number 1, 2018 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoel Schechter’s Eighteenth-Century Brechtians: Theatrical Satire in the Age of Walpole aims to locate an epic theatre that may have existed before Brecht articulated its definition in the twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e Schechter’s approach proves illuminating. He paints a picture of a vibrant theatrical climate, filled with meta-commentary, political activism, cross-dressing, and satire aimed at exposing hypocrisy and corruption in institutional structures.\u003cbr\u003e [He] offers a fresh, critical engagement that indicates how the political spirit enlivening the dramas of Dario Fo, Vaclav Havel, David Hare, and Caryl Churchill could find its antecedent in the eighteenth century. The book offers twenty-four chapters, some very brief and playful. This structure allows Schechter to interlace conventional scholarship with fictional narratives, dramatized conversations, transcribed diaries, and comparisons to modern movements such as Occupy Wall Street and figures such as Yoko Ono and Chelsea Manning. These interludes, asides, and anachronistic nods provide a Brechtian approach to historical scholarship, honouring the spirit of his source material and providing an engaging reading experience.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eMathew McMahan, Emerson University, Theatre Survey, Volume 59, Issue 2, May 2018\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e -- Matthew McMahan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoel Schechter may have written the perfect book for this historical moment.\u003cbr\u003e Schechter brings a lively and highly readable style to Eighteenth-Century Brechtians, which makes the daunting task of teasing out the parallels between two seemingly disparate aesthetic movements easy to follow. The breadth of the connections that Schechter makes is impressive [. . . ] The result is a clear, nuanced, novel reading of theatrical events and plays that demonstrates their vitality and relevance today.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Eighteenth-Century Brechtians is part history, part exegesis, and part polemical manifesto. As we enter a period of political uncertainty, the satirical voices that Schechter celebrates here may prove useful once more. Readable and concise, the book is accessible enough for an undergraduate but with enough sophistication for more advanced students.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eSeth Wilson, University of Georgia, \u003cem\u003eJournal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism\u003c\/em\u003e, Volume 32, Number 1, Fall 2017\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eNot every book about the eighteenth-century theatre alludes to Chelsea Manning, Occupy Wall Street and Bernie Sanders, or concludes with a chronology that jumps from 1763 ('James Boswell visits Newgate Prison') to 1928 ('Brecht and others adapt Gay's \u003cem\u003eThe Beggar's Opera\u003c\/em\u003e'). \u003cem\u003eEighteenth-century Brechtians: Theatrical Satire in the Age of Walpole\u003c\/em\u003e makes these contemporary references and goes further: it is introduced by the theatre historian Peter Thomson as 'a bid to jolt the anglophone theatre out of its political doziness', and by its author Joel Schechter as 'a mapping of paths to future satire and activism, through a survey of earlier routes explored by Brecht and his precursors in England'. [ ] there is much here to prompt further investigation, not least for any post-Brechtian producers who happen to open the book.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003eMichael Caines, \u003cem\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/em\u003e, October 2016\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  It is very jauntily written, as might well be expected from this author, and his enthusiasm for his subject matter is at times infectious.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003eMichael Wilson, Professor of Drama, Loughborough University\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eThis is a book like no other. Schechter delights in liberating his own fantasy, in allowing his imagination free play in interpreting, not only what was, but also what might have been and what, with the right incentives, might be.\u003cbr\u003e  This new book has been written as a challenge to the twenty-first century, a bid to jolt the Anglophone theatre out of its political doziness.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Thomson, Emeritus Professor of Drama, University of Exeter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThis is an intelligent, radical book, intriguing from the start and relentlessly imaginative. Always accessible and affable in style.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003eGraham Ley, Professor of Drama and Theory, University of Exeter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Cast of Brechtians in Order of Appearance\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eList of Illustrations\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eForeword by Peter Thomson\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eEighteenth-Century Brechtians\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eCross-Dressing Soldiers and Anti-Militarist Rakes\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003ePolly Peachum and the New Naiveté\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003ePirates and \u003cem\u003ePolly\u003c\/em\u003e: A Lost \u003cem\u003eMessingkauf Dialogue\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe Duchess of Queensberry Becomes Polly Peachum\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eMacheath Our Contemporary\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eSwift in Hollywood: Another \u003cem\u003eMessingkauf Dialogue\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eSwift’s \u003cem\u003ePolite Conversation\u003c\/em\u003e with Falstaff\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eHenry Fielding, Brechtian Before Brecht\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eFielding’s London Merchant, and Lillo’s\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eLiterarization of Fielding’s Plays\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eTom Thumb Jones, Child Actress\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eA World on Fire\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eFielding’s Cibber Letters: Counterfeit Wit, Scurrility and Cartels\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eBertolt Brecht Writes \u003cem\u003eThe Beggar’s Opera\u003c\/em\u003e, Fielding Rewrites \u003cem\u003ePolly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eStage Mutineers\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eCharlotte Charke’s \u003cem\u003eTit for Tat\u003c\/em\u003e;\u003cem\u003e or Comedy and Tragedy at War\u003c\/em\u003e: A Lost Play Recovered?\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eMrs Charke Escapes Hanging\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eGarrick and Swift’s School for Scandal—With a Digression on Yoko Ono\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eBrecht Praises Garrick’s \u003cem\u003eHamlet\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eA Portrait of the Artists as \u003cem\u003eBeggar’s Opera\u003c\/em\u003e Disciples—Including David Garrick, Epic Actor\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eWalpole in America\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe Future of Eighteenth-Century Brechtiana: \u003cem\u003ePolly\u003c\/em\u003e Exonerated\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eConclusion: The Future Promise of an Earlier Age\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eEighteenth-Century Brechtians: A Timetable of Events\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBibliography\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIndex\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Exeter Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359245467991,"sku":"9780859893350","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780859893350.jpg?v=1754124099","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/eighteenthcentury-brechtians-9780859893350","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}