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Joseph Donohue, ed. The Cambridge History of British Theatre, Volume 2: 1660-1895. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. xci + 481 pp. ISBN 0521650682. £100/$175.
John Richetti, ed. The Cambridge History of British Literature, 1660-1780. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. xviii + 945 pp. ISBN 0521781442. £95/$160.
A quick glance at these two recent installments of the Cambridge History series tells much about their contents. Donohue's volume covers 235 years of British theatre history in less than 500 pages (around 600, if one counts-and one should-the near 70-page chronology included in the front matter of the text), whereas Richetti's volume covers nearly half the years-120-of British literature in almost double the pages, nearly 950. Such an observation is telling, especially with regard to Donohue's History of British Theatre, which, while not without merit, suffers from an array of problems, not least of which is its tendency to condense complicated material into quite small and, in some regards, summary essays.
The Cambridge History of British Theatre, Volume 2: 1660-1895 is precisely organized. The front matter contains a 72-page chronology that is split into two columns, one listing theatrical events and one listing corresponding political events. The essays are grouped into two parts: the first part covers British theatre history of the long eighteenth century (1660 to 1800), and the second part covers British theatre history of the nineteenth century (1800-1895). Each part is prefaced by a lengthy introductory essay by Donohue: the first, "Introduction: the Theatre from 1660-1800" runs 49 pages, and the second, "Introduction: the theatre from 1800-1895" spans 52 pages. Each part offers ten essays on such subjects as repertory, gender, acting and actors, audience, and the connection between theatre, political, and social forces. Additionally, each section offers a "case study" essay that focuses exclusively on one play and its afterlife in successive adaptations, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) in Part I and Leopold Lewis' adaptation of The Bells (1871) in Part II. Finally, each section contains an essay that examines one year of the period covered as a particularly important moment for British theatre. In Part I, this year is 1776; in Part II, it is 1895.
Such precision, it seems, has been achieved by sacrificing some significant elements for a volume whose aim is...