Restoration Drama

This is the Introduction to my monograph 'Writing the History of the British Stage, 1660-1900', published in August 2016 by Cambridge University Press. This is the first book on British theatre historiography, tracing scholarly practice from its origins in the Restoration to its emergence as an academic discipline in the early 20th century.

Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses

Theatre and Governance in Britain, 1500-1900

This paper traces the evolution of English drama from its ritualistic origins to modern performance. It examines how early religious plays, including mystery and morality plays, paved the way for secular theater. The Renaissance era marked a turning point with playwrights like Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Jonson transforming drama into a sophisticated art form, supported by public theaters like The Globe. Subsequent movements, such as Restoration comedy, Romanticism, realism, and modernism, reflected changing social values and artistic experimentation. The paper also explores key dramatic elements—plot, characterization, and symbolism—and how they contribute to drama’s lasting impact. By highlighting major texts, playwrights, and themes across ages, the study offers insight into English drama’s transformation into a dynamic and socially relevant art.

Literature Compass, 2008

This essay offers an overview of recent critical books published on Restoration and eighteenth-century drama, with a glance back to the critical history of this field. The essay emphasizes critical explorations of the earlier part of the period and provides a bibliography for further reading.

This article examines two artefacts, through which the significance of pageantry, spectacle and theatre during and immediately following the Restoration in 1660, is explored. Further, how these two artefacts, the fourth Triumphal Arch, constructed in London for the coronation of Charles II in 1661, and the Killigrew Patent, one of two Royal patents drawn up in 1662 to formalize the rights, given to Thomas Killigrew (1612-1683) and William Davenant (1606-1668) exclusively, to build and run theatres in London, impacted on the manipulation of the perception of restored monarchy.

Modern Drama, 2006

New Theatre Quarterly, 2005