John Pritt Harley as Low Comedian and Dickensian Actor

Abstract:

In a letter to RH Horne in November 1843 Dickens regretted that he had written both plays, implying that The Village Coquettes was merely written as a favour for Hullah and'the farce as a sort of practical joke, for Harley, whom I have known for a long time... Writing for the theatre in this period was something of a collaborative enterprise and, while acknowledging Dickens's collaborative approach to amateur theatricals and to the professional staging of some of the dramatised versions of his novels, playwriting allowed dramatic authors little autonomy over the finished product. Eventually Dickens peopled his novels with characters whom Earle Davis described as talking'like comic actors on a stage in heaven,'11 and took comic performance under his own control. While it is not possible to trace exact correlations or specific influences between comic performance and scenes from the novels, these actors provide an …

Año de publicación:

2021

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Fuente:

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