Why Melodrama?

Jim Davis and Kate Newey talk about the origins of melodrama in the French Revolution, the politics of it being a popular form of emotional realism and why dismissing melodrama is to dismiss popular culture today.

Plays & people named in this podcast:

• Play: Holcroft, Thomas (1802) A Tale of Mystery (an unacknowledged translation of de Pixerécourt's Cœlina, ou, l'enfant du mystère)
• Playwright: René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt
• Play: Jerrold, Douglas William (1829) Black Eyed Susan
• Actor: Thomas Potter Cooke
• Diderot, Denis (1830 [written in 1770s]) The Paradox of the Actor
• Actor: NT Hicks
• Sensation novel: Braddon, Mary Elizabeth (1862) Lady Audley’s Secret. Melodrama adaptation: Hazlewood, Colin Henry (1863) first performed at the Victoria Theatre, London.
• Play: Boucicault, Dion (1868) After Dark: A Tale of London Life
• Play: Boucicault, Dion (1860) The Colleen Bawn or The Brides of Garryowen
• Playwright, critic & political activist: George Bernard Shaw
• Play: Lewis, Leopold David (1871) The Bells
• Play: Pocock, Isaac (1831) The Miller and His Men

Want to find out more after this podcast? Here's our pick of free online resources.

Music: Ambient piano & strings by ZakharValahaa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.