At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was the theatrical center of the United States, owing largely to the elegant Chestnut Street Theatre and its excellent resident company of actors. The survival and success of the company can be greatly attributed to Anne Brunton Merry. Mrs. Merry, who made her first appearance on stage at the ago of sixteen, experienced meteoric success in the English theatre, and after only three years was being favourably compared with te famed Sarah Siddons. She came to the ...
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At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was the theatrical center of the United States, owing largely to the elegant Chestnut Street Theatre and its excellent resident company of actors. The survival and success of the company can be greatly attributed to Anne Brunton Merry. Mrs. Merry, who made her first appearance on stage at the ago of sixteen, experienced meteoric success in the English theatre, and after only three years was being favourably compared with te famed Sarah Siddons. She came to the Chestnut Street company in 1796, two years afer its formation, and through her portrayals of Shakespearean heroines, as well as roles in sentimental comedy and in tragedy, she soon became the most celebrated actress in the American theatre. She established new standards of excellence in her stage portrayals, and during her tenure as manger of the Chestnut Street theatre, she transferred her own high standards to the entire company, demanding a carefully executed theatre operation and advancing the acting profession to a new level of social acceptance. In this sympathetic portrait of an unusual woman, Professor Doty traces Mrs. Merry's career from its beginning at the Bristol theatre in England in 1785 to its tragically early end in 1808. From contemporary newspapers, periodicals, memoirs, and diaries, the author has fashioned a fascinating story of a great actress and her contribution to the development of American repertory theatre during this vital period.
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Seller's Description:
Textual illustrations. Minor rubbing. VG., dustwrapper. xxi, 223 pp., 24x15cm, Contents: The Other Drieu; "Chronique des Spectacles": Rituals, Spectators, & Subtexts; 'L'Homme couvert de femmes' & the Demoiselles de Paris; 'Blè che, Le feu follet': In the Paris Wasteland: Paris in the Twenties: Surrealism, Urban Atomism; The Hollow Portrait: Bronzino, Magritte; 'Blè che': Mannerist Portraits, Vegetable Loves; 'Le feu follet': Cubist Visions, Surrealist Rooms; 'Gilles, I': Finding the Center: Novelists, Painters, the Context of the Thirties; The Picture Gallery Novel; Watteau' s Paintings; 'Filles, II': On the Stones of Paris: Passion, Space, a Novel of Paris; Among Landscapes; Costumes, Portraits, Portrait-Landscapes; 'La Comédie Francaise' & the Portrait-Spectacle; Painted Revolutions; 'Mé moires de Dirk Raspe': Margins, Visions, Departures.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo. xxi, 223pp, index, bibliography, bw ills. Or gray cloth in jacket. Near new. Groundbreaking study illuminating the work of Pierre Drieu La Rochelle without ignoring the profascist sympathies that led to its suppression. The author insists that Drieu's novels be read in their artistc, rather than their political, context. French modernism of the interwar years in art and literature.
