Everyone’s Theater

Michael Meeuwis is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick.

Meeuwis sets a fresh direction for future scholarship. In making such a strong case for the significant social role played by the theater in the 19th century, Everyone's Theater promises to be the study that moves the theater more centrally into conversations about the interplay between culture and the constructions of individual, class, and national identities." - Marty Gould, University of South Florida"Argues that Victorian theatrical culture—redefined to include not only professional performances in commercial theaters but also how-to manuals for amateur theatricals and examples of how they were implemented, the diaries of everyday theater-goers, shipboard performances, and performances recorded in the East India Office Archive—provides a vehicle for understanding the great scope of theater's influence in cultivating behavioral norms for the public. This is original and exciting work, and the archival work is top-notch an important contribution to Victorian studies, theater studies, and cultural studies." - Sharon Weltman, Louisiana State University