The Censorship of Eighteenth-Century Theatre

David O'Shaughnessy is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of Galway. He is co-editor of The Letters of Oliver Goldsmith (Cambridge University Press, 2018), a general editor of The Collected Works of Oliver Goldsmith (2024-), and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council funded project 'Theatronomics: the business of theatres, 1732–1809'. His website 'The Censorship of British Theatre, 1737–1843' won the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Prize for Digital Resources (2022).

'Take a bow. This roll-call of leading scholars in theatre history work as a company to uncover the complex stories of censorship that unfolded after the stage Licensing Act of 1737. They delve into the substantial archives of manuscripts submitted for license to the Lord Chamberlain's office and explore ways of interpreting the record that are of significance for historians not only of literature and theatre, but also of the city, of social class, and of culture. Like all good theatre, this essay collection will have a long life in the memory of its audience and the work that follows it.' Ros Ballaster, University of Oxford

• Introduction: theatre censorship and Georgian cultural history David O'Shaughnessy; Part I. Gender: 1. Censorship as cultural production: the 1752 public entertainments act and Christopher Smart's Old Woman's Oratory Kristina Straub; 2. Damned women, or the disclosures of censorship Daniel O'Quinn; 3. Women writers and censorship in the early nineteenth century Katherine Newey; Part II. Politics: 4. Theatrical censorship and empire Bridget Orr; 5. Adapting Caleb Williams for the stage: the theatrical pale of censorship in Colman's The Iron Chest Lisa A. Freeman; 6. Knave or not? Censoring Thomas Holcroft Julie A. Carlson; Part III. Performance: 7. The censorship of personal satire on the eighteenth-century stage Matthew J. Kinservik; 8. Censoring the unseen: revolution and the aesthetics of theatrical space David Francis Taylor; 9. Evading censorship through comedy, improvisation and non-verbal performance in the early nineteenth century Jim Davis; 10. Censoring regency flash: the melodrama of the Weare-Thurtell murder case, 1823–24 Gillian Russell.