Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Theatre Censorship: From Walpole to Wilson

3/5 ( ratings)

Using previously unpublished material from the National Archives, David Thomas, David Carlton, and Anne Etienne provide a new perspective on British cultural history. Statutory censorship was first introduced in Britain by Sir Robert Walpole with his Licensing Act of 1737. Previously theatre
censorship was exercised under the Royal Prerogative. By giving the Lord Chamberlain statutory powers of theatre censorship, Walpole ensured that confusion over the relationship between the Royal Prerogative and statute law would prevent any serious challenge to theatre censorship in Parliament
until the twentieth century.

The authors place theatre censorship legislation and its attempted reform in their wider political context. Sections outlining the political history of key periods explain why theatre censorship legislation was introduced in 1737, why attempts to reform the legislation failed in 1832, 1909, and
1949, and finally succeeded in 1968. Opposition from Edward VII helped to prevent the abolition of theatre censorship in 1909. In 1968, theatre censorship was abolished despite opposition from Elizabeth II, Lord Cobbold and Harold Wilson . There was strong
support for theatre censorship on the part of commercial theatre managers who saw censorship as offering protection from vexatious prosecution. A policy of inertia and deliberate obfuscation on the part of Home Office officials helped to prevent the abolition of theatre censorship legislation until
1968. It was only when playwrights, directors, critics, audiences, and politicians applied combined pressure that theatre censorship was finally abolished.

The volume concludes by exploring whether new forms of covert censorship have replaced the statutory theatre censorship abolished with the 1968 Theatres Act.

Language: English

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Release: March 01, 2008

ISBN: 0199260281

ISBN 13: 9780199260287

Theatre Censorship: From Walpole to Wilson

3/5 ( ratings)

Using previously unpublished material from the National Archives, David Thomas, David Carlton, and Anne Etienne provide a new perspective on British cultural history. Statutory censorship was first introduced in Britain by Sir Robert Walpole with his Licensing Act of 1737. Previously theatre
censorship was exercised under the Royal Prerogative. By giving the Lord Chamberlain statutory powers of theatre censorship, Walpole ensured that confusion over the relationship between the Royal Prerogative and statute law would prevent any serious challenge to theatre censorship in Parliament
until the twentieth century.

The authors place theatre censorship legislation and its attempted reform in their wider political context. Sections outlining the political history of key periods explain why theatre censorship legislation was introduced in 1737, why attempts to reform the legislation failed in 1832, 1909, and
1949, and finally succeeded in 1968. Opposition from Edward VII helped to prevent the abolition of theatre censorship in 1909. In 1968, theatre censorship was abolished despite opposition from Elizabeth II, Lord Cobbold and Harold Wilson . There was strong
support for theatre censorship on the part of commercial theatre managers who saw censorship as offering protection from vexatious prosecution. A policy of inertia and deliberate obfuscation on the part of Home Office officials helped to prevent the abolition of theatre censorship legislation until
1968. It was only when playwrights, directors, critics, audiences, and politicians applied combined pressure that theatre censorship was finally abolished.

The volume concludes by exploring whether new forms of covert censorship have replaced the statutory theatre censorship abolished with the 1968 Theatres Act.

Language: English

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Release: March 01, 2008

ISBN: 0199260281

ISBN 13: 9780199260287

More books from David Carlton

Britain and the Suez Crisis (Making Contemporary Britain)

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Churchill and the Soviet Union

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Anthony Eden, A Biography

The Cold War Debated

The Search for Stability in Russia and the Former Soviet Bloc

The History of Sportswashing: Using Sport To Clean Up A Tainted Reputation

Advances in Neonatology, an Issue of Pediatric Clinics, 56

Poetry of a Florida Cowboy

Crossing the Line: A History of Sports Cheats, Gamblers and Match Fixing Scandals

Rising Tension in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

The West's Road to 9/11: Resisting, Appeasing and Encouraging Terrorism since 1970

Contemporary Terror: Studies in Sub-State Violence

Arthurian Literature XXXIV (Arthurian Literature, 34)

Thought Optional: Pointers Toward Consciousness

Rate this book!

Write a review?