Restoration Stage (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Restoration Stage<br><br>When Samuel Pepy's Diary was first published, it became evident that here, in the private jottings of this Restoration man-about-town, was captured the spirit of that urbane and bawdy era. The Diary also revealed that Pepys was a devoted play-goer who faithfully recorded his impressions of plays, players, theatre audiences, and current tastes in drama. These acute observations are particularly valuable because they record the great changes then taking place in the art of the drama and in the techniques of stage productions. The Diary has come to be regarded as the standard reference for the Restoration theatre.<br><br>Helen McAfee has grouped all Pepys' theatre references under separate headings that cover plays, performers, productions, and audiences. Introductory essays consider Pepys as a theatre historian and evaluate the Diary's theatre record. Extensive parallel passages from the writings of such contemporaries as Downes, Langbaine, and Evelyn are given. The notes and commentary serve to illuminate the references found in the Diary.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.