2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Entr'acte Entertainment on the London Stage, 1660-1800
Project/Area Number |
18K12328
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Research Institution | Waseda University |
Principal Investigator |
三好 力 早稲田大学, 教育・総合科学学術院, 専任講師 (30780788)
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Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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Keywords | Restoration drama / theatre history / entr'acte entertainment / 18th century |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The focus of this stage in the research project has been to survey the development of entr’acte entertainment during the years in which the theatre practitioner John Rich (1692-1761) was active. My research has so far indicated that entr’acte entertainment during the Restoration period was burgeoning, but it was really in the first half of the eighteenth-century that saw a rapid increase in the number of entr’actes so that by the 1750s they had become, as Donald J. Rulfs suggests, “a well-established phenomenon on the London stage”. John Rich, the manager of the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre from the year 1714, plays a crucial part in the development of entr’actes and therefore is the protagonist of the period for this research project. Consequently, The Stage’s Glory: John Rich (1692-1761) has been an invaluable source for this phase of the project. We see his immense influence on entr’actes with a following statistic from Moira Goff: “during its first season, Lincoln’s Inn Fields advertised entr’acte dancing at 125 performances” - this is compared to its rival theatre, Drury Lane, which only offered 46. What we see during this period is not only the rapid rise in the number of entr’actes but entr’actes beginning to take on a life of its own, separate from the plays themselves. I plan on presenting my findings on this period soon.
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Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The project is progressing at an acceptable pace.
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Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The next phase of the project is to survey the development of entr'acte entertainment from around the time of the licensing act (1737) to 1800.
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Causes of Carryover |
Due to the pandemic, research trips abroad was not possible.
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