Cover; THE MAKING OF THE WEST END STAGE; Title; Copyright; Contents; Illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; THE NEW WEST END; PART I: MAPPING; PART II: MAKING; THE SELECT COMMITTEES AND THE RECEIVED ACCOUNT, 1832-66; THE AFTERLIFE OF THE NATIONAL DRAMA; PART I Mapping; CHAPTER 1 Why the West End?; WALKING ROUND THE TOWN; DOWN THE STRAND; THE PERSISTENCE OF PLEASURE; CHAPTER 2 The Era: hierarchies, seriousness and the organ of the profession; INTRODUCTION: SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS; THE ORGAN OF THE PROFESSION; THE TREATY OF PARIS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF COVENT GARDEN
THE FRONT PAGE: RESIDUAL HIGH CULTURE12THE BACK PAGE: THE EMERGENT MUSIC HALL; THE CENTRE PAGES: SERIOUS PEOPLE LIKE US; BY ANY OTHER NAME: DRAMATIC READERS AND MODERN ENTERTAINMENTS; VICTORIAN MODERNITY: THE REAL AND ALBERT SMITH; AND FINALLY, THE LADIES; 'THE VERSATILITY OF WOMEN': MRS GERMAN REED; THE WORRIES OF THE 1866 SELECT COMMITTEE; CONCLUSION: MEN IN BLACK; CHAPTER 3 Bohemian domesticity: the city of the mind; THE LOST LEADERS; THE HERO AS MAN OF LETTERS; REAL MEN DON'T WRITE PLAYS; BOHEMIA: SELLING THE CITY OF THE MIND; ROLLING LOGS AND STARING OUT OF WINDOWS: WEST END CLUBS
BOHEMIAN GIRLS?46UPPER BOHEMIA -- THE MID-VICTORIAN SALON; (BOHEMIAN) FAMILIES (OF CHOICE); PART II Making; CHAPTER 4 Performing the crisis; CATEGORY PANIC IN THE 1840S; ELIZA VESTRIS: A CAREER ON THE CROSSWAYS; 'ESPIÉGLERIE' AND THE FASHIONABLE AUDIENCE; PLAYING THE BOY: GENDER EXPERIMENT IN THE EARLY WEST END; 'HER ASTONISHING AND PECULIAR TALENT':31 THE CASE OF CELINE CELESTE; CONCLUSION; CHAPTER 5 The shaping of West End management; THE THEATRICAL FAMILY; THE 'DEMI-MONDE'; THE INDEPENDENT WOMAN; MARRIAGE AND MANAGEMENT; THE KEANS; THE WIGANS; THE KEELEYS
CONCLUSION: THE BANCROFTS AND THE NEXT GENERATIONCORRECTING THE RECORD; CHAPTER 6 Showtime; THE KEELEYS AND 'SALIQUE MANAGEMENT' AT THE LYCEUM; THE NEW INSPIRATION: CHARLES DICKENS AND THE WEST END DRAMA; 'A PECULIAR REPUTATION': CELESTE AND WEBSTER AT THE ADELPHI; SETTLING OUT? GENTILITY AND THE BURLESQUE; AND SO TO THE STRAND; CONCLUSION; Conclusion; AND THEN?; Bibliography; MANUSCRIPTS; ONLINE REFERENCE WORKS; NINETEENTH-CENTURY NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS; WORKS CONSULTED; Index
Summary
Bratton presents a completely new history of the dynamic beginnings of the modern world of London West End theatre
