Shakespeare Burlesqued

The excessive worship of Shakespeare (‘Bardolatry’) in the 19th century and spectacular productions of his plays by star actors of the day, such as Macready, Charles Keene and Irving, produced a reaction In the form of burlesque versions of the more popular plays (notably Hamlet, Macbeth and Richard 111) which were themselves enormously popular. This lecture will be exploring the work of some of the most prominent practitioners of this genre, such as John Poole, Frank Talfourd and F.C. Burnand, and considering the reasons for their success.

Professor Michael Slater, MBE, Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature, Birkbeck, and Senior Fellow, Institute of English Studies in the School of Advanced Studies, University of London is a former Editor of The Dickensian and a Past President both of the Dickens Fellowship and of the Dickens Society of America. He is the author of a number of studies of Dickens including Dickens and Women (1983) and a major biography Charles Dickens 1812 - 1870. A Life Defined by Writing (2009). He is now working on an edition of Dickens’s uncollected short fiction 1857 – 1868.

Artists : Professor Michael Slater, MBE, Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature, Birkbeck, and Senior Fellow, Institute of English Studies in the School of Advanced Studies, University of London