Henry Irving's Waterloo: Theatrical Engagements with Arthur Conan Doyle, George Bernard Shaw, Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig, Late-Victorian ... Assorted Ghosts, Old Men, War, and History [Hardcover]

W. D. King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 1993

In this creative study of history and popular culture, W. D. King ingeniously illustrates how a long-forgotten instance in theatre history can reveal the very process of historical change itself.
Late in the nineteenth century, Henry Irving, the leading actor-manager of the English stage, was scathingly attacked by George Bernard Shaw for his popular performance in Conan Doyle's play, A Story of Waterloo. Shaw's review was one of the first onslaughts in a war against the old guard of the English stage, against Victorianism, against England and Empire itself. King's depiction of this event and its aftermath illuminates the period's crucial values and cultural issues, and is presented in a manner that is both convincing and highly entertaining.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"This is an extraordinary, provocative, and informative book which covers a wide range of aspects of the theatre of the time and touches upon a large number of individual artists and personalities. The book locates a theatrical phenomenon in the larger culture, drawing upon documents around and beyond the theatre itself. It will shake up complacent scholars, generate a new methodological freedom, and open up a whole period to sophisticated and creative cultural analysis."--Cary M. Mazer, author of Shakespeare Refashioned

"W. D. King has developed an original close-reading of a particular (and only apparently marginal) episode of theatrical history and has placed that episode within a network of crucial cultural issues and values. The book is original in methodology, elegant in its argument, and persuasive in its conclusions."--Joseph R. Roach, author of The Player's Passion

About the Author

W. D. King is Associate Professor of Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (November 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520080726
• ISBN-13: 978-0520080720
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,423,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unusual look at (theatre) history, June 18, 2001

By 

J. W. Reitsma (Haarlem, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henry Irving's Waterloo: Theatrical Engagements with Arthur Conan Doyle, George Bernard Shaw, Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig, Late-Victorian ... Assorted Ghosts, Old Men, War, and History (Hardcover)

King's book deals with the performance of Arthur Conan Doyle's short play "A Story of Waterloo" by eminent Victorian actor Henry Irving and a devastating review of this production written by George Bernard Shaw in 1895. The play is about an old and feeble soldier who has played a heroic role at Waterloo and pathetically dies while reliving his finest hour, thereby bringing the house down (in the theatre, that is). King uses this intersection of two remarkable theatrical careers to consider the Victorians' retrospective glance at the Napoleontic wars, the nature of Irving's performance, which by modern standards would be inconceivably sentimental, Irving's relation to his audience, Shaw's development as a critic and playwright, Irving's leading lady Ellen Terry and her son, the theatre director, designer and Irving acolyte Edward Gordon Craig. An instructive and entertaining read for anyone with a broad interest in the theatre and (cultural) history. Highly accessible, but marred by some unnecessary excursions into academic obscurities that the opening chapters had led me to believe were going to be avoided. Still, fascinating stuff.