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It seems that going to the theatre has always been a popular activity with Australians. Popular theatre during the period covered by this book (1834–1914) staged a remarkable variety of Australian plays: operettas, melodramas, burlesques, sensation plays, and extravaganzas. On Our Selection, the first play to be called ‘Australian through and through’, opened to an audience of more than a thousand and achieved tremendous popularity.
- Book 1 Title: Australian Melodrama
- Book 1 Subtitle: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre
- Book 1 Biblio: Hale & Iremonger, illus., biblio., index, 160 p., $9.95 pb., $19.95 hb, 0 908094 77 9 pb, 0 908094 76 0 hb.
Eric Irvin, the author of a number of books and articles on theatre in this country, gives a lively and discursive account of the plays, dramatists, theatre managers, and actors who contributed to this lively period of our theatre history, and includes an appendix which lists more than 600 locally written plays produced in Australian theatres during the period, with a description of the type of play and the date and place of first performance.
This is not simply a useful reference tool for the student, but an enjoyable and informative book for all those interested in Australian theatre history.
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