The History Deparatment is pleased to announce that MA candidate Lauren Berry will defend her thesis on Monday, August 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

The defence will take place both in person, in Room 600F of the Plaza building on the Brock University campus, and on Teams. It is open to interested members of the public.

Lauren’s thesis is entitled, “Panic and Popularity: English Women Actors and their Detractors, 1730-1810.” Her thesis supervisor is Dr. Jessica Clark.

Thesis abstract

In eighteenth-century England, claims circulated about the alleged licentiousness and immorality of both the theatre and actresses, fueling anxieties that dominated eighteenth-century English culture. This created challenges not only for the theatre, but also actresses as cultural creators; these included but were not limited to actresses not being taken seriously, stigma around their work, a nebulous social position for the group, and the emergence of a mode of celebrity that, while a positive development in some ways, also generated gossip, rumours, and scurrilous stories in the English press and popular culture.

This thesis argues that, in spite of these challenges, pro-theatricalists and actresses responded to detractors by asserting their role as cultural creators through their own writings, thus reclaiming a space among an emotional community of supporters who were key contributors to English cultural productions. It does so via both quantitative and qualitative historical methods.

For the former, this thesis surveys recurring language and arguments in twenty-six tracts from authors of various religious denominations and three tracts by secular authors. These incudes arguments made against the theatre in pamphlets, books, and sermons such as the anonymously written The Stage the High Road to Hell (1767) and Remarks on the Prevailing Custom of Attending Stage Entertainments (1794) by John Kendall.

For the latter, I undertake deep, contextual readings of print culture produced by both detractors of the theatre and cultural creators defending its significance—that is novels, plays, and autobiographies written by actresses such as Charlotte Charke and Mary Robinson—as well as pamphlets and responses created by pro-theatricalists and reformers. I also consult literature, conduct or advice manuals, encyclopedias, pamphlets, tracts, and sermons.

In doing so, this thesis demonstrates that eighteenth-century English actresses were cultural creators in their own right, who led the way in defending the theatre both explicitly and implicitly through their artistic works.