New Plays on the London Stage, 1700-1810

A Daily Calendar of Major London Theatres, 1800-1810 [No longer available. See notice on this page.]


A Preliminary Checklist of the Correspondence of George Colman the younger [No longer available. See notice on this page.]
 

The Colonial American Stage, 1665-1774:  a Documentary Calendar
Colonial Stage Calendar

The New London Stage, 1700-1729
(Created by Professors Milhous and Hume)

Basic Bibliography of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Drama

This site provides extensive resources for students, teachers, scholars, and all others interested in researching the Georgian Theatre milieu, both in London and the British American colonies.  All of the data bases are searchable and constitute works-in-progress.  Additions and corrections are welcome and will be duly acknowledged.

Important Updates

Since only one person has contacted me about receiving the material as a cd-rom data base, I have concluded that no market exists for the information in that format at this time. Therefore the "New Plays on the London Stage, 1700-1810" is now once again available here on-line.

While I continue to believe that an electronic format is best, I may submit the material to my scholarly press for publication in traditional book format.

6 March 2006
Important announcement:  several of the major resources previously available on this web site are now withdrawn from free usage.

Feel free to contact me with all other comments at this address: WilliamBurling@missouristate.edu

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Critical praise for "Georgian Theatre."
        "[A] notable online resource, which should be of great interest to scholars researching the drama and theatre history of the period." 
        Humbul Humanities Web, University of Oxford (See complete review.)

Resource Descriptions

Now Available for purchase
The "New Plays" data base (over 530 pages) attempts to document over 2,600 new plays on the London stage during the eighteenth  and early nineteenth centuries (1700-1810).  All material ©2006 by William J. Burling.

The "Daily Calendar" data base (over 630 pages) attempts to provide basic documentation for every daily performance at five major London theatres during 1800-1810:  Drury Lane, Covent Garden, the King's Opera House, the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and the Lyceum.  Details include date, venue, play titles, designation of premieres, authorship of new plays, box office receipts (if available), and occasional miscellaneous comments (but not casting information, except for a very limited number of performances).  Please note that the calendar for the King's Opera House is still incomplete, especially for 1806-1810. All material © 2006 by William J. Burling.

The "Preliminary Checklist of the Correspondence of George Colman the Younger" attempts to document the known letters of a key figure who resided at the center of the late Georgian theatrical community.  Colman the younger knew  everyone of importance in the London theatre world from about 1780 until his death in 1836.  Hundreds of letters, both to and from Colman, and other documents are identified, many with annotations and short summaries. This "Checklist" is a major archival resource for research on Colman and his contemporaries.

Still available on this web site

The Colonial American Stage, 1665-1774:  A Documentary Calendar is adapted from the reference book of the same title by William J. Burling and Odai Johnson as published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (2002).  This calendar attempts to identify and record information pertaining to every known theatrical performance by a professional, semi-professional, collegiate, or military acting troupe in the British American colonies (including Canada and the West Indies) up to the time of the American Revolution.

The New London Stage, 1700-1729 is the revision-in-progress by Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume.  This monumental work, which provides a day-by-day calendar of performances on the London stage, presents massive new primary and contextual information. The site, which currently offers data for 1700-1711, is maintained by Professor Hume.

The "Basic Bibliography of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century English Drama" is created by José Ángel García Landa (University of Zaragoza, Spain) and appears in A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology (10th ed., 2005). This bibliography is far from complete but does contain much useful information.

Please feel free to leave public comments.

Colley Cibber
 

George Colman the younger

David Garrick
 

Sarah Siddons

J. P. Kemble