"Act[ing] Riotously": Theatre and Performance in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica

Valladares, Susan

Abstract

Theatrical culture in early nineteenth-century Jamaica attests to tense relationships between tradition and innovation, acceptance and resistance. The early nineteenth century has not, however, received much in-depth treatment by historians of the Jamaican stage, who have tended to focus, instead, on the establishment of formal theatre in the eighteenth century or its revival in the post-emancipation years. In its attempts to recover the bustling auditoria that distinguished Jamaica’s most popular playhouses in the 1810s, this essay details who attended the theatre, and what kind of rules regulated their behaviour. It examines how theatregoing practices reflected the inequalities that characterised Jamaican society; assesses efforts to enforce segregation within the island’s playhouses; and investigates the entertainments that existed beyond them, especially those associated with the members of society least represented or altogether excluded from the island’s theatre auditoria – Jamaica’s free black and enslaved men and women.

Citation

Valladares, S. (2022). "Act[ing] Riotously": Theatre and Performance in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica. The Review of English Studies, 73(309), 321-343. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab040

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 15, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Sep 27, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-04
• Deposit Date: Aug 11, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 28, 2021
• Journal: Review of English Studies
• Print ISSN: 0034-6551
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-6968
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 73
• Issue: 309
• Pages: 321-343
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab040
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1268473