Nineteenth-century Theatre And The Imperial Encounter

In This Study, Gould Argues That It Was In The Imperial Capitals Theatrical Venues That The Public Was Put Into With The Places And Peoples Of Empire. Plays And Similar Forms Of Spectacle Offered Victorian Audiences The Illusion Of Unmediated Access To The Imperial Periphery; Separated From The Action By Only The Thin Shadow Of The Proscenium Arch, Theatrical Audiences Observed Cross-cultural In Action. But Without Narrative Direction Of The Sort Found In Novels And Travelogues, Theatregoers Were Left To Their Own Interpretive Devices, Making Imperial Drama Both A Powerful And Yet Uncertain Site For The Transmission Of Official Imperial Ideologies.