Race and Theatre in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Abstract

The early nineteenth century was a formative time for the construction and establishment of racial thinking. Theatre and performance played a crucial part in this, but also at points ironised and undermined it. This was partly because stage arts depend on performance, impersonation, and illusion, and partly because older plays survived in the repertoire, in which ideas of class and natural nobility, rather than colour, determined notions of identity. Nevertheless, throughout the nineteenth century, ‘racial’ performance took on forms and conventions which helped underpin imperial ideology. For performers of colour, these conventions both provided opportunities in the theatre, and limited the roles and representations available.