{"product_id":"9780300263657","title":"Staging \"The Mysterious Mother\" by Jonathan Kramnick","description":"The first book-length study of Horace Walpole's scandalous The Mysterious Mother, including critical essays, an abridged script, and a facsimile edition ? Horace Walpole's five-act tragedy The Mysterious Mother (1768), a sensational tale of incest and intrigue, was initially circulated only among the author's friends. Walpole never permitted it to be performed during his lifetime except as a private theatrical. He described his play as a \"delicious entertainment for the closet\" and claimed that he \"did not think it would do for the stage.\" Yet the essays in this volume trace a history of private readings, amateur theatricals, and even early public performances, demonstrating that the play was read and performed more than Walpole's protests suggest. Exploring a wide variety of topics-including the play's crypto-Catholicism, its treatments of incest, guilt, motherhood, orphans, and scientific spectacle, and the complex relations between print and performance-the essays demonstrate the rich relevance of The Mysterious Mother to current critical discussions.    ? The volume includes the proceedings of a mini-conference hosted at Yale University in 2018 on the occasion of a staged reading of the play. Also included are the director's reflections, an abridged script, a facsimile of Walpole's own copy of the full-length play, and reproductions of the illustrations he commissioned from Lady Diana Beauclerk.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56232098136437,"sku":"9780300263657","price":55.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300263657.jpg?v=1762272120","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780300263657","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}