The Taste of the Town: Shakespearian Comedy and the Early Eighteenth-Century Theater by Katherine West Scheil (review)

Abstract

MLR, 100.3, 2005 767 The Taste ofthe Town: Shakespearian Comedy and theEarly Eighteenth-Century The? ater. By Katherine West Scheil. (Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture) Cranbury, NJ: Bucknell University Press; London: As? sociated University Presses. 2003. 333 pp. ?44. ISBN 0-8387-5537-2. The Taste of the Town charts the adaptation and reception of Shakespearian come? dies from the Restoration to the Licensing Act of 1737. Katherine West Scheil's detailed study demonstrates that all the adaptations from the period?whether they introduced music, dance, or visual spectacle to the Shakespearian original, whether they generated topical humour or provided a star vehicle?shared the fundamental objective of entertaining a paying audience. The formulae foradapting Shakespeare's comedies were determined in the Restora? tion. Dramatists recognized that they were most likely to satisfy their capricious au? diences' desire for 'novelty' ifthey embellished the originals with theatrical spectacle. Subsequent adapters adopted the same basic approach, with minor dramatic inno? vations being prompted by changes in theatrical conditions, such as the arrival of a star performer, a change of venue, or heightened competition between theatres. As West Scheil shows, Shakespeare's comedies were treated as raw material during the period. Adapters appropriated complete narratives or comic subplots, characters or diverse fragments of speeches, in their attempts to create commercially viable entertainment . Such was the profit imperative that dramatists' aesthetic principles were frequently sacrificed at the altar of public taste. The author illustrates this neatly in her examination of John Dennis's 1702 adaptation of Merry Wives. Dennis, a literary critic renowned forhis love of Shakespeare, his admiration of neo-classical principles, his loathing of ltalian opera, and his despair at popular cultural taste, nevertheless resorted to slapstick humour, bawdy farce, and a musical masque when he adapted Shakespearian comedy. This monograph provides a useful counterbalance to the cultural histories of Shake? speare's eighteenth-century afterlifethatwere published in the early 1990s, by demon? strating that comedies played little part in the poet's early canonization. West Scheil argues that the process of constructing England's national poet built upon his reputa? tion as the author ofthe major tragedies and a handful ofhistory plays. As Shakespeare was not esteemed as an author of comedies, the adapters discussed in the book rarely acknowledged their source because his name was not a selling point?if it had been, dramatists in such a fiercely competitive system would certainly have capitalized on the association. However, the salutary reminder that Shakespeare's cultural prestige initially rested upon his authorship of an elite subset of his works is followed by West Scheil's less persuasive claim that the modes of adapting his plays diverged according to genre. In the brief section of her introduction where the author discusses the adaptation of histories and tragedies, she appears to accept that they were refined, modernized, or brought into line with political and critical fashions, to contribute to the project of the playwright's cultural elevation. While adapters of highly esteemed Shakespearian plays capitalized on the author's growing national reputation, they were also highly alert to changes in the theatrical climate, writing plays that utilized the available personnel and venue, in accord with theatregoers' tastes. Adaptations of tragedies and histories drew upon visual and musical spectacle just as heavily as their generic poor cousins. West Scheil's suggestion that comedies were distinctive forbeing adapted in accordance with economic concerns and theatrical practicalities is erroneous. Moreover, the author's determination to demonstrate that each comic adaptation was commercially contingent and a direct product of its theatrical conditions of production results in a stylistic stutter. West Scheil reiterates her argument with such frequency that the reader begins to have some sympathy with the novelty- 768 Reviews hungry theatregoers of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, if the author's claims for the unique treatment of Shakespearian comedies are treated with caution, this monograph provides a valuable detailed study of a range of texts that have received little serious scholarly attention. Oxford Brookes University Rebecca Rogers Shakespeare Minus 'Theory'. By Tom McAlindon. Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate. 2004. xii +210 pp. ?45. ISBN 0-7546-3981-9. Bawdy and Soul: A Revaluation of...