In this final volume of the Redefining British Theatre History series, an innovative and wide-ranging collection of essays brings together leading scholars from Britain and America. The Performing Century looks at modes of performance and forms of theatre in nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland, placing drama and performance in the social and cultural contexts of the rapid transformations in nineteenth-century society. From the vogue for fairy plays to the acting styles of melodrama, from the work of the impresario George Edwardes to the solo comic performances of Charles Matthews, from launching ships in Belfast to royal weddings in England, from the representation of economics in drama to the work of a parliamentary committee in regulating theatres, from the Boxing Day audiences for pantomimes to the nature of circus, the authors bring new perspectives to bear on familiar material and radically redefine the meaning of theatre and performance in the nineteenth century.