JEFFREY RICHARDS is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University, UK. His most recent books are Hollywood's Ancient Worlds (2008), Sir Henry Irving: a Victorian Actor and His World (2005) and Imperialism and Music (2001). His jointly authored work John Ruskin and the Victorian Theatre (with Katherine Newey) is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan.

Foreword The Victorians and the Ancient World The Early Victorian Actor-Managers and the Ancient World Living Greek Statues Wilson Barrett's Ancient World Irving's Ancient World Tree's Ancient World The Toga Play: Climax and Decline Notes Index

The first study of the depictions of the Ancient World on the Victorian and Edwardian stage, this book analyzes plays set in and dramatising the histories of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Babylon and the Holy Land. In doing so, it seeks to locate theatre within the wider culture, tracing its links and interaction with other cultural forms.