Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%
Skip to main content
Absolutely Revolting
Theatre

Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre by Eric Irvin

by Mary Lord •
June 1982, no. 41

Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre by Eric Irvin

Hale & Iremonger, illus., biblio., index, 160 p., $9.95 pb., $19.95 hb, 0 908094 77 9 pb, 0 908094 76 0 hb.

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

It seems that going to the theatre has always been a popular activity with Australians. Popular theatre during the period covered by this book (1834–1914) staged a remarkable variety of Australian plays: operettas, melodramas, burlesques, sensation plays, and extravaganzas. On Our Selection, the first play to be called ‘Australian through and through’, opened to an audience of more than a thousand and achieved tremendous popularity.

 


Continue reading for only $10 per month.
Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review.

Already a subscriber? .
If you need assistance, feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Leave a comment

Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre by Eric Irvin

Hale & Iremonger, illus., biblio., index, 160 p., $9.95 pb., $19.95 hb, 0 908094 77 9 pb, 0 908094 76 0 hb.

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

From the New Issue

Apple in China: The capture of the world’s greatest company
Technology

Apple in China: Apple in the world by Patrick McGee

by Stuart Kells
On Display: The story of Artbank, Australia’s most visible collection
Art

On Display: A story worth telling by Laura Couttie

by Julie Ewington
‘Questions for Mai: Joshua Reynolds’s portrait and the memory of Empire’ by Kate Fullagar
Essay

‘Questions for Mai: Joshua Reynolds’s portrait and the memory of Empire’

by Kate Fullagar
Letters – October 2025
Letters

Letters – October 2025

by Eli McLean, Theodore Ell, Ben Brooker, et al.

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.

Submit comment