Descrizione del progetto
Gli aspetti economici del teatro del XVIII secolo
Gli studi letterari tendono in gran parte a non analizzare gli archivi finanziari dei teatri del XVIII secolo a causa della loro ampiezza e complessità. Tuttavia, i libri e i registri contabili contengono dati di grande importanza riguardo alla vendita dei biglietti, ai membri del pubblico, alle entrate, agli stipendi degli attori e numerose altre informazioni, che possono raccontarci molto sui limiti alla produzione culturale. Nel corso del progetto THEATRONOMICS, finanziato dall’UE, un gruppo interdisciplinare di economisti e storici del teatro studierà tali dati avvalendosi di un’analisi finanziaria che tenga in considerazione i contesti specifici dell’epoca. Il progetto analizzerà le informazioni contenute nei manoscritti provenienti dai due principali teatri londinesi: Covent Garden e Drury Lane. Grazie all’applicazione di innovativi metodi econometrici e all’utilizzo di strumenti per le scienze umane digitali per l’analisi di ricchi archivi transatlantici, THEATRONOMICS rivelerà una nuova prospettiva sulla cultura teatrale del XVIII secolo.
Obiettivo
Eighteenth-century literary studies has taken a ‘theatrical turn’ over the past twenty-five years and the century historically associated with the ‘rise of the novel’ now acknowledges the centrality of the theatre to Georgian cultural and political life. However, we have virtually ignored its remarkable financial archive. Account-books, ledgers, and ephemeral manuscript folios contain rich data on ticket sales, audience members, revenues, actor salaries, repayments to investors, costume, scenery and other costs: this is richly detailed source material that needs to be understood. THEATRONOMICS places money at the heart of eighteenth-century theatrical culture. This project will apply financial and econometric analysis to this data to write a new history of eighteenth-century theatrical culture (1732-1809). Manuscript data for Covent Garden and Drury Lane—the two major theatres of Europe’s biggest city—will be transcribed, digitized, and analysed using econometric methods in order to incorporate the theatres’ underlying commercial operations to our research. Our central goal is the application of economic methodologies so that new perspectives on the careers of managers, playwrights, actors, and plays emerge. When we look at the hard financial data underpinning the performance scheduling decisions; the productivity and profitability of actors; the amounts spent on scenery, costumes, scenery, and candles; and the socioeconomic profiles of the audience, we will have a transformative understanding of the ‘back end’ of the theatre business. By synthesizing this complex data, THEATRONOMICS will further enable us, by interacting with other datasets, to ask new interdisciplinary questions about the place of theatre within the ecology of London. THEATRONOMICS’s insistence on gazing through the financial lens of cultural production gives us an innovative and sustainable basis for the next generation of eighteenth-century theatre studies.
Campo scientifico
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicseconometrics
- humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistory
- humanitieslanguages and literatureliterature studiesliterary theoryliterary criticism
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- humanitiesartsperforming artsdramaturgy
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
H91 Galway
Irlanda