|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
melodrama
|
|
Term used from the early 19C for plays, usually of a sensational kind, interspersed with the occasional song (melos in Greek). As the century progressed, the songs were dropped. Heroines in melodrama were always pure, while villains (the real stars of the entertainment) were of the deepest hue. Real crimes often provided a popular plot (such as The *Red Barn), and even the greatest actors were not above making the most of melodrama's possibilities (*Irving, for example, in The Bells). The most performed of them all was *East Lynne.
|
|
|
|