1. Examiner of Plays.
- Subjects
Government policy ,Performing arts ,Great Britain. Examiner of Plays ,Performing arts -- Law & legislation - Abstract
In Great Britain the examiner of plays was a functionary in the office of the Lord Chamberlain Lord Chamberlain to whom, by statute, he was responsible. From the early eighteenth century, when the office was created, until its abolition in 1968, the examiner was specifically charged with reviewing and censoring public theatrical productions. Holders of the office were generally narrow-minded and conservative, wielding an authority that proved unduly repressive to artistic expression in British drama, particularly in the nineteenth century. George Colman Colman, George was perhaps the most arrogant and notorious of the nineteenth century examiners, purging plays of all references to religion, identifiable prominent personalities, politics, and sexual suggestiveness. Colman’s excesses were prominent among the concerns that prompted the House of Commons to appoint a select committee to review current laws on licensing and censorship in the theater in 1823. Although the committee, chaired by novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, Edward , recommended the abolition of censorship and the office of the examiner, Parliament rejected its conclusions. The Theatre Regulation Act of 1843 Theatre Regulation Act of 1843 reaffirmed the Lord Chamberlain Lord Chamberlain ’s authority and officially established the censorship responsibilities of the examiner of plays. Examiner of plays more...
- Published
- 2023