Title

The Magazine-Programme and the Broadbrow Sophisticate: Britain’s Interwar Theatre Culture

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

This article makes a significant contribution to modernist studies by including interwar theatre in the lively critical conversations around popular modernism, middlebrow culture, celebrity, and magazines. It examines The Magazine-Programme, a popular publication sold in London's West End between the wars. Its position at the intersection of the social, economic, and cultural registers of the theatre world reveals the transformative power of this period's theatre culture and its importance to modernism. Based on an examination of hundreds of these programs in various archives, it discusses how The Magazine-Programmecreated and promoted a new image of the modern theatre-goer and, by extension, a new image of modern selfhood: the Broadbrow Sophisticate.

Publication Title

Modernist Cultures

Volume

13

Issue

4

First Page

518

Last Page

545

DOI of Published Version

10.3366/mod.2018.0228

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

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