The "business of performance": Theatre impresarios and the dramatic repertoire in the Southern Netherlands between 1680 and 1795.

For the first time in a study of the late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century theatre and opera life in Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp, emphasis will be placed on the role of the impresario and on the effects of the "business of performance" (i.e. the way theatres were run and drama was produced and performed) on the repertoire.By doing so I will answer such questions as: What motivated impresarios to run a theatre? What aesthetic/literary aspirations did they hope to realize and how did financial motivations influence artistic decisions? What can the role of the impresarios tell us about the alleged cultural (literary) crisis experienced by the Southern Netherlands? What was the status of the surprisingly significant number of female impresarios? What kind of plays and librettos did these impresarios commission? How was foreign repertoire adapted to appeal to a local audience and local authorities? How did local playwrights react? And finally, how did satirical plays portray the impresarios?

Keywords:THEATRE IN FLANDERS, THEATRE HISTORY

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies, Theatre and performance