Frances Burney, A Busy Day; or, An Arrival from India

Eleanor Crouch (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1778

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

With Tara Ghoshal Wallace’s 1984 edition, A Busy Day was the first of Burney’s plays to be published. It reached a yet wider audience in 1993 when it was given its premiere at the Hen and Chicken, Bristol, by the Show of Strength theatre company, after actor and director Alan Coveney discovered Wallace’s text in a local bookshop (Sabor I: xi). In 2000 Coveney brought out his own edition of the play which he describes as an adapted version suitable for use “by actors and directors in the rehearsal room as well as [... for] general readers” (Coveney, 11).

Joyce Hemlow described A Busy Day as “a comedy of manners”, and more than this a “devastating and comprehensive satire on the bad manners of high and …

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2104 words

Citation: Crouch, Eleanor. "A Busy Day; or, An Arrival from India". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23809, accessed 20 May 2024.]

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