Mowatt's Plays

Sep 4, 202317 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Edgar Allan Poe

Was Anna Cora Mowat one of "Poe’s Women?" When researching a fairly obscure historical figure like Anna Cora Mowatt, it is usually very...

Aug 4, 202312 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and “All That Glitters is Not Gold” - Part I

PART I: JOHN MADDISON MORTON AND HIS OTHER PLAY Originally posted Oct. 24, 2022 In any well-rounded streaming service that delivers...

Aug 2, 202328 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Louise Waller – Part IV

PART IV -- IN SICKNESS AND IN WEALTH: MEN, MONEY, AND ILLNESS IN MOWATT'S NARRATIVES [CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE] Originally posted June...

Aug 2, 202324 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Louise Waller – Part III

PART III -- LOVE, SEX, AND HEROES Originally posted June 6, 2022 The truth is the majority of people don’t really care about history. ...

Aug 2, 202321 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Louise Waller – Part II

PART II -- MOWATT, MEN, AND VILLANY Originally posted May 23, 2022 If you pick up a book about popular culture in the 19th century in the...

Aug 2, 202321 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and Louise Waller

PART I: MOWATT'S WOMEN Originally posted May 9, 2022 A Master’s thesis is really a horrid sort of little document. In the Humanities,...

Aug 1, 202322 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and What’s in a Name – Part II

PART II: ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE Originally posted March 28, 2022 The Victorian opulence of Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie’s name...

Aug 1, 202321 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and What’s In A Name

PART I: THE TIES THAT BIND Originally published March 14, 2022 Around this time last year, a well-meaning publishing company launched a...

Jul 13, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Gulzara, and the Well-Made Play

Originally posted on March 1, 2021 Parlor theatricals were a popular culture phenomenon of the Victorian era. As such they have received...

Jul 10, 202316 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the March Sisters versus the Ogden Sisters

Originally published Feb. 8, 2021 Without doubt, the most famous parlor theatrical in the history of literature is the “operatic tragedy”...

Jul 10, 20237 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Gulzara, and the Parlor Theatrical

Originally posted on Feb. 1, 2021 I have never come across any laments from theatre historians bemoaning the fact that so few scripts of...

Jul 8, 20237 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Gertrude, and Blanche

Originally published Jan. 18, 2021 [Librivox’s recording of this play can be heard here.] Although she was called upon to play the...

Jul 7, 20239 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and Uncle Sam

Originally published on Dec. 28, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Perhaps the most incredible thing that I...

Jul 7, 20238 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and the Museum Crowd

Originally published Dec. 21, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) Last week, I talked about the triumph of...

Jul 5, 202310 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and the Fast Man

Originally posted Dec. 14, 2020 (Listen to a full cast recording of "Armand" at Librivox) In past entries, I have talked about Mary...

Jul 5, 202311 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Woman Who Didn’t Write “Fashion”

Originally posted on Dec. 7, 2020 Anna Cora Mowatt’s success as a playwright in the spring of 1845 was as unprecedented as it was...

Jul 5, 20239 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt and a Pair of “Breeches”

Originally published Nov. 30, 2020 As a woman who simultaneously achieved international fame as both a playwright and an actress, Anna...

Jul 2, 20236 min read

Anna Cora Mowatt, Armand, and the Silver Vase

Originally published May 8, 2020 (Listen to an audio recording of the play "Armand" here.) Inasmuch as Anna Cora Mowatt is known in the...