Steele at Drury Lane

Steele at Drury Lane by John Loftis offers a comprehensive study of Richard Steele’s pivotal role as both playwright and reformer in the early eighteenth-century London theater. Appointed by George I as governor of Drury Lane in 1714, Steele was entrusted with the unusual responsibility of supervising repertory and purging plays of offensive material—an appointment that reflected contemporary anxieties over declining standards on the stage. Loftis situates Steele within this climate of refo...