1. Introducing Thomas Harris
2. The king of clubs
3. ‘Plausible’ Jack and the Royalty adventurers
4. When sorrows come, they come not single spies
5. Selling a life
Index
Warren Oakley is a former research fellow of the Folger Institute, Washington DC, and visiting fellow of the Houghton, Harvard University
‘Unlike Garrick, Harris has remained largely in the shadows —
seemingly by choice. Warren Oakley drags him out into the light in
his notable biography [...] Yet, "Jupiter" Harris was perhaps more
than just a theatre manager: Oakley has taken considerable pains to
unearth the details of his deep involvement, while running Covent
Garden with considerable success, in the British Secret Service […]
Oakley convincingly shows up a deficiency in the conventional
eighteenth-century theatre narrative: the overlooked Harris, when
mentioned at all, has usually been cast as a bit part or the
villain of the piece.’
Times Literary Supplement, January 2019
'Oakley’s study is based on extraordinarily dedicated research […]
Throughout, Oakley’s detailed work produces valuable insights into
the complex operation that Harris struggled and ultimately failed
to keep afloat. The analysis of the incomplete financial records by
which we see Harris’s juggling of countless debts and liabilities –
and his willingness to commit fraud – is particularly impressive
[…] the underlying research is exceptional, and overall this study
offers an intriguing depiction of one of the more obscure yet most
powerful figures within the eighteenth-century theatre
business.’
Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
'Thomas "Jupiter" Harris provides a meticulous investigation of
Thomas Harris and everyone involved in the life of Covent Garden in
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The carefully
researched theatre history reads like a novel abounding in
political intrigue, social unrest, violence, and crime, but it also
documents the life of a manager whose passion was his theatre. It
is not only a book for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century theatre
scholars, it is also a captivating book for British history
enthusiasts.'
Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research
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