SOURCE: Cox, Jeffrey N. Introduction to Seven Gothic Dramas: 1789-1825, edited by Jeffrey N. Cox, pp. 1-77. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1992.

In the following excerpt, Cox provides an overview of the history of Gothic drama and an examination of its main features and themes.

On 14 December 1797, Matthew Gregory “Monk” Lewis's The Castle Spectre was played for the first time at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Rarely did Drury Lane have such a success. Opening half-way through the season, The Castle Spectre was performed forty-seven more times before the theater closed for the summer in June, an extraordinary run at a repertory theater of the day. It was offered another nineteen times during the next season at Drury Lane; and, in eloquent testimony to the play's popularity, the rival Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, also presented the play on 30 April 1799 during a period when it was still being offered...