The Revolt of the Harem on the English Stage A Spectacle of Domestic Reform Molly Engelhardt

RESUMEN: The Revolt of the Harem was performed in London forty-tree times during the 1834 season to sell-out crowds; it continued to be talked about and staged, in various forms, into the 1850s. The ballet was created by Filippo Taglioni and received its first performance in Paris in 1833; but it was rewritten, restaged and renamed by Alfred Bunn (the Manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden) to add novelty to the English stage and, of course, to sell tickets. While the French production and its reception have received some attention in dance studies, no one has studied the ballet's longevity and popularity in England, where the home was understood as the hallmark of nation but where, also, a ballet about domestic revolt and female solidarity was received enthusiastically. This article recovers the English reception of the ballet to argue that, rather than a more orientalist spectacle to excite audiences and reinforce empire, Revolt of the Harem inspired feminist sentiments and participated in social reform beginning with the Child Custody Act of 1839 enacted better to protect women in their homes and marriages.