From the Editors

Robert D. Hume was a member of the Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research board of editors and a consistent friend to the journal. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine a journal such as RECTR flourishing had the field not been so hugely illuminated by his work. As Derek Hughes notes, more or less single-handedly Hume moved Restoration drama and theatre studies from a bleak antechamber—after Shakespeare but before Goldsmith and Sheridan—toward a wide-ranging field of dynamic and innovative research that included studies of politics, gender, stagecraft, and economics and turned traditional taxonomies of development on their head. No matter how we revisit, revise, and reimagine the nature of performance, The London Stage (1960–70) remains an incredible achievement, and its volumes can never be far from our desks. We all probably have favorites among Hume’s many books, but certainly The Rakish Stage (1983) is a joy to read as well as a huge resource. It is worth noting that Hume wrote clearly and without recourse to jargon in a lively, often witty, and frequently combative manner—engaged and engaging. He was a regular presence at conferences in the United States and internationally and will be greatly missed.