English Civil War and Restoration Theatre

• The English Civil War occurred from 1642-1649 between Puritan Parliamentarians and Royalists
• The war concluded with Charles I's execution in 1649, ushering in the Commonwealth Period from 1649-1660.
• Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, led the Commonwealth Period.
• Cromwell's death in 1658 led to political uncertainty.
• Charles II was invited from France to become king, marking the Restoration.
• The Interregnum spanned from 1642-1660, signifying a suspension of normal government.
• The Restoration refers to the monarchy's return under Charles II.
• Theatre was banned for 18 years during this period to prevent public disorder but was reinstated with Charles II's return.

Reopening of Theatres

• In 1662, Charles II granted royal patents to William Davenant and Thomas Killigrew to establish two theatres.
• Killigrew founded the King’s Company, which featured older, experienced actors.
• Davenant established the Duke’s Company, which fostered young talent.
• Davenant’s company was more successful financially, leading to a merger after Killigrew died.
• William Davenant lived from 1606-1668.
• Thomas Killigrew lived from 1612-1683.
• Only Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres were permitted to stage spoken dramas.

Key Playwrights

• George Farquhar (1678-1707) wrote The Recruiting Officer.
• William Congreve (1670-1729) is known for The Way of the World.

Genres of Writing

• Neoclassical plays, often adaptations of Shakespeare with happy endings, were popularized by John Dryden.
• Comedy of manners, influenced by Moliere, focused on the upper class and innuendo, with The Country Wife as a key example.
• Comedy of intrigues, exemplified by Aphra Behn’s The Rover, featured daring female characters.
• John Dryden lived from 1631-1700 and wrote All For Love.
• William Wycherley (1641-1716) is known for The Country Wife.
• Susanna Centlivre (1669-1723) wrote The Busy Body.
• Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is famous for The Rover.

Characteristics of Restoration Drama and Comedy

• Characters were drawn from the upper classes.
• Plays were preoccupied with fashion and trendy activities.
• Seduction and romantic couples were common themes.
• There was a cynical view of marriage.
• Puns, wordy jokes, and sparkling dialogue were prevalent.
• Dirty jokes and sexual content were included.
• High character virtue was defined as unsentimental self-knowledge.

Most Famous Actor

• Thomas Betterton (1635-1710) began his career under Davenant at the Duke’s Company.
• He was known for his portrayal of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes.
• Betterton epitomized the oratorical style of acting.
• He became the manager of the United Company and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Actresses

• Actresses played Breeches Roles.
• Nell Gwynn lived from 1650-1687.
• Moll Davis lived from 1648-1708.
• Elizabeth Barry lived from 1658-1713.

Scenic Design

• Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554) was a Renaissance Italian artist and architect who combined Vitruvius’ images with perspective drawing in his Architettura (1545), creating ideal settings for tragic, comic, and pastoral scenes.
• Giacomo Torelli (1608-1678), known as "the Italian Magician," invented the pole and chariot method of set change.
• The Cesky Krumlov opera house in the Czech Republic is the oldest surviving baroque theatre globally.
• Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812) was a famous English scenic designer who worked with David Garrick at the Drury Lane Theatre.
• Loutherbourg introduced "local color" into set design and made lighting developments using gauze and silk screens and was famous for the Eidophusikon.

The "Long 18th Century" (1685-1815)

• This period encompassed the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, American and French Revolutions, Napoleonic Wars, and the establishment of colonial empires.

The Enlightenment

• John Locke (1632-1704) stated that the mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone.
• David Hume (1711-1776) believed that a wise person proportions their belief to the evidence.
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) posited that all knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds to understanding, and ends with reason.
• Denis Diderot (1713-1784) identified observation, reflection, and experimentation as the primary means of acquiring knowledge. The Enlightenment emphasized the scientific method, rationalism and empiricism, and the "tabula rasa" conception of man.

18th Century Acting Style

• Prior to Garrick, acting was based on rhetoric and oratory.
• Roman rhetorician Quintilian (35-100AD) first articulated specific rules for persuasive oratory in Institutio Oratoria.
• By the time of Thomas Betterton (1635-1710), this gestural style of acting was predominant and called "bombastic," "declamatory," or "rhetorical."
• Actors addressed their lines to the audience, not other characters, and gestures were memorized and practiced.
• James Quin (1693-1766) also excelled at this method.
• David Garrick (1717-1779) is considered the earliest director because he oversaw all production elements and became the patent holder of Drury Lane in 1747.
• Garrick increased rehearsal time to weeks, banned audience members from the stage, hired Loutherbourg as a set designer, and was known for a more natural acting style.
• He was the first actor buried in Westminster Abbey and excelled in Shakespearean roles.

Influence of the Enlightenment

• Acting was reframed as a scientific and mechanical process rather than a rhetorical one.
• Garrick's essay on Acting calls for the actor to be conversant with human nature, and copy from life.
• Diderot’s Paradox of the Actor (1773) argues that the best actors do not feel emotions but create an illusion of feeling.
• Psychologist Silvan Thompkins proved that there are six universal affects, stating that emotions are preprogrammed, genetically transmitted mechanisms.

Backlash Against Restoration Comedy

• The Society for the Reformation of Manners was established in 1691 to suppress profanity, immorality, and prostitution in England.
• In 1698, Jeremy Collier wrote “A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage”.
• The Licensing Act of 1737 challenged the patents given to Davenant and Killigrew and set up the Office of the Examiner of Plays.

Impact of the Industrial Revolution (1750-1830)

• The rising middle class wanted plays about bourgeois characters with middle-class moral values.
• Sentimentalism rose as a counterbalance to the dehumanization of factories, urbanization, and mechanized labor.

Backlash Against Enlightenment Rationalism

• Reaction against rationalism led to sentimentalism.
• This was a precursor to the Romantic movement in the 19th century.

Sentimentalist Theatre of the 18th Century

• Bourgeois Tragedy elevated middle and lower-class characters to the level of tragedy.
• This aimed at modeling good morality, where the good are rewarded, and the evil are punished.
• The London Merchant by George Lillo is an example.
• Sentimental Comedy grew out of Restoration drama and focused on middle-class characters, with the good rewarded and the evil punished.
• There was no verse, it was more realistic, and had happy endings that made people cry.
• The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele is an example.

Laughing Comedies

• She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (1773) parodies sentimental comedy while affirming middle-class values.

Rise of German Theatre: Sturm & Drang

• German theatre wasn’t able to develop until after the 30 Years War (1618-1648).
• Rulers imported theatre troupes from Italy and France for neoclassical performances.
• In the 1760s, Shakespeare was translated to German for the first time, shattering neoclassical norms.
• German playwrights wrote big, dramatic, tragic plays with themes of anti-rationalism, pro-emotion, and pro-individualism.
• Gotz von Berlichingen had 31 scene changes, 9 sets, and 23 actors.
• Playwrights include Johannes Goethe (Faust) and Friedrich Schiller (Mary Stuart & Die Rauber).
• Die Rauber included controversial scenes like a double suicide and a nun being raped, causing audience members to faint.

First Play in North America and US

• 1606 Canada: The Theatre of Neptune was performed in the harbor of Port Royal.
• Actors playing Micmacs proclaimed loyalty to the King of France, followed by Neptune's arrival and a banquet.
• In 1665 in a Virginia tavern there was the first documented play in the US.
• Actors were accused of "public wickedness" for putting on theatre.

Colonial Era to the Revolutionary War

• Three major colonial cities: Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, and New York, NY.
• Philadelphia, PA was founded by William Penn in 1682 and banned theatre.
• In 1756 Anglicans allow theatre in Philadelphia.
• Boston, MA was founded by the Puritans (who hate theatre) and banned theatre in 1750.
• Merchant class boycotted theatre as a “British” import.
• New York, NY was established by the Dutch West Indies Company in 1624.
• Rip van Dam, governor of New York in the 1730’s, loved theatre and sponsored it.

First Theatre Companies in US

• Murray and Keane company, aka “The Virginia Company of Plays” was active from 1749-152.
• Hallam Theatre Company
  • Kicked out of England for breaking the 1737 Licensing Act
  • Troop sails to Virginia in 1752
  • Perform The Merchant of Venice
  • The head of the troop, Lewis Hallam dies in 1756.
  • His widow remarries David Douglass and they merge theatre companies forming The American Company, returning to US
  • In 1774, Continental Congress bans theatre and the company resettles in Jamaica until 1785, when they can return to the US

Revolutionary War area

• In 1775, Continental Congress bans theatre in America, which ends in 1783, when peace treaty is signed with England and theatre comes back.

William Dunlap (1766-1839)

• A 1st professional American dramatist.
• Andre (1798) Historical Tragedy: The First American tragedy on an American subject.

A Brief History of the Caribbean

• Christopher Columbus lands in the West Indies (aka the Bahamas) in 1492, initiating Spanish colonization.
• British begin colonizing in 1630s; capture Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655.
• France and the Netherlands also start colonizing around this time.

Triangle Trade

• 90% of Indigenous people (Caribs and Taino’s) died of disease within 50 years of Columbus’ arrival.
• Slaves imported from Africa to produce sugar, molasses and rum.