RESTORATION AND 18 TH CENTURY ENGLISH THEATRE RESTORATION

RESTORATION AND 18 TH CENTURY ENGLISH THEATRE

RESTORATION AND 18 TH CENTURY ENGLISH THEATRE • King Charles II – Restored to throne 1660 – Fashioned theatre after that in France • Elizabethan playhouses had been torn down by Puritans so new ones were needed

• New indoor theatres were built • John Dryden – All for Love • Women were allowed to perform • William Congreve – The Way of the World • Audience – sophisticated aristocracy • Restoration ended in 1737 • Play = comedies / satires

SATIRE • Satire is a play in which sarcasm, irony, and ridicule are used to expose or attack folly or pretension is society • Stories represented real people and real events • Strengths and weaknesses in characters are exposed and all characters are held up to moral standards either civically or divinely

• Parliament limited public playhouses to 3 • The term “Legitimate Theatre” was born – Then, it meant plays were censored.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728 -1774) Considered best comedy writer since Shakespeare

Romanticism

Romanticism • Relied on emotions and feelings • Melodrama- most popular type of Romanticism where the hero always succeeded • Playwrights made clear distinctions between good and evil • Forces of good always won

MELODRAMA • Comes from "music drama" – music was used to increase emotions or to signify characters (signature music). • A simplified moral universe; good and evil are embodied in stock characters. • Episodic form – the villain poses a threat, the hero or heroine escapes, etc. —with a happy ending. • Usually 2 -5 acts – (five acts reserved for "serious" drama). • Many special effects – fires, explosions, drownings, earthquakes.

Realism 1820 -1920

• Began as reaction against Romanticism • Mid century dramatic style = Realism – Seeks the truth / depicts a selected view • Presented things as in real life (often dealt with social problems) • Major author: Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906) – “Father of Realism” – Revolutionary themes • Ghosts • A Doll’s House – Realistically showed the day’s problems

Henrik Ibsen Drama depicting real people, real events • Ibsen's early plays are wild and epic, concentrating on romantic visions of the rebel figure in search of an ultimate truth which is always just out of reach • "modern" phase suppresses his Romanticism and focuses instead on the problems of modern society • These plays are characterized by their "realism, " which he hoped would help audiences to more easily digest his radical views

England’s George Bernard Shaw (1856 -1950) Pygmalion – Wanted to reform the world through his work

Oscar Wilde (1856 -1900) – The Importance of Being Earnest • Comedy of Manners

• 20 th century playwrights include Arthur Miller (The Crucible and Death of a Salesman) • Tennessee Williams (The Glass Menagerie) • Lillian Hellman – most influential female playwright

MUSICAL THEATRE • A play in which the story is told through a combination of spoken dialogue and musical numbers • Andrew Lloyd Webber – composer of a variety of musicals – Cats – Jesus Christ Superstar – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Phantom of the Opera – Evita