18th Century Drama Class 24-8-09

8/13/2019 18th Century Drama Class 24-8-09

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18th.c. English Drama

The year 1700 can be taken as a divisory line between the old and the new; thoughtrue signs of change were apparent, at the close of the seventeenth ( 17th ) century.The seasons which witnessed The Way of The World saw the last of the restorationplays because the series of plays that followed were written in a different mood andstyle.

Eighteenth century as a whole brought about a new development in drama: thegrowth of a new audience, the enlarging of patent theatres, and the springing up of

the minor playhouses. The audiences expanded due perceptible changes in thestructure of society. It was obvious that there was a fall of the old tightly knit ( elite )aristocratic society; at the same time, numerous merchant families were eagerlyshowing a desire to enter into the circle of society, so marriages of conveniencebroke down the barriers previously established.

The appearance of the middle classes into the playhouse world is important becausenot only they increased the potential number of playgoers, but they brought withthem some of their inherited bourgeois, and occasionally puritan, tenets and tastes.

As a result the audience was much less heterogeneous than it had been duringrestoration times. Unquestionably this new group of spectators were to set up theroots of sentimentalism presenting more serious predilections a delight inmoralizations, in sentimental conceived situations, in scenes of pathos. Eighteenthcentury drama witnessed a constant struggle proceeding between the force ofintellectual dalliance and the more solemn objectives of the mercantile world, untilduring the sixties and the seventies victory was finally gained by the sentimentalists.


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THE GROWTH OF

SENTIMENTALISM

In the field of tragedy and comedy there was a lack of clear orientation. The comedyof manners could never again assume quite the same delicately careless andpolished tone which it had exhibited during the earlier days. Wit and conversationalsallies were replaced by moral sentiment which was becoming the main objective ofmany playwrights. This development in drama lead to explore defects it had upon thespirit of comedy because of the ridiculously lachrymose scene. On the other hand, itis worth stressing the fact that because of this new trend, several possibilities wereopened for playwrights.

It is clear that the new humanitarianism, the recognition of social problems, theendeavour to make the theatre express in its own way the many social issuesconfronting the members of the audience were an inevitable reaction to what hadgone before. The new middle class spectator wanted to see their interest reflectedupon the stage. In the tragedies they found themselves in an alien and artificial realmthat did not excite them.

By the same token in the comedies, they inwardly condemn the scene of gallantry.What they sought for and the sentimentalists gave them, was an intermediate kind ofplay in which occasional comic scenes alternated with sentimental trends may betraced as far back as the early eighties of the seventeenth century. The politicalinterest aroused in the last days of Charles II, the reign of James II and the rebellionhad something to do with the shifting of focus from gay intrigues to more seriousscenes due to the political disturbances, men cared about problems of social life ingeneral, as well as, to reaction to the excesses of the Stuart court.


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THE GROWTH OF

SENTIMENTALISM Touches of reflective sort crept into the comedies and tragedies; Thomas

Durfey and Mrs. Behn displayed in their plays, difficulties arising ofsocial conventions of the time. Especially important are the works of SirRichard St Steele, joint-author of The Spectator . Though he led a carelesslife, he was on the side of morality. It can be said that Sir Richard Steelebelieved in domestic happiness, in faithful love, in the goodness of thehuman heart. He wrote The Funeral; or Grief a la mode ( 1701 ), The LyingLover; or The Ladies Friendship ( 1703 ), The Tender Husband ; or TheAccomplished Fools (1705), The Conscious Lovers ( 1722 ). Sir RichardSteele alumbrated the new style portraying his own pure sincerereflections upon. In his works he presents a hatred hypocrisy, his minddwells upon the questions on domestic life.

Both Hugh Kelly and Richard Cumberland brought about the fullerdevelopment of the sentimental play-style. They concentrated theirattention on the virtues of the natural affections of the evils of socialconventions. There was an emphasis on the condemnation of foibleswhich before had been an occasion for laughter; seriousness took theplace of laughter instead. Kelly tried by all means to be realistic in hisplays but imposed upon the stage a dialogue ridiculously artificial though.There is, in his plays, a strange dichotomy, on the one hand, thecultivation of the natural and, on the other hand, a hopelessly artificialapproach.


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COMEDYS TEMPORARY

REVIVAL

The sentimentalists looked not towards comedy but towards drama.In place of laughter, they sought tears, in place of intrigue, melodramaticand distressing situations, in place of gallants and witty damsels, patheticheroines and serious lovers. These plays demonstrate that even the forceof prevailing sentimentalism could not completely banish laughter fromthe playhouses.

OLIVER GOLDSMITHHe set himself against the sentimental dram when he published his essayon The Present State of Political Learning and a decade later ( 1768) hisThe Good natured Man cannot be regarded as a truly successful play; theplot moves creakingly, much of the dialogue is stilted and there arescenes which show that the author has not grasped fully the requirementsof the stage. All these defects, however, are remedied in She Stoops toConquer or The Mistakes of a Night. This comedy, richly deserved fame,

approaches in essence more nearly to the spirit of Shakespearescomedies. It exhibits not a witty intellectual approach, but the exercise ofhumour. ( Tony Lumpking is born of Falstaffs company: he is a fool andyet a wit; for his follies we laugh at him at the same time we recognize thatoften the laugh is turned back upon ourselves ).


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The Plays Reflect the Times

The sentimentalcharacters are unnaturally goodwith problems too easily overcome.

The 18thcentury conceived of man as good bynature, with goodness achieved by following instincts,

but could be altered through temptation. Men werereclaimable by virtue, often quickly if their heartscould be touched.

Audiences could validate themselves by seeingimages of virtue in distress and being moved: thiswas thought to be a sign of proper sensitivity andmoral stability.


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Domestic Tragedy

In 1731, George Lillo wrote The London Merchant:

the hero (an apprentice) is led astray by a prostitute,

kills his uncle, and is hanged in spite of his abject

repentance.

The subject was taken from the headlines of the day

and depicted an ordinary man.

Each Christmas for almost 100 years, the play was

produced and all London apprentices forced to see it

as a warning against going astray.


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Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-

1816) His comic masterpieces were The Rivalsand The School

for Scandal.

The Rivalsgives us Mrs. Malaprop and her name stilldefines a particular comic technique, made immortal by

Archie Bunker.

Sheridans plays are filled with sparkling wit and effectivedialogue while giving vivid portraits of the fashion of his

day. For Sheridan, also a theatre manager, virtue had to win

the day.

Entirely distinct in character and in aims, save a common

objection to the sentimental style. He pursued

Goldsmiths endeavour to keep laughter on the stage.

His comic opera was called The Duenna ( elderly womanin charge of girls) which appeared in 1775 and almost at

the same time appeared The Rivals a comedy in which

diverse influences can be seen at work.


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The authors object patently was to keep to the level of comedy, yet

farcical episodes are freely introduced. The School for Scandal is a

completely harmonious masterpiece. Nothing disturbs the constant

glitter of its wit, and the complicated plot is kept moving with

consummate skill.


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The Licensing Act of 1737

The monopolies established in the Restoration were

falling apart; the Licensing Act was an attempt to re-

establish it for the 18thcentury.

Licenses were falling apart because:

The crowns original patents had not been confirmed

by Parliament

The crown made too many exceptions

Producers produced in defiance of the law

There were too many debates over inheritance

The cry for entertainment was greater than anticipated


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The Political Side of the Coin

Prime Minister Walpole was super sensitive topolitical satires being offered at unlicensed theatres.

Walpole himself became the target of many of themore popular satires.

The Act was simple: It prohibited the presentation of any act or play for

gain, hire, or reward not licensed by the LordChamberlain, and

It restricted authorized theatres to the City ofWestminster, confirming The Drury Lane and the

Covent Garden as the only legitimate theatres inEngland.


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Results of the Act

Henry Giffard opened the Goodmans Fields Theatre by charging forconcerts and adding plays and Samuel Foote offered freeentertainments to those who paid for a Dish of Chocolate or to attendAn Auction.

With the closing of the New Wells Theatre in 1752 sent William Hallamand his troupe abroad, marking the true beginning of American theatre.

Large towns outside London objected and secured from Parliamenttheatre royals for their own populations.

In 1766, Samuel Foote gained a license to perform at the Haymarketduring the summer months, the third official.

The Act of 1788 established the following authorities: The Lord Chamberlain in the city of Westminster

Local magistrates within 20 miles of London

Local Magistrates outside the 20 mile radius

Parliament and their Theatres Royal in specific large towns.


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Lincolns Inn Fields


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Wrens Theatre Royal

Drury Lane


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Wrens Theatre Royal

Drury Lane


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Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Adams Renovations

Documents

18th Century Drama Class 24-8-09