Before the Restoration

• Brief review of theatre spaces before therestoration

• Note that English theatre was mainlyperformed outdoors before the late 17th

century.

Ancient Greek Theatre

Roman Theatre (Bosra, Syria)

Booth Stages (England)Became a favored stage space

Mystery Plays

Pageant Wagons

The Globe Theatre

Elizabethan Theatre Spaces

Restoration

• 1642 – 1649 Civil Warin England

– Charles I and Royalistvs. Puritans led byOliver Cromwell.

• 1642 – all theatresclosed. Remainclosed until 1660

• Charles I beheaded1649

Cromwell and TheCommonwealth

• Theatres officiallyclosed.

• Elizabethanplayhousesdismantled

But theatre still continued

• Drolls

– Short version of fulllength plays

• William Davenant

– Staged “musicalentertainments” in hishome

– The Siege of Rhodes• First English opera

• First show with womenactors

• First show in Englandwith movable scenery

Restoration

• Cromwell dies 1658

• Cromwell’s son isunable to controlEngland

• Charles II is invitedback from France

• The monarchy,landed gentry and theChurch of England isrestored.

William Davenant and Thomas Killigrew

• Davenant – Oxfordgraduate

• Poet laureate

• Knighted for serviceto the Royalist

• 1660 - Receivedpatent to open atheatre

• Founded Duke’sCompany (promisingyoung actors

• Killigrew - Royalist

• Stayed with royalfamily in France

• Before the theatresclosed he was aplaywright

• 1660 received patentto open a theatre

• Founded King’sCompany (olderactors)

• Davenant’s young company was strongerand better managed

• Killigrew made master of the revels 1673

– Head of royal festivities and stage censorship

• Two companies combined in 1682

Drury Lane interior, 1674

• One of the two

Patent theatres

Note the candle

Chandeliers which

Illuminated the actors

and audience

Drury Lane

Drury Lane 1808

Vanishing Point Perspective

• Made it possible to draw buildings, trees,and figures on to backdrops withperspective and the correct proportions.

• The illusion of reality was beingdeveloped.

Men as women to Women asMen

Restoration brought womenactors to the stage

• Before the restoration, all female parts inEngland were played by males, typicallyboys.

• Interestingly, in the restoration womenoften played breeches roles or trouserroles where the women would dress up asa men.

• http://lvoblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pants-roles.html

Hrotsvitha ----Aphra Behn

Female Playwrights

• Hrotsvitha was a nun who wrote playsbased on Roman plays. Being a nun shecould read and write in Latin so havingaccess to Latin texts was not an issue. Herplays followed Roman models but thesubject matter was about faith. She isbelieved to be the first woman playwrightin Europe

Aphra Behn

• Behn was one of the first English femaleplaywrights and was the most successfulwoman playwright of her era. She pavedthe way for many future femaleplaywrights.

Changes in philosophy andpolitics

• John Locke 1632-1704

– Natural law

– Representative government with aconstitution

– Rulers are responsible to the people

– Government created to protect life, liberty andthe pursuit of happiness.

– Locke and others began to influence attitudestoward rulers, this would be significant in the1700’s with the American and FrenchRevolutions

Wing and Shutter Scenery

• Both England and Europe used wings andshutter scenery. However the Europeansused a pole and chariot system to movescenery and the English used a groovesystem. The pole and chariot neededfewer people (potentially only one) tochange the scenery, the English systemneeded more people to move scenery.

Torelli’s Pole and Chariotsystem (European)

Groove System (England)

• http://theatrehistory2010.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

Sharing System vs. ContractSystem

• In the Elizabethan period actors weremembers of companies and shared theprofits

• Comédie-Français operated under asharing system

• English theatres after the restorationoperated mostly on a contract system.Actors were contracted for a certainperiod of time and were paid a set fee.This is much like the current system.

Benefit performances

• Benefit

performances

were given for

actors once a

year to boost

their income

Loss of Control for Actors

• Although the actor gained some certaintyon their income, the lost much of theartistic control they once had. Not being apart of the decisions as they were underthe sharing system, they could not easilyinfluence the artistic direction of thecompany

• Actors were nevertheless, the mainattraction for audiences instead of the playor playwright.