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Nineteenth-Century Theatre

Nineteenth-Century Theatre. Influences. 17th c. French Neo-Classical and English Restoration drama of wit and manners became 18th theatre of sensibility 18 th –19 th c. German Romantic Theatre Revival of Shakespeare Rise of “star system”: actor-managers

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Nineteenth-Century Theatre

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  1. Nineteenth-CenturyTheatre

  2. Influences • 17th c. French Neo-Classical and English Restoration drama of wit and manners became 18th theatre of sensibility • 18th –19th c. German Romantic Theatre • Revival of Shakespeare • Rise of “star system”: actor-managers • Technical advances in staging and lighting

  3. 18th –19th c. German Romantic Theater • “Stürm und Drang” • Looked to Shakespeare for models • Sweeping historical and tragic dramas • Began to emphasize historical accuracy in costumes and settings • Improved theatrical effects -- footlights, revolving stages, theatrical machinery Schiller and Goethe

  4. English Romantic Theatre • Closet drama: drama meant more to be read than performed • Popular in the early 19th c. when melodrama and burlesque dominated the theater, and poets attempted to raise dramatic standards: • George Gordon Lord Byron: Manfred, 1817 • Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound, 1819 • Robert Browning’s Strafford (1837) and Pippa Passes (1841)

  5. Melodrama: 19th C. • Comes from "music drama" – music was used to increase emotions or to signify characters (signature music). • Theatre of sentimentality -- emotional appeal • Simplified moral universe: good and evil embodied in stock characters • Heroes and villains -- and lily-pure heroines • Sensationalistic: fires, explosions, drownings, etc. • Episodic form: the villain poses a threat, the hero or heroine escapes, etc.—with a happy ending • Wide popular appeal

  6. Uncle Tom’s Cabindramatizations based on novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe • George L. Aiken’s was the most popular--1853. Six acts, done without an afterpiece – established the single-play format. 325 performances in New York. • In the 1870’s, at least 50 companies doing it in the U.S. • In 1899: 500 companies. • In 1927: 12 still doing it. • 12 movie versions since 1900. • The most popular melodrama in the world until the First World War.

  7. Domestic Melodrama

  8. Equestrian Melodrama

  9. Nautical Melodrama The Water Tank at Sadler’s Wells Theatre – 50,000 gallons of water

  10. Gothic Melodrama

  11. Comic or Light Opera • Predecessors • Italian Opera Buffa • French Opera Comique • English Ballad Opera: Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera • German Singspiele • English Pantomime • Viennese Operetta • Conventions • Combination of spoken dialogue and songs • A frivolous, sentimental story, often employing parody and satire • Light, pleasant music sometimes including popular music of the day

  12. Richard D’oyly Carte and the Savoy Theatre • 1875: D’oyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to write an opera afterpiece: Trial by Jury • 1876: Formed the Comic Opera Company and leased the Opera Comique Theatre • 1877-1881: Great successes with The Sorcerer, H.M.S. Pinafore, Patience and The Pirates of Penzance • 1878 on: touring companies (A,B,C, D) throughout the UK, Ireland, North America, Europe, and South Africa • 1881:Built the Savoy Theatre – the first London theatre to be lit with electric lights

  13. Gilbert and Sullivan • First collaborated in 1871 on Thespis, an ‘Original Grotesque Opera’ • After success of The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore partnered with Richard D’oyly Carte to form Mr. D’Oyly Carte’s Opera Company. • Success of company attributed to D’Oyly Carte’s business acumen and diplomacy as well as artistic control exercised by Gilbert and Sullivan. • Sullivan knighted in 1883 by Queen Victoria. • Gilbert knighted in 1907 by King Edward VII. ComposerSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan 1842-1900 AuthorSir William Schwenk Gilbert1836-1911

  14. Light • 1817: first gas lit theatre • Smelled bad • Very hazardous – many theatres burnt down as the gas lighting set the wood and canvas scenery on fire • 1826: limelight was invented • A block of quicklime heated by oxygen and hydrogen produced a bright sharp light. • Used in hand-operated spotlights • 1881: London’s Savoy Theatre opened with electric lights • The auditorium was still lit for most of this period, which also had an effect on the lighting effects on-stage. Lighting control desk at the Paris Opera, 1893

  15. The Well-Made Play • A plot based upon a withheld secret • Slowly accelerating action and suspense sustained by such contrivances as precisely timed entrances and exits, letters which miscarry, and mistakes in identity,   • A battle of wits between two adversaries  • A reversal in the action followed by a climactic, "obligatory" scene representing the nadir and then the zenith of the hero's fortunes as a result of the disclosure of the withheld secret • A logical, credible denouement  • Tendency to have the action center upon a stage prop, e.g. a letter, a fan or a glass of water • A nugget of morality which would appease the ordinary man's sense of guilt at enjoying himself, e.g. the lesson that momentous consequences may follow from quite trivial events.

  16. Alexandre Dumas fils1824-95 Dramas of Illicit Love 1852: Lady of the Camellias – dramatization of 1848 novel – Verdi’s La Traviata 1853: Diana de Lys 1855: Le Demi-Monde 1857: The Money Question 1858: The Natural Son 1859: A Prodigal Father

  17. Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Middle Class Satire 1892: Lady Windermere's Fan 1893: A Woman Of No Importance 1894: Salome 1895: An Ideal Husband 1895: The Importance Of Being Earnest

  18. Actor-Managers • Star performers who held the license to the theatres, arranged the performances and hired the other actors. • Introduced reforms and innovations: • full rehearsals for the company • raised status of actors • revived Shakespearean plays • toured extensively • offered powerful management role to women • Demands of complicated technical effects (storms, fires, elaborate lighting) led actors to give artistic control to stage managers who could coordinate all production aspects • Stage manager's function became increasingly important until he was eventually elevated to the status of régisseur, or director.

  19. 1849: competing productions of Macbeth. Riot erupted leaving 23 dead and 100 wounded Edwin Forrest, American1806-72 William Macready, English1793-1873

  20. Edmund Kean, English, 1787-1833Samuel Drummond (1765-1844)Edmund Kean as Richard III (1814) Sarah Bernhardt, French, 1844-1923

  21. Henry Irving, English, 1838-1905 Eleanora Duse, Italian, 1859-1924

  22. Edwin Booth, American, 1833-93 James O’Neill, American, 1849-1920

  23. November 25, 1864, "Julius Caesar," Winter Garden, New York:  The first and last appearance together of Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. (right) and two of his sons, John Wilkes (left) and Edwin (middle).  

  24. Realism and Naturalism • Intellectual reaction against popular theatre • Theatre of social problems • Influenced by emerging disciplines of psychology and sociology • Emerging importance of director

  25. Realistic stage conventions • Proscenium stage • Audience as “fourth wall” • Change in acting conventions • Continued improvement in stagecraft: electric lighting, set design, costumes, etc.

  26. Independent Theatre Movement • Led by young intellectuals, disillusioned with the literary stagnation of the stage, the actor-manager system and indulgence with scenic spectacle • Wanted to promote new Realistic and Naturalistic playwrights • Often ran into trouble with censors • Dedicated to bringing serious drama to the working and middle class

  27. Independent Theatres • Théâtre-Libre founded by André Antoine in 1887 in Paris • Freie Bühne founded by Otto Brahm in 1894 in Berlin • Independent Theatre Club founded by Jacob Grein in 1891 in London • The Stage Society founded in 1899 in London • Moscow Art Theatre founded by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898 in Moscow • The Abbey Theatre founded by William Butler Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory in 1903 in Dublin

  28. Middle class Pragmatic Psychological Mimetic art Objective, but ethical Sometimes comic or satiric How can the individual live within and influence society? “Well-made play” Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw Middle/Lower class Scientific Sociological Investigative art Objective and amoral Often pessimistic, sometimes comic How does society/the environment impact individuals? “Slice of life” August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, John Millington Synge Realism vs. Naturalism

  29. Romantic Dramas Brand Peer Gynt Realistic Social Dramas The Pillars of Society A Doll's House Ghosts An Enemy of the People The Wild Duck Rosmersholm The Lady from the Sea Hedda Gabler Symbolic Dramas The Master Builder Little Eyolf John Gabriel Borkman When We Dead Awaken Henrik IbsenNorwegian, 1828-1906

  30. August StrindbergSwedish, 1849-1912 • Naturalistic Plays : 1880s • The Father • Miss Julie • Creditors • Dreamplays : turn of the century • To Damascus • A Dream Play • The Ghost Sonata • Historical Dramas: turn of the century • Gustavus Vasa • Erik XIV • Charles XII

  31. Anton ChekhovRussian 1860-1904 • Physician, storyteller, dramatist • Plays: • That Worthless Fellow • Platonov • On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco • Ivanov • The Bear • A Marriage Proposal • The Wood Demon • For the Moscow Art Theatre: • The Seagull • Uncle Vanya • The Three Sisters • The Cherry Orchard

  32. George Bernard ShawAnglo-Irish, 1856-1950 • Fabian, Drama critic, Nobel Prize Winner • The Quintessence of Ibsenism, • Playwright: Over 50 plays • 1890s: Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant: Widower’s Houses,The Philanderer,Mrs. Warren’s Profession ,Arms and the Man ,Candida,You Never Can Tell • 1890s: Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil’s Disciple,Caesar and Cleopatra and Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (1900). • Early 20th C: Man and Superman , Major Barbara,Androcles and the Lion and Pygmalion(My Fair Lady) • Later Plays: St. Joan, Heartbreak House, The Millionairess

  33. John Millington Synge1871-1909 • Irish poet and playwright discovered by W.B. Yeats. • Plays of Irish peasant life: • In the Shadow of the Glen, (1903), a comedy • Riders to the Sea (1904), a tragedy • The Well of the Saints (1905), a comedy • The Playboy of the Western World (1907), a comedy, caused riots • The Tinker's Wedding, published in 1908 but not produced for fear of further riots • Deirdre of the Sorrows, a mythic tragedy unfinished at the time of his death

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