19 Thc Theatre Ol

7/29/2019 19 Thc Theatre Ol

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Nineteenth-Century

Theatre


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Influences17th c. French Neo-Classical and English

Restoration drama of wit and manners

became 18th theatre of sensibility18th 19th c. German Romantic TheatreRevival of Shakespeare

Rise of star system: actor -managersTechnical advances in staging and lighting


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18 th 19 th c. German

Romantic Theater Strm und Drang Looked to Shakespeare formodelsSweeping historical andtragic dramasBegan to emphasize historicalaccuracy in costumes and

settingsImproved theatrical effects --footlights, revolving stages,theatrical machineryGoethe and Schiller


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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749-1832

1771: Gtz von Berlichen1775-86: Manager of CourtTheatre at Weimar

1787: Iphigenie 1790: Torquato Tasso 1788: Egmont 1790: Fragment of Faust 1792: Wilhelm Meister 1808-32: Faust I and II

Friedrich Schiller1759-1805

1782: The Robbers 1787: Don Carlos1790s: Wallenstein trilogy1800:

Maria Stuart 1801: Maid of Orleans1804: Wilhelm Tell


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French Romantic Drama

Victor Hugo, 1802-851827: Cromwell1829: Marion de Lorme banned by the censors

1830: Hernani caused ariot at Theatre Francais1832: The King Takes his Amusement banned bythe censors -- Verdis Rigoletto1833: Lucrece Borgia and Maria Tudor 1835: Angelo1838: Ruy Blas1843: Les Burgraves

Revolt against Neo-Classicismfueled by French Revolution

Action Passion Human Nature

Alexander Dumas, pere, 1802-1870

Henri III et sa cour (Henry III and His Court, 1829)

For Antony (1831)

La Tour de Nesle (1832)

Novelist: Three Musketeers,Count of Monte Cristo

Alfred de Vigny, 1797-1863

1820s: Alexandrine verseadaptations of Romeo and Juliet ,The Merchant of Venice andOthello

La Marechale dAncre (1831)

Quitte pour la Peur (1833

Chatterton ( 1835)


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English Romantic Theatre

Closet drama: drama meant more to be readthan performed Popular in the early 19th c. whenmelodrama and burlesque dominatedthe theater, and poets attempted toraise dramatic standards:

George Gordon Lord Byron: Manfred , 1817 Percy Bysshe Shelleys The Cenci and

Prometheus Unbound, 1819 Robert Brownings Strafford (1837) and Pippa

Passes (1841)


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MelodramaComes from "music drama" music was used toincrease emotions or to signify characters(signature music).Theatre of sentimentality -- emotional appeal

Simplified moral universe: good and evilembodied in stock characters: h eroes andvillains -- and lily-pure heroinesSensationalistic: fires, explosions, drownings, etc.Episodic form: the villain poses a threat, the heroor heroine escapes, etc. with a happy ending

Wide popular appeal


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Authors of Melodrama German: August von Kotzebue (1761-1819)

domestic melodramas father of sensationalism

French: Ren de Pixrcourt (1773-1844)specialized in canine and disaster melodramastheatrical effects more important than dialogue

English: Gothic MelodramaHolcrofts Tale of Mystery (1824) Matthew Lewis The Castle Spectre (1797), and Isaac Pococks The Miller and His Men (1813).

English: Douglas JerroldNautical melodramas success of British navy

Black eyd Susan American: Dion Boucicault (1822-90)

Combined sentiment, wit and local color with sensational andspectacular endings Corsican Brothers and The Octoroon


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George L. Aikens was the most popular--1853. Six acts,done without an afterpiece established the single-play format. 325 performances in New York.In the 1870s, 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.

Uncle TomsCabin

dramatizations based onnovel by

Harriet Beecher Stowe


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Comic or Light Opera

PredecessorsItalian Opera BuffaFrench Opera ComiqueEnglish Ballad Opera:Gays The Beggars Opera German SingspieleEnglish PantomimeViennese Operetta

ConventionsCombination of spoken dialogue and songsA frivolous, sentimental story, often employing parodyand satireLight, pleasant music sometimes including popular music

of the day


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Richard Doyly Carte and the Savoy Theatre

1875: Doyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivantogether to write an opera afterpiece: Trial by Jury 1876: Formed the Comic Opera Company and

leased the Opera Comique Theatre1877-1881: Great successes with The Sorcerer, H.M.S. Pinafore, Patience and The Pirates of Penzance1878 on: touring companies (A,B,C, D) throughout

the UK, Ireland, North America, Europe, and SouthAfrica1881: Built the Savoy Theatre the first Londontheatre to be lit with electric lights


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Gilbert and Sullivan First collaborated in 1871 onThespis, an Original GrotesqueOpera After success of The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore partnered withRichard Doyly Carte to form Mr.DOyly Cartes Opera Company. Success of company attributed toDOyly Cartes business acumenand diplomacy as well as artisticcontrol exercised by Gilbert andSullivan.Sullivan knighted in 1883 byQueen Victoria.Gilbert knighted in 1907 by King Edward VII.

Author Sir William

Schwenk Gilbert

1836-1911

ComposerSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan

1842-1900


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The Savoy Operas

Trial By Jury (1875)The Sorcerer (1877)H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved A Sailor (1878)The Pirates of Penzance (1879)Patience (1881)Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri (1882)Princess Ida (1884)The Mikado (1885)

Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse (1887)The Yeomen of the Guard (1888)The Gondoliers (1889)Utopia Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress (1893)

The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel (1896)

Written by William Gilbert, scored by Sir Arthur Sullivan,

produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte


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Light 1817: first gas lit theatre

Smelled badVery hazardous many theatres burnt down as thegas lighting set the wood and canvas scenery on fire

1826: limelight was invented

A block of quicklime heated by oxygen andhydrogen produced a bright sharp light.Used in a hand-operated spotlights

1881: Londons Savoy Theatre opened with electric

lightsThe auditorium was still lit for most of this period,which also had an effect on the lighting effects on-stage.


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Magic Lantern ShowsCombination of

projected images,live drama, andlive music thatled to themovies.Dramatic rescuesof damsels indistress,dastardlyvillains,endangeredchildren, hissing and booing.


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Eugene Scribe (1791-1861) Father of the Well-Made Play

Produced 450-500 plays during a 40 year career fromcomedies vaudevilles to tragedies Most famous and lasting play was Adrienne Lecouvreur (1849) You go to the theatre not for instruction or correction, butfor relaxation and amusement. Now, what amuses you most isnot truth but fiction. To represent what is before your veryeyes every day is not the way to please you; but what does notcome to you in your usual life, the extraordinary, theromantic, that is what charms you. That is what one is eagerto offer you Changed the position of playwright in business world:

royalties


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Scribes formal 5 -Act

structureAct I: Mainly expository and lighthearted. Toward the endof the act, the antagonists are engaged and the conflict isinitiated.

Act II, III: The action oscillates in an atmosphere ofmounting tension from good fortune to bad, etc.Act IV: The Act of the Ball . The stage is generally filled withpeople and there is an outburst of some kind--a scandal, aquarrel, a challenge. At this point, things usually look pretty

bad for the hero. The climax is in this act.Act V: Everything is worked out logically so that in the finalscene, the cast assembles and reconciliations take place, andthere is an equitable distribution of prizes in accordancewith poetic justice and reinforcing the morals of the day.

Everyone leaves the theatre bien content


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The Well-Made Play1. A plot based upon a withheld secret2. Slowly accelerating action and suspense sustained by such

contrivances as precisely timed entrances and exits, letterswhich miscarry, and mistakes in identity,

3. A battle of wits between two adversaries

4. A reversal in the action followed by a climactic, "obligatory"scene representing the nadir and then the zenith of the hero'sfortunes as a result of the disclosure of the withheld secret

5. A logical, credible denouement6. Tendency to have the action center upon a stage prop, e.g. a

letter, a fan or a glass of water7. A nugget of morality which would appease the ordinary man's

sense of guilt at enjoying himself, e.g. the lesson thatmomentous consequences may follow from quite trivial

events.


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Alexandre Dumas fils

1824-95Dramas of Illicit Love1852: Lady of the Camellias

dramatization of 1848 novel Verdis La Traviata

1853: Diana de Lys1855: Le Demi-Monde1857: The Money Question1858: The Natural Son 1859: A Prodigal Father


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Oscar Wilde

1854-1900Middle Class Satire

1892: Lady Windermere's Fan

1893: A Woman Of No Importance1894: Salome 1895: An Ideal Husband 1895: The Importance Of Being Earnest


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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 companyraised status of actors

revived Shakespearean playstoured extensivelyoffered powerful management role to women

Demands of complicated technical effects (storms, fires,

elaborate lighting) led actors to give artistic control to stagemanagers who could coordinate all production aspectsStage manager's function became increasingly importantuntil he was eventually elevated to the status of rgisseur, ordirector.


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Some Famous Actor-Managers

Edmund Kean, English, 1787-1833 William Macready, English, 1793-1873

Edwin Forrest, American, 1806-72Edwin Booth, American, 1833-93

Henry Irving, English, 1838-1905Sarah Bernhardt, French, 1844-1923

James ONeill, American, 1849 -1920

Eleanora Duse, Italian, 1859-1924

November 25, 1864, Julius Caesar : The first and last appearance together of Junius

Brutus Booth, Jr. (right) and two of his sons, John Wilkes (left) and Edwin (middle).


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Realism and Naturalism Intellectual reaction against populartheatreTheatre of social problemsInfluenced by emerging disciplines

of psychology and sociology

Emerging importance of director


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Realistic stage conventions

Proscenium stageAudience as fourth

wall Change in actingconventionsContinued

improvement instagecraft: electriclighting, set design,costumes, etc.


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Realism vs. NaturalismMiddle classPragmatic

PsychologicalMimetic art

Objective, but ethicalSometimes comic or

satiricHow can the individual

live within and influencesociety?Well-made play Henrik Ibsen, George

Bernard Shaw

Middle/Lower classScientificSociologicalInvestigative art

Objective and amoralOften pessimistic,sometimes comicHow does society/theenvironment impactindividuals?Slice of life August Strindberg, AntonChekhov, John Synge


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Henrik Ibsen Norwegian,1828-1906

Romantic DramasBrand

Peer Gynt

Realistic Social DramasThe Pillars of Society

A Doll's HouseGhosts An Enemy of the PeopleThe Wild Duck

RosmersholmThe Lady from the Sea

Hedda Gabler

Symbolic DramasThe Master Builder

Little Eyolf John Gabriel Borkman

When We Dead Awaken


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August Strindberg Swedish

1849-1912

Naturalistic Plays : 1880s

The Father

Miss J ulie Creditors

Dreamplays : turn of the century

To Damascus

A Dream Play

The Ghost Sonata

Historical Dramas: turn of thecentury

Gustavus Vasa

Erik XIV

Charles XI I


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Anton Chekhov Russian

1860-1904

Physician, storyteller, dramatistPlays:

That Worthless Fellow

Platonov On the Harmful Effects of TobaccoIvanov The Bear A Marriage Proposal The Wood Demon

For the Moscow Art Theatre:

The Seagull Uncle Vanya The Three Sisters The Cherry Orchard


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George Bernard Shaw

Anglo-Irish,1856-1950

Fabian, Drama critic, Nobel Prize WinnerThe Quintessence of Ibsenism ,

Playwright: Over 50 plays1890s: Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant:

Widowers Houses, The Philanderer, Mrs.Warrens Profession , Arms and the Man ,Candida, You Never Can Tell

1890s: Three Plays for Puritans: TheDevils Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra andCaptain Brassbounds Conversion (1900). Early 20th C: Man and Superman , Major

Barbara Androcles and the Lion andPygmalion (My Fair Lady)Later Plays: St. Joan, Heartbreak House,

The Millionairess


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J ohn 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 tragedyThe Well of the Saints (1905), a comedyThe Playboy of the Western World (1907), a comedy,caused riotsThe Tinker's Wedding , published in 1908 but notproduced for fear of further riots

Deirdre of the Sorrows , a mythic tragedy unfinished atthe time of his death


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Independent Theatre Movement Led by young intellectuals, disillusioned

with the literary stagnation of the stage, theactor-manager system and indulgence withscenic spectacleWanted to promote new Realistic and

Naturalistic playwrightsOften ran into trouble with censors

Dedicated to bringing serious drama to theworking and middle class


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Independent Theatres Thtre-Libre founded by Andr Antoine in 1887in Paris Freie Bhne founded by Otto Brahm in 1894 inBerlin

Independent Theatre Club founded by JacobGrein 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 ButlerYeats and Lady Augusta Gregory in 1903 in

Dublin

20 h C Th


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20th Century Theatre:a hundred years of isms

SymbolismExpressionismFuturism

DadismSurrealismSocial RealismEpic TheatreExistentialismMagic RealismHyper-Realism

N t t ti i l fil t t th t t t

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19 Thc Theatre Ol