The Puritan jerk dictator. Hated theater; wanted ultimate simplicity; banned theatre for a time until Charles was restored to the throne and people got sick of the Puritan rules and regulations.

Would arrest actors who performed regardless of the rules; allowed only operas because they were not ligitimate theatre.

"little plays"

shorter versions of the longer plays

was an actor before Cromwell's ban on theater;

gets a patent to perform masques and brings them to the public; he flees arrest because of performing; tries to go to America, but the boat he was on gets caught and he's brought back to Britain where the court pardoned him and he was freed and was able to do private performances; gets patent back when Charles returns to the throne; Duke's Company at Lincoln Inn Fields.

performance for Parliament by William Davenant to persuade them that theatre is good; Rutland House = Davenant's housey

another performance by Davenant in order to get pardons from Parliament; first clear use in England of Italiante scenery for a public performance; performed at Rutland House (Davenant's residence).

the restoration of Charles II to the throne;

Theater: want classics; 1)Heroic Tragedy 2) Comedy of Manners; witty and sophisticated; making fun of upper class by the upper class; plays were meant to piss off the Puritans.

One: Killigrew

Two: Davenant

Managed by Davenant

Located at Lincoln Inn Fields

love and honor

adaptations of classic material: example = adding music and dance to Hamlet or changing the ending to Romeo and Juliet

super noble hero

Writer of Heroic Tragedy

originally a Puritan but changes his mind during the Restoration

The Indian Queen

The Conquest of Granada

All for Love

plays were so over the top that he was subject to satire

witty dialogue rather than baudy humor

names of characters are qualities of their personalities: Miss Fainall; Frederick Frolic (haha)

Love in a Tub

The Man of Mode

the fully developed comedy of manners is usually traced to his plays

Comedy of Manners writer 

only wrote 4 plays

very promiscuous plays!

plays were extremely well constructed, but their moral tone offended people

The Country Wife

The Plain Dealer

best of the three primary comedy of manners writers; captures the essence of Restoration London

didn't want to be acknowledged for his plays

The Way of the World

very witty

"A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage"

reflects the attitudes of the rising middle class

actor who usually played foppish characters;

one of the first actor/managers

The Careless Husband:First play to effect middle class theater transition

Richard Steele

Sentimental Drama

trend in comedy toward sentimentality and toward protagonists drawn from the middle class;

The Conscious Lovers

George Lillo

The London Merchant

chose his characters out of everyday life because he believed that the lessons of traditional tragedy, with characters drawn from the nobility, were not applicable to ordinary people.

prohibited the acting for "gain, hire, or reward" of any play not previously licensed by the Lord Chamberlain (or else it is not ligitimate theatre)

Other public entertainments did not require a license; bascally made the provincial theater illegal but people ignored it and did it anyway

Oliver Goldsmith

opposed sentimentalism

late 1700s

Christopher Wren

built Drury Lane

originally 650 seats

eventually, to compete with Covent Garden, built up to 3600 seats

more like a modern day director

actor/manager at Drury Lane (had moved back and forth however, until made manager)

set rehearsals, very strict

"patent lamp"

technological leap in theatrical lighting

big deal woah wow wee wow

Irish actor

actor/manager

first at Lincoln Inn Fields but moves to Drury Lane where he had his big break at Shylock in The Merchant of Venice

more of a natural actor

has a really bad temper

Walter Murray and Thomas Kean

first American theater company

tours and performs an entire season