• Theatre History II
• Eighteenth Century Europe: The Age of Enlightenment
  • Learning & philosophy
  • Scientific method
  • Observation & analysis
  • Objective truths
  • Universal standards
  • Reason replaces faith
• Social & Political Background
  • Global community
  • Greater religious tolerance
  • Wars territorial and economic
  • Rising middle class
  • Enlightened despots
  • Hope & despair: revolutions
• Drama: Diderot & Lessing Break the Rules
• Domestic Tragedy & Comedy w/ Virtue
  • Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
  • Encyclopedie (ed.) 1748-1772 and plays
  • The Paradox of Acting
  • Illusion of reality
  • Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781)
  • Hamburg Dramaturgy & Miss Sara Sampson (1755)
  • English over French models
• Lessing on Domestic Tragedy
  • "The names of princes and heroes can lend pomp and majesty to a play but they contibute nothing to our emotion. The misfortunes of those whose circumstances most resemble our own must naturally penetrate most deeply into our hearts, and if we pity kings, we pity them as human beings, not as kings."
• Sentimental Comedy & Comedie Larmoyante
  • Middle class & Puritan values
  • Restoration drama attacked
  • Sentimental plays
  • Poetic justice and morals
  • Progress & innate human goodness
  • Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816) The School for Scandal (1777)
• Laughing Comedy
  • Oliver Goldsmith (1730? - 1774)
  • She Stoops to Conquor (1773) & critical essay (1772)
  • Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (1688-1763)
  • The Game of Love and Chance (1730)
  • Pierre-Augustin Caron 1732-1799 Beaumarchais
  • The Barber of Seville 1775 & The Marriage of Figaro 1783
• Sentimentalism & Commedia dell' Arte:
  • Carlo Goldoni (1707 - 1793)
  • The Servant of Two Masters (1743) & Mine Hostess (1753)
  • Carlo Gozzi (1720 - 1806)
  • The King Stag (1762)
• Sturm und Drang / Storm and Stress
  • Lessing inspired
  • Friedrich Schiller (The Robbers 1782)
  • Variety & shock value
  • Broke all Neoclassical rules
  • Cannonized Shakespeare
  • Precursor to Romanticism
• Audience Experience
  • New play each day
  • Increasing middle-class audience
  • Early evening
  • 3 to 5 hours
  • Variety of plays, music and dance
• Theatre Buildings 18th Century Changes: Size
  • Drury Lane
  • c 1700: 650 capacity
  • c 1770: 2,000
  • c 1800: 3,000
• Other Changes in Theatre
  • Oval shaped auditorium
  • Benches in pit
  • Reduced apron
  • Spectators gradually banned
  • Increasingly ornate
• Scenery
  • Wing and shutter
  • Pole and chariot or grooves
  • Bibienas
    • Multiple vanishing point
    • Ground rows
  • Experiments w/ Early Box Set
  • Increased Scenery
  • More elaborate
• Costumes
  • Part of actor interpretation
  • Experiments with historical accuracy
• Acting
  • Style
  • Blocking
  • Actor's role
• Shifts in Style: Garrick
  • "Natural" style
  • Study of character
  • Study of life to inform character
• Garrick: Production Innovations
  • Re-writing Shakespeare
  • Rehearsal discipline
  • Banished spectators from stage
  • Experiments with historical accuracy