• Theatre History II
  • The Nineteenth Century Stage
    • Romanticism
    • Popular Theatre
    • & Unified Artistic Vision
  • Social & Political Background
    • Class struggle
    • Industrial revolution
    • Communication & transportation
    • Nationalism & urbanization
    • Marx and Darwin
  • The Audience Experience
    • Growing social acceptance
    • Larger audience
    • Fewer legislative restrictions
    • More theatres
    • Greater variety
  • Romanticism
    • Higher truth
    • Nature & the past
    • Feeling & imagination
    • Individual genius
    • Art to connect w/ spiritual
  • Romantic Drama
    • Escape to ideal
    • Reject unities & rules
    • Individual inspiration
    • Impulse over form
    • Revere Shakespeare
  • Goethe & Faust
    • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
    • Sturm und Drang
    • Weimar Classicism
    • Production reform
    • Stage movement
    • Enormous scope
    • Eternal human striving
    • Variety of experience
  • Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885) & Hernani
    • French Romantic
    • Abandon rules
    • Historical setting
    • Sublime & grotesque
  • Hernani 1830
    • Hernani: audience reaction - riot
    • Broke alexandrine
    • Undignified words
    • Broke unities
    • Deaths and violence on stage
    • Mixed moods & genre
  • Well-Made play
    • Eugene Scribe
    • Careful exposition
    • Cause-to-effect action
    • Build to climax
    • Withheld information, reversals & suspense
  • Popular Entertainment
    • Minstrel show
    • Burlesque
    • Vaudeville
    • Extravaganza
    • Pantomime
  • Melodrama
    • Good & evil
    • Episodic
    • Climax ends each act
    • Events on stage
    • Elaborate spectacle
    • Comic relief
    • Strict poetic justice
    • Social status quo
  • Dion Boucicault (1822 - 1890)
    • Sentimentality
    • Wit
    • Sensational spectacle
    • Local color
    • Latest science important to plot
  • Local Types
    • The Indian
    • Bowery Boy
    • Jim Crow
    • The Yankee
  • The Star System
    • Performance focus
    • Replaced line of business
    • Romantic genius
    • Benefits & farewells
  • Touring Stars
    • Vehicles for self
    • Local actors support
    • Large salaries
    • Company diminished
    • Later brought production
    • Ira Aldridge
  • Acting Style: From Classical . . .
    • John Philip Kemble (1757-1823)
    • Stateliness
    • Dignity
    • Grace
    • Studious characterization
    • Actor-manager
  • . . . To Romantic
    • Edmund Kean (1787-1833)
    • Played great moments
    • Realism of emotion
    • Inconsistent
    • Touring star
  • William Charles Macready
    • Synthesis of 2 styles
    • Illusion of everyday life
    • Pauses and realistic business
    • Work in rehearsal
    • Manager worked for production consistency
  • Edwin Forrest
    • American
    • Physical or heroic style
  • Macready vs. Forrest: Audience Reaction - Astor Place Riots
  • Theatre Architecture
    • Provincial Theatre
    • Touring
    • The Actor's Perspective
    • The "old price" riots
    • Wagner's Opera House
      • Mystic chasm
      • Classless theatre
      • Uniform price
      • Darkened auditorium
  • Unified Artistic Vision
    • Specific in design
    • Full visual effect
    • Technical innovations
    • Competition for audiences
    • Growth of actor-manager
  • Technical Innovations
    • Flying
    • Trap door
    • Racing horses
  • Lighting
    • Gas
    • Intensity & direction
    • Realistic effects
    • Carbon arc & limelight
    • Gas table
  • Design: Local Color
  • Design: Historical Accuracy
    • Romantic individuality
    • Historical scholarship
    • Longer runs
    • Trend toward illustration
  • Design: Historical Accuracy
    • Charles Kean
      • Pictorial realism
      • Fashionable audience
      • Cut incidental entertainment
      • Antiquarianism
      • "Illustrator of Shakespeare's plays"
    • Madame Vestris
      • Box set
      • Minor forms
      • Attention to detail
      • Integrated whole
      • Shortened bill
    • Richard Wagner
      • Mythmaker
      • Music-drama
      • Author-composer supervising
      • Gesamtkunstwerk
      • Complete illusion
    • Henry Irving
      • Pictorial realism
      • Employed archeologists
      • Free plantation scenery
      • Careful costumes for all
      • Sir Henry & Beefsteak room
    • Georg II Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
      • Pictorial illusionism
      • Authentic materials
      • Totality of effect & ensemble acting
      • No production deadline