18th Century Theatre
Dates and Monarchy
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Anne 1702-1714 (Last of the House of Stuart)
o 1706 & 1707 – Acts of Union join England & Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain
George I 1714 – 1727 (House of Hanover)
o Sir Robert Walpole (b.1676 – d. 1745)
 Generally considered first Prime Minister
George II 1727-1760
George III 1760- 1820
Theatre
Regulation of the Theatres: 1737 – Parliament issued the Licensing Act – restricting the presentation of
drama to the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres, and made the Lord Chamberlain responsible for
licensing plays
Audiences: Primarily middle class
Performers: Celebrity culture begins to develop with “Star” performers developing followings, but other
than the stars, most performers still considered suspect despite attempts to treat the profession seriously.
The acting style was still bombastic or declamatory, although some actors begin to reject the declamatory
style and to move to more individualized performance
Acting Companies: Biggest change is the emergence of the director to oversee and unify productions,
assist performers, and make sure the visual elements were appropriate
Theatres: Throughout Europe theatres continued to be built, seating capacity increased to accommodate
the larger middle class audiences, spectators were removed from the stage and the apron area reduced most of the action now takes place behind the proscenium arch
Production: Begin to attempt to create mood and to try to depict recognizable locales and attain some
kind of historical accuracy. There was more frequent use of three dimensional props, and much
experimentation with lighting.
New Theatrical Forms
Middle Class Tragedy
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Denis Diderot (1713-1784): Wanted more realistic acting and scenery, introduced the concept of
the 4th wall, championed drame bourgeois
Drame - any serious play that did not adhere to the neoclassical forms
o Two examples of the Drame: Bourgeois or middle class tragedy and domestic tragedy
o Focus on morality – reward virtuous and punish wicked
o Sentimental – openly appealed to emotions, sometimes melodramatic
o Makes the case that middle class characters are appropriate as subjects for serious drama
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Ballad Opera and Comic Opera
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Ballad opera – parody of Italian opera
o No sung dialogue – spoken dialogue is interspersed with song set to popular
contemporary melodies
o Characters taken from lower classes
o Usually social and political satire of contemporary issues
o Ballad opera was popularized in the 1730s by John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera
Comic Opera - developed in France (Opera Comique)
o Characters drawn from Comedia Dell’Arte
o Also used popular music for songs and satirized contemporary political and social issues
o By mid-century, becomes more sentimental and more specifically French
John Gay (1685-1732)
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Orphaned at an early age
Did not receive university education
After short period working in trade became well-known literary figure
It is probably this questionable social standing that leads to a strong attention to rank and socioeconomic status in his works
The Beggar’s Opera (Premiered in 1728)
Synopsis (adapted from the University of Michigan website: http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/beggars_opera/clips.html)
The Beggar and the Player introduce the play, telling the audience that the piece is truly an opera, even
though it has no recitative. To begin, we find out that Polly, the daughter of the thief catcher Mr.
Peachum, has secretly married Macheath, a highwayman and criminal. The Peachums are furious until
they figure out Polly would inherit if Macheath were to be killed. Polly warns Macheath of her parents’
plans, and he hides in a tavern full of solicitous women. The women befriend him, but two of them turn
him in. Macheath is taken to Newgate prison where we discover Lucy, the daughter of the prison warden,
Lockit, is madly in love with Macheath (and Macheath had previously proposed to her). When Polly
arrives and announces their marriage, Macheath pretends Polly is mad to placate Lucy. Lucy helps him
escape. Polly goes to find Lucy so they can save Macheath. Lucy tries to poison Polly unsuccessfully
when they discover Macheath has been recaptured. They beg their respective parents to save him.
Macheath goes to the gallows. Here the beggar returns and tells us that a moral ending would include the
hanging of Macheath. However, since the audience came to see a happy ending, Macheath is released and
whispers to Polly that she is his true wife.
Notes:
 Spoken dramatic parts interspersed with songs set to popular tunes
o Foreshadows modern musical comedy
 Equates the antics of beggars and thieves with the antics of nobles
 Questions of power, justice, honor, and heroism in a world “divided into social categories of
power, wealth, and gender” (Broadview Drama 805)
 Uses comic wit to shape critique – enjoys the “rascals” and “tarts”
 Important re-workings:
o Bertolt Brecht 1928 – The Threepenny Opera (Mack the Knife)
o John Latouche 1946 – Beggar’s Holiday (music by Duke Ellington)
o Alan Ayckbourn 1984 – A Chorus of Disapproval – an amateur production of Beggar’s
Opera is the major driver of the plot
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Sentimental Comedy and Comédie Larmoyante
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Sentimental Comedy
o Reaffirms middle class morality (virtuous rewarded, wicked punished)
o Comedies of Manners
Comédie Larmoyante (tearful comedy)
o Saccharine, overwrought emotions
o Meant to bring sentimental “tears” to the eyes of the audience members
o Major example is Sheridan’s School for Scandal and The Rivals
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
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Best known writer of Sentimental Comedy
Primarily remembered as a playwright, but also successful theatrical manager, and he attempted
to work in politics
Became part-owner of the Drury Lane theatre
Sheridan’s plays are comedies of manners – but there is a major difference between his works and
Wycherley’s Country Wife the sexual and amoral tone of Country Wife is toned way down
sexual infidelity is not treated with such leniency
His plays were widely popular at the time
The Rivals (Produced in 1775)
Basic Summary: Lydia, a wealthy young woman, wants to marry a man with little means and one who
cares nothing about money or her fortune. She falls in love with Jack, who is wealthy but has disguised
himself as the penniless Ensign Beverley. Lydia wants to elope, but Jack knows she will lose 2/3 of her
fortune if she marries without the consent of her aunt, Mrs. Malaprop. Mrs. Malaprop opposes the
marriage, but is herself caught up in a love intrigue. Craziness ensues (scheming, intrigue, mistaken
identity, upset and reconciliation). In the end the intrigues are all exposed, faults forgiven, and it looks
like a happy ending for Jack and Lydia.
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Failed in its initial production (thought it was too long, one of the actors gave a poor
performance), but Sheridan made some alterations and it was afterward very successful
The School for Scandal (Produced in 1777)
Basic Summary: Charles and Maria are in love, but are foiled in their relationship by Lady Sneerwell and
Charles’s brother Joseph. Charles has a reputation as wild and extravagant while Joseph has a very good
reputation. Sir Peter, Maria’s guardian, is concerned about the conflicting reports of the two brothers, so
he disguises himself and visits each. He thus learns that Charles is honest and honorable despite his
reputation, and that Joseph is not a moral person despite his stellar exterior. There is also a side plot
involving the Lady Teazle and an affair with Joseph. In the end, the truth is revealed, the good prevail,
and Sir Peter consents to the match between Charles and Maria.
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Sheridan’s most successful play – only Gay’s Beggar’s Opera came close in terms of stage
success at the time
Appearances are deceptive – a man who is actually virtuous and true may not appear to be so, and
a man who appears virtuous and truly sentimental may not be
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Modified Sentimentality
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Different playwrights took sentimental comedy and modified it in one way or another
Oliver Goldsmith attacked sentimental comedy and called for “Laughing Comedy”
Pierre Marivaux’s plays usually focus on inner emotional conflicts of young lovers
Beaumarchais (The Barber of Seville 1775, The Marriage of Figaro 1783) focused more on the
satiric and political aspects
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774)
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Attended many schools – never an outstanding student
Family had little money – had to work for the College to pay his way
Began writing for the Monthly Review – a London periodical
Part of an artistic intellectual circle called the Club (also included Samuel Johnson, David
Garrick, Edmund Burke)
The Vicar of Wakefield 1766 – clergyman and family who suffer adversity and bad luck – widely
read and influential 18th century novel (apparently critics disagree about how far the calamities in
the book can be read as comic)
Goldsmith didn’t like sentimental theatre, and his plays mock the “weeping sentimental comedy
so much in fashion at present” (Goldsmith, Broadview Restoration & 18th Cen, 678)
She Stoops to Conquer, or Mistakes of a Night (Produced in 1773)
Summary: Marlowe and his friend George Hastings set out for the Hardcastle’s manor. Along the way
they stop at an inn, where Tony Lumpkin (the son of Mrs. Hardcastle who will inherit when he comes of
age) plays a trick on them and tells them they are far from their destination. He leads them to an “inn,”
which is actually the Hardcastle’s manor – leading Hastings and Marlowe to act like they are at an inn
and Mr. Hardcastle is an innkeeper. Mr. Hardcastle is thus angry with Marlowe and refuses his match
with his daughter, Kate. Meanwhile Hastings is in love with Constance Neville who lives with the
Hardcastles, but Mrs. Hardcastle wants her to marry Tony Lumpkin. Intrigue and craziness ensues. In
the end, Mr. Hardcastle discovers the trick Tony played and the reason for Marlowe’s behavior and
forgives him. Also, Tony discovers he is already of age and not under his mother’s obligation, so he
releases Constance Neville from her pledge to marry him (he doesn’t like her anyway), freeing her to
marry Hastings.
Notes:
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Goldsmith wrote She Stoops to Conquer in hopes that its success would get him out of debt
Initially rejected because it didn’t quite follow the fashion of the time
It was a success when it was finally produced
Usual markers of class distinction become disoriented
Used “low” elements for laughs and to undermine some of the noble characters
Goldsmith said comedy should be “perfectly satirical yet perfectly good-natured” (Broadview
Drama 881)
Sources:
Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. Eighth Ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. Print.
Canfield, J. Douglas Ed. The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century Drama, Concise Edition.
Toronto, ON: Broadview Press, 2001. 847-880.
LePan, Don Ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Volume 3, The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century.
Toronto, ON: Broadview Press, 2006. 236-237.
Wilson, Edwin and Alvin Goldfarb. Living Theatre: A History. Third Ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000. Print.
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