English Theatre History

1. English Theatre History 1800 - 1945

2. 19th Century Theatre • In the early years of the 19th century restrictions of the Licensing Act allowed plays to be shown at only two theatres in London. Their programme was predominantly Shakespearean. • To escape the restrictions of the royal patents, non-patent theatres interspersed dramatic scenes with musical interludes.

3. The Kemble Family. John Kemble Sarah Siddons Fanny Kemble At the turn of the 19th century the Kemble family dominated the London stage. Actor John Philip Kemble was said to be the finest actor in England and his sister Sarah Siddons was regarded as one of the greatest ever tragedians. Their parents had been strolling players and John had earned a similar living on the road and in provincial theatres. Their younger brother Charles Kemble and his daughter Fanny were later stars of the London stage in the 1820s.

4. Melodrama • ‘Melodrama’ consisted of short scenes interspersed with musical accompaniment and was characterized by simple morality, good and evil characters and overblown acting style. Characters in melodrama were stereotypical - there was always a villain, a wronged maiden and a hero. The emotions of the actors were played out in the music and accompanied by dramatic tableaux. Because of these musical interludes melodrama was not considered a ‘play’ and thus evaded the monopoly of the patent theatres stipulated in the Licensing Act.

5. Melodrama • Melodrama became synonymous with spectacle and remained popular until the early 20th century. • Melodramas at Drury Lane were truly spectacular productions designed to show off the new technology of the theatre. • The Whip was designed by Bruce ‘Sensation’ Smith and stage effects included train crashes, boats sinking and chariot races. Dead, lost to me forever!

6. The Whip

7. Pictorial Drama. Middle Class audience were enthralled by the historical accuracy and attention to detail that was becomingly increasingly influential in stage design. Pictorial drama placed great emphasis on the use of properties, and carefully studied costume detail and reflected a fashionable interest in archaeology and history. Charles Kean as Charles II

8. Drawing Room Theatre. • In 1879 Squire Bancroft and his wife Marie Wilton took over the Haymarket Theatre and instigated a new form of drama known as ‘drawing-room theatre’ or ‘cup and saucer drama’.

9. Drawing Room Theatre • The Bancroft's were also responsible for making fashionable the ‘box set’. • They constructed rooms on stage which they dressed with the care of any interior decorator, with sofas, curtains, chairs, carpets on their stage floors. Instead of painted flats they had real doors with real door handles and the actors wore well-made fashionable dress not the trappings of a dusty theatre wardrobe.

10. Drawing Room Theatre • The Bancroft’s also introduced; • More comfortable sits near the stage. • The term ‘stalls’ to describe that area. • Carpeted floors in the auditorium. • Encouraged ensemble acting. • Better pay and conditions for actors. • The legacy of social drama.

11. New Drama. • Two new trends in theatre began, • Writing about contemporary social issues. • A rejection of the historical realism of Victorian Theatre for more abstract performances. • Leading figures were George Bernard Shaw, Edward Gordon Craig and Harley Granville Barker.

12. Edward Gordon Craig • Edward Gordon Craig, son of actress Ellen Terry, began to experiment with simpler abstract stage design. Craig’s theories on production heralded the 20th century’s preoccupation with directors theatre. • This set was designed by Edward Gordon Craig for a production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing starring his mother, Ellen Terry in 1903.

13. The Royal Court, Round 1 • Because of the Licensing Act, small theatre venues opened and produced uncensored plays by performing to an audience of ‘members’. • The Royal Court Theatre was one such case and developed a remit to produce new, groundbreaking theatre.

14. Harley Granville Barker • Harley Granville Barker worked as an actor, director and writer. At the Royal Court Theatre he presented plays by British and European writers that were shunned by mainstream theatres because of their unacceptable subject matter. • Granville Barker was one of the first 20th century directors to create a directors theatre, bringing together the increasingly complex elements of theatrical production (text, actors’ performances, design and lighting) into a cohesive whole.

15. Between the wars. • The West End theatre between the wars was a strange mixture. The new drama of Granville Barker at the Royal Court and Savoy theatres was considered a fringe event and failed to become mainstream. • West End theatres were for the most part impoverished by the Depression and remained conservative both in the content of their work and the staging.

16. Between the wars. • The plays of George Bernard Shaw, Somerset Maugham, Clifford Mills, Noël Coward and J.B. Priestley, dominated the West End between the wars. Whilst Priestley and Shaw had a strong left wing agenda, the plays were essentially conservative in form. This is from Where The Rainbow Ends by Clifford Mills, staring a young 12 year old Noel Coward.

17. Noel Coward Commercial theatre thrived and at Drury Lane with large budget musicals Noel Coward. He used huge sets, extravagant costumes and large casts to create spectacular productions. The prolific Coward dominated the West End with his revues and musicals, but he was also adept at serious drama. Coward’s Cavalcade was an epic play which traced the history of the early years of the 20th century through the lives of one family. Coward remained one of the popular writers of this period.

18. Repertory Theatre • The repertory theatre movement was forged out of the passion and conviction of two individuals, Barry Jackson and Annie Horniman who believed that a wide variety of theatrical experience should be made available to people at a price they could afford. • Horniman believed that by subsidizing theatres you could both raise the standards of performance and broaden the programme a theatre could offer to its community. Albert Finney and June Brown in Macbeth at the Birmingham Rep 1958.

19. Lilian Baylis & The Old Vic. • Lilian Baylis set up the Old Vic to allow the poor access to good theatre – she felt that power of theatre and entertainment to enrich the lives of the poor. • Many of Britain's finest actors and actress’s worked at the Old Vic at some point – and still do. Judi Dench as Juliet, Old Vic, 1960. John Gielgud as Richard II, Old Vic, 1937.

20. The Arts Theatre • The Arts Theatre opened as a club theatre in 1927 and quickly developed a reputation for innovative and exciting work. • Actors such as John Gielgud and Sybil Thorndike worked at the Arts Theatre even when they were well known in the West End – such was their commitment to presenting more experimental work. • Peter Brook began work here in 1950 directing Alec Guinness. Peter Hall established his reputation as one of the country’s leading young directors here with his productions of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

21. World War II • World War 2 saw a surge of interest in the arts. Many civilian and military audiences experienced drama, opera and ballet for the first time. Unlike audiences in World War 1 who needed escapism, the audiences of the 1940s were looking for something more. • CEMA, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, was set up to provide war time entertainment and money was given to ballet, opera and drama companies to perform in military camps and to civilians.

22. Post-War Theatre. • The interest in the arts during World War 2 led to the first government subsidy of the arts in Britain with the founding of the Arts Council in 1946.

23. English Theatre History 1800 - 1945