Western Theatre History

Musicals, in some form, can be traced back to Ancient Greece. However since the 20 century all theatrical performances which have combined songs, spoken dialogue, acting & dance have been referred to under this term.

Emerging from the works of Gilbert & Sullivan in Britain and Harrigan & Hart in the US in the late 19th Century, musicals have become the most profitable form of theatre in the world. They now make eye-watering sums of money - Hamilton made $1.45bn (£110m) in the US alone last year!

The period of 1940 to 1960 is referred to as 'The Golden Age' in musical theatre. The work of composer Irving Berlin, the partnerships of Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein, and George & Ira Gershwin represent a real boom in the genre. They inspired the likes of Stephen Sondheim & Sir Trevor Nunn.

Musical theatre saw an important niche in the mid 20th Century, that of addressing social themes in society. This caused an explosion in popularity as musical theatre was able to move with a society that increasingly promoted tolerance and acceptance. This is evident from 'West Side Story' in 1957 to 'RENT' in 1996.

Western Theatre - A (very) brief history

Restoration Drama -1660 to 1710

Nineteenth-century Theatre

English Renaissance Theatre - 1562 to 1642

Commedia dell'Arte

- Italy 1560-1650

Back in England, when Elizabeth I forbid all religious plays in 1558, it meant that the cycle of plays for the masses was broken.

This forced each country to develop it's own form of drama, with a greater focus on secular (non-religious) subjects. Plays in England began to highlight differences between nationalities; English characters were brave & heroic, French were effeminate, Germans were serious, Italians womanisers and flirts.

Through the simple action of one queen (Elizabeth I), came the origins of racism and xenophobia that persist today.

Melodrama & Romanticism

The Influential Theatre of Europe

Across Europe, without the troubles and turmoils of civil war (Spain had theirs later from 1936 to 1939), theatre was thriving.

Exciting ideas and new techniques were brought back to England by 'artists' who fled the trouble in England.

Further research

Spanish Golden Age of theatre - 1590 to 1680

French Baroque theatre - 1606 to 1699

The theatre of England (and Europe) in the 19th century is divided into two distinct periods.

Early 19th century was dominated by Melodrama and Romanticism.

Late 19th century saw the rise of two conflicting types of drama; Realism and non-realism, such as Symbolism & Expressionism.

Melodrama was characterised by sensational plots and their focus was on appealing to an audience's emotions, instead of showing detailed characters. So characters are often stereotypical and it was usual to see heros, villains and damsels in distress.

It began in France around 1789 and quickly became dominant across Europe.

Romanticism focused more on emotions and the individual, glorifying and celebrating the past. It emerged because of the massive changes that were being experienced across Europe during the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840). It is not hard to imagine that with all this change societies wanted to reminisce.

In British theatre, smaller theatres popularised comic operas and melodramas, larger theatres presented the Romantic plays of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.

Politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton established 'gentlemanly' drama which began to restore the prestige of British theatre with the aristocracy.

After public performances were banned for 18 years, there was an explosion of theatrical activity in England. Encouraged by King Charles II, theatres re-opened across London.

Many of the influential playwrights & actors of the time had fled to mainland Europe during Protestant rule. They returned with 'new' ideas from the theatre of France, Italy, Spain & Germany; all of which continued to flourish in the 17th Century.

Sexually explicit & risque comedies, known as the Restoration comedies, were encouraged & funded by the King and his court, becoming very popular. For the first time in England, women were allowed to act. Many, like Nell Gwynn, became the King's mistresses.

In the late 17th Century 'Restoration spectacular' emerged. This used new and burgeoning technologies in the theatres to enthrall the audience - trap-doors, fireworks, moveable scenery!

Here we have the origins of the theatre spectacle that still enthralls audiences in theatre to this day!

Laws in 1572 forbid acting companies not having 'patronage'. This act killed all but the companies of players (actors) attached to the palaces of aristocrats and nobility. These groups became the professional performers of the public stages.

Due to Elizabeth's love of plays, authorities in London were forced to drop their dislike of 'public performances'. As a consequence theatres emerged across London, especially Southwark which was outside the city's duristiction.

The first public performances were created on the pretence that they were rehearsals for the Queen, but most of their money came from the public & not her Majesty's patronage.

Under Elizabeth the economics of the profession thrived, but the characters involved in the drama also changed for the better. For the first time theatre unified the classes; rich & poor watched together.

In 1642 at the outbreak of English Civil War, theatre was deemed deeply immoral by Protestant authorities and all plays and performances were banned. In the 18 years before Charles II (1660) took power the republican governments of England destroyed as much dramatic history as they could.

Originating in Italy in the 1560s Commedia was the origins of the actor-centred theatre. It's likely that it was a reaction to how exclusive theatre became in the 14th & 15th century.

Improvisational, travelling theatre troupes were widespread across Europe, but none were as influential as 'Commedia'.

Plays, for the first time we are aware of, did not emerge from writing. Instead they were built around scenarios called 'lazzi', used stock characters such as lovers, masters and servants, and were improvised by the actors. Each performance was different.

Troupes generally consisted of 13/14 members (male & female) and for the first time actors were paid, sharing the profits from shows they toured. Each person would receive an a share equivalent to the size of their role in the performance, which changed from performance to performance.

Medieval Theatre - 500-1500

Realism & Naturalism

Realism began earlier in Russia than the rest of Europe, around 1843, but blossomed to become the dominant theatre movement from 1870 for around 100 years.

Realism's aim was to develop a set of dramatic techniques & conventions that could bring real life and characters to texts and the stage.

It became so popular and so influential that it spawned a great range of other dramatic movements, such as Naturalism & Socialist drama.

Two men are credited with founding Realism, Konstantin Stanislavski & Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. These two were funded to build the Moscow Arts Theatre and developed techniques, which proved hugely influential in the world of acting.

Konstantin Stanislavski

Stanislavski was recognised as one of Russia's actors and one of the world's greatest theatre directors, but he is remembered for a 'system' of actor training and rehearsal technique which has revolutionised theatre, film & TV.

Stanislavski's system

His system was developed to encourage actors to think about their character through emotional experiences they have had in their lives.

Within his rehearsals Stanislavski would ask his actors to search for inner motives for character's actions - why is s/he doing this at this point in the play? - as well as asking them to consider what a character wants to achieve in a scene or play.

His work quickly became a manual for actors across the world to 'train' in the artform, revolutionising actor training in the West.

In the USA theatre practitioners Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler & Sanford Meisner took Stanislavski's techniques and developed an actor training programme called 'The Method', which has become the most popular approach to actor training in the western world.

From 500BC onwards the Romans retreated to Eastern Europe, leaving chaos & disorder across West Europe. This meant much of the organised theatre disappeared.

Churches in Europe began to experiment with staging biblical stories & events on specific days of the year. These performances are referred to as 'liturgical drama' and were like shows during Mass, depicting bible stories & biblical figures. These dramas spread from Russia to Scandinavia to Italy.

From the 10th century onwards in Britain, towns developed usually around churches, with local people performing plays.

Two distinct forms of theatre emerged during this time, both linked to the Christian churches in Europe.

1. Mystery/Miracle Plays - stories from the Bible (1000 onwards)

2. Morality Plays - stories of the Saints (1400 onwards)

Towards the Late Middle Ages (1250-1500) the first professional actors emerged across Europe, funded in small companies by kings & queens and performing in Great Halls of palaces for nobility; theatre for the rich

British Theatre in the late 19th century

Joan Littlewood & The Worker's Movement

In Britain we had a very popular theatre scene of melodramas, comedies, operas, Shakespeare, burlesque, pantomimes and farces during the mid-19th century. This meant we did not experience the non-realism that the rest of Europe did.

Here the comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan expanded the audiences for musical theatre; before it was seen as trashy by the aristocrats.

To fill the gulf left for more serious dramas, Realism in the form of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen made it to Britain from the continent.

He is considered to be the father of Realism and his plays looked for the first time at the mysterious forces that control human destiny. He introduced the idea of 'subtext'; the words that are implied, but never said into the theatre and revolutionised the face of modern drama. Such is his influence that he has been described as 'the most important playwright since Shakespeare.

Ibsen won the Nobel Prize in Literature a staggering 3 consecutive years (1902-1904) and influenced a whole raft of playwrights like Geoge Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, James Joyce & Eugene O'Neill, who all went on to further influence theatre themselves.

In 1945 theatre practitioner Joan Littlewood founded 'Theatre Workshop' in Manchester. She built her company on the Socialist idea of artists being a collective, bringing social issues to normal people.

For the first time in Britain for 100 years theatre was taken from the aristocracy and handed to the people.

The 1940s to 1960s saw a massive increase in independent theatre companies dedicated to exploring new and innovative theatre and sharing it with the British public.

In London in 1956 the English Stage Company, under director George Devine, established a theatre in Sloane Square that pioneered work by new writers. This is Royal Court Theatre and it had a key role in the development of modern British drama.

Introduction

Ancient Greek Theatre

- 1200BC-500AD

• It's widely believed that our concept of theatre originates in Ancient Athens, flourishing from 700BC onwards.
• Unlike the Primitive Theatre before it, we have some remaining evidence of the type of theatre that took place.

• The Festival of Dionysia
• Tragedies, Comedies & Satyr Plays
• Most plays were tragedies & dramatised events from Greek mythology

Festival of Dionysia

This huge festival honoured the god Dionysus - God of wine, fertility & theatre.

At the centre of the festival were 3 types of drama; tragedy, comedy & satyr plays.

It is thought that each of the 3 chosen playwrights would present his set of 3 plays on successive days.

Sadly none of the tragedies written in 6th Century & only 32 of the thousands written in the 5th have survived.

We only have the complete texts of 3 playwrights; Aeschylus, Sophocles & Euripides.

Roman Theatre

To understand the history of theatre we DO NOT need to have an extensive knowledge of the past.

It is however really useful to understand ...

Theatre has (and will always) be influenced and affected by historical events.

Wars, laws, monarchies, governments & religion have shaped the theatre we know today.

It's my job to try and show you that understanding this is really interesting.

IT ACTUALLY IS!

Theatre in the 20th century

The Romans had their own ideas on theatre, which developed around 400BC, but as their marauding Empire expanded into Greece (270-240BC) they encountered Greek drama.

It is believed that their original theatre was much more eclectic than Greece's; street theatre, acrobatics & nude dancing, alongside more serious pieces like tragedies.

They took from Greek theatre many influences, but most influential were the extensive theory philosophers such as Aristotle had about drama, and the use of masks in performance.

Why do you think this was so useful to the Romans?

With the spread of the Roman Empire through West Europe (England, France, Germany, Spain etc.) locals in these countries were seeing something much more sophisticated than they had seen before.

The World Wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 changed everything for people across the world; it also changed theatre.

The theatre entered an experimental age, which allowed new ideas and theories to emerge of the role theatre has in the world.

The rise of Musical Theatre

Theatre's Experimental Phase

The 20th Century saw the biggest changes in the culture of the theatre in Europe & North America.

Many of the established rules for theatre were discarded, with new forms of theatre such as modernism, expressionism & political theatre emerging.

The art of theatre practise came into establishment with practitioners such as Vsevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Jerzy Grotowski & Augusto Boal all providing theory on acting & the role of theatre, alongside their great predecessor Stanislavski.

Modern British Theatre - The Royal Court (1956)

The Origins: Primitive Theatre

- 8500BC ?

On 8th May 1956 John Osbourne's play 'Look Back in Anger' opened at the Royal Court, the 3rd production of the English Stage Company.

The play expressed the anger and frustration that the youth of 50s Britain felt. British theatre & The Royal Court have never looked back since.

What followed were plays that seared with anger, coining the genre 'Kitchen-sink Drama'. Plays focused on real stories of real people in real situations. The periods of the 1950s & 60s saw a huge emergence of young playwrights like Harold Pinter, David Hare, Joe Orton & Edward Bond - all of whom gained popularity for writing socially accurate plays.

The problem that British theatre had was that since The Licensing Act of 1737, theatre in this country had been censored. A government-appointed minister would have to check and approve every play that was to be performed. This meant British theatre could not discuss sex, religion, politics or the royal family.

Thankfully in 1968 theatre censorship was abolished. The 1970s saw a huge explosion of theatre fueled by this and the advances in TV.

Government cuts of 1980s

- Studio & Balck-Box Theatres

The Power of the director

It is thought that our concept of 'theatre' emerged from performances of rituals that did not require involvement on the part of the spectator.

A dramatic kill would be re-enacted for the rest of the tribe when hunters returned.

The shaman, who can communicate with good & evil spirits sharing the wisdom he has acquired from the gods with his people.

All of this was theatre & performance!

A combination of powerful directors, punchy new writing and a much more liberal society in Britain during the 1960s & 70s gave the theatre a freedom it had never seen before.

Across the UK theatres became popular places for the first time in 400 years. People flocked to Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre & to the National Theatre in London to see new exciting plays, alongside the classics of Shakespeare etc.

All was going swimmingly for theatres in the UK ... and then in 1979 Britain appointed their first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Her Conservative government famously privitised many areas of government, making money by selling transport & energy industries to private companies. From 1979 to 1990 public subsidy for the arts was slashed, to be replaced by private sponsorship that rarely came. Many theatres closed and development in the arts really struggled.

In-yer-face Theatre (1990s)

Physical & Visual Theatre

One consequence of the Conservative government of the 80s & 90s was to increase the wealth gap between rich and poor. Selling mining companies to international businesses, who then closed mines in rural areas of Britain created an anger & hatred among working-class people.

Due to funding cuts the theatre in Britain only had young & untried writers to write plays, what emerged was in-yer-face theatre.

Vulgar, shocking and confrontational material was performed on British stages as a means of affecting an audience. Playwrights Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill & Anthony Nielson were the main contributors to this.

Changes off stage in the 1950s made directors the key creative force behind a production.

In London notoriety in the theatre shifts from the great actors; Laurence Olivier, Michael Garrick & John Gielgud towards directors like Sir Peter Hall, Sir Trevor Nunn, Richard Eyre & Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Directors became the driving force behind a production, more focus was placed on the role of the director, over the craft of the actor.

Driven by the new and big money of film & cinema, directors in the theatre took centre stage over the actors.

In 1968 Trevor Nunn establishes The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. Sir Peter Hall oversee the development of a National Theatre in London 1976.

Contemporary Theatre - 21st Century

During the late 1980s theatre companies began to experiment with more physicalised types of theatre. Wanting to move away from the realism and Naturalism that they felt did not reflect real life, they instead chose to take inspiration from film and dance to create visual theatre that focused on physical imagery over words.

Theatre companies like Theatre de Complicite applied this style to re-imagining classic texts; the first forays into 'creative adaptation'.

Practitioners like Peter Brook and Steven Berkoff took inspiration from Asian theatre and applied this their work, making visual and physical masterpieces.

In the 1990s young, experimental theatre companies like Frantic Assembly, DV8 and Volcano developed a unique style by fusing physical theatre, dance choreography and text together.

We are finally here! In a time that you can all relate to!

In the 21st Century theatre has evolved as a vehicle to challenge the establishment and push the boundaries.

Plays such as 'Black Watch' in 2006 told the horrors of the Iraq War through the eyes of soldiers. This play did exactly what the government of 1737 feared and challenged the people in power to be accountable for the suffering of soldiers. It represents theatre at its controversial best.

The theatre of today

Huge efforts have been put into the theatre to make it more accessible than ever before for audience & artists.

Whereas before the theatre stage and audience was predominantly white, middle-classed people, finally we have a change happening in the theatre demographic.

Credit for much of this must go to Nicholas Hytner, the director of the National Theatre from 2003 to 2015. He championed female playwrights and new writers from minority ethnic groups, giving them the biggest stage in the country to present their plays on.

Combining modern & classical plays with new writing allowed Hytner to do something that the National Theatre had never done before; be a theatre for a culturally diverse Britain.