Theatre of United Kingdom plays an important part in British culture , and the countries that constitute the UK have had a vibrant tradition of theatre since the Renaissance with roots going back to the Roman occupation .
203-914: Theater in the United States is part of the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the British theater . The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan , with its divisions of Broadway , Off-Broadway , and Off-Off-Broadway . Many movie and television stars have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York, many cities have professional regional or resident theater companies that produce their own seasons, with some works being produced regionally with hopes of eventually moving to New York. U.S. theater also has an active community theater culture, which relies mainly on local volunteers who may not be actively pursuing
406-586: A Variety Club Award for Best Actress and Laurence Olivier Award nomination. Samuel Beckett wrote a number of short radio plays in the 1950s and 1960s, and later for television. Beckett's radio play Embers was first broadcast on the BBC Third Programme on 24 June 1959, and won the RAI prize at the Prix Italia awards later that year. From the 1840s there was a demand to commemorate serious theatre, with
609-454: A moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The reign of Elizabeth I in the late 16th and early 17th century saw a flowering of the drama and all the arts. Perhaps
812-477: A British warship that had been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations, in what became known as the Gaspee Affair . The affair was investigated for possible treason, but no action was taken. In 1773, private letters were published in which Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson claimed that the colonists could not enjoy all English liberties, and in which Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver called for
1015-572: A Scottish playwright and journalist, wrote during the second Edinburgh International Festival : ‘Round the fringe of official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before ... I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings!’. The artistic credentials of the Fringe were established by the creators of the Traverse Theatre , John Calder , Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco in 1963. While their original objective
1218-668: A Spanish play, was produced in London to amazement that a Scot could write such excellent English. Scottish poet John Ogilby , who was the first Irish Master of the Revels , had established the Werburgh Street Theatre , the first theatre in Ireland, in the 1630s. It was closed by the Puritans in 1641. The Restoration of the monarchy in Ireland enabled Ogilby to resume his position as Master of
1421-544: A boycott on imports of all British merchandise . American spokesmen such as Samuel Adams, James Otis, John Hancock, John Dickinson, Thomas Paine, and many others, rejected aristocracy and propounded " republicanism " as the political philosophy that was best suited to American conditions. The Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout the Empire and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval or even consultation. They argued that
1624-611: A burden on the theater since 1918. It was never relaxed, and was doubled in 1943. Total seating capacity of the thirty most renowned legitimate theaters amounted to 35,697 seats in 1951. Since 1937 in New York City alone, 14 former legitimate theaters with a normal seating capacity of 16,955, have been taken over for either radio broadcasts or television performances . In the late 1990s and 2000s, American theater began to borrow from cinema and operas. For instance, Julie Taymor , director of The Lion King directed Die Zauberflöte at
1827-468: A career running until the 1990s. Some vaudeville theaters built between about 1900 and 1920 managed to survive as well, though many went through periods of alternate use, most often as movie theaters until the second half of the century saw many urban populations decline and multiplexes built in the suburbs. Since that time, a number have been restored to original or nearly-original condition and attract new audiences nearly one hundred years later. By
2030-453: A dramatic history of United States with his cycle of plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle , one for each decade of the 20th century. Asian American theater is represented in the early 1970s by Frank Chin and achieved international success with David Henry Hwang 's M. Butterfly . Latino theater grew from the local activist performances of Luis Valdez 's Chicano-focused Teatro Campesino to his more formal plays, such as Zoot Suit , and later to
2233-473: A large military and naval force: Convinced that the Revolution was the work of a full few miscreants who had rallied an armed rabble to their cause, they expected that the revolutionaries would be intimidated .... Then the vast majority of Americans, who were loyal but cowed by the terroristic tactics ... would rise up, kick out the rebels, and restore loyal government in each colony. Washington forced
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#17328633701262436-463: A large number of theatres, particularly centred around Shaftesbury Avenue . West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland". Along with New York 's Broadway theatre , West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show
2639-514: A late Victorian and Edwardian theatre building boom in the West End. At the end of the century, Edwardian musical comedy came to dominate the musical stage. Irish playwrights George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) and J. M. Synge (1871–1909) were influential in British drama. Shaw's career as a playwright began in the last decade of the nineteenth century, while Synge's plays belong to the first decade of
2842-797: A meeting with representatives from Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities. A delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met British admiral Richard Howe on Staten Island in New York Harbor on September 11 in what became known as the Staten Island Peace Conference . Howe demanded that the Americans retract the Declaration of Independence , which they refused to do, and negotiations ended. The British then seized New York City and nearly captured Washington's army. They made
3045-507: A much larger force. As Benjamin Franklin wrote to Joseph Priestley in October 1775: Britain, at the expense of three millions, has killed 150 Yankees this campaign, which is £20,000 a head ... During the same time, 60,000 children have been born in America. From these data his mathematical head will easily calculate the time and expense necessary to kill us all. In the winter of 1775,
3248-474: A new genre in English literature theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains several violent murders and includes as one of its characters a personification of Revenge . The Spanish Tragedy was often referred to, or parodied, in works written by other Elizabethan playwrights , including William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. Many elements of The Spanish Tragedy, such as
3451-434: A platform for expression, and as a venue for identity exploration for underrepresented, minority communities, who have formed their own companies and created their own genres of works, including those created by August Wilson , Tony Kushner , David Henry Hwang , John Guare , and Wendy Wasserstein . Smaller urban theaters have stayed a source of innovation, and regional theaters remain an important part of theater life. Drama
3654-606: A playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever (1925), Private Lives (1930), Design for Living (1932), Present Laughter (1942) and Blithe Spirit (1941), have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. In the 1930s W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood co-authored verse dramas, of which The Ascent of F6 (1936) is the most notable, that owed much to Bertolt Brecht . T. S. Eliot had begun this attempt to revive poetic drama with Sweeney Agonistes in 1932, and this
3857-928: A popular acting couple in the 1930s. 1940 proved to be a pivotal year for African-American theater. Frederick O'Neal and Abram Hill founded ANT, or the American Negro Theater , the most renowned African-American theater group of the 1940s. Their stage was small and located in the basement of a library in Harlem, and most of the shows were attended and written by African-Americans. Some shows include Theodore Browne's Natural Man (1941), Abram Hill's Walk Hard (1944), and Owen Dodson 's Garden of Time (1945). Many famous actors received their training at ANT, including Harry Belafonte , Sidney Poitier , Alice and Alvin Childress , Osceola Archer, Ruby Dee , Earle Hyman , Hilda Simms , among many others. Mid-20th century theater saw
4060-508: A production, and in 1841, a single play was shown in New York City for an unprecedented three weeks. William Shakespeare 's works were commonly performed. American plays of the period were mostly melodramas , a famous example of which was Uncle Tom's Cabin , adapted by George Aiken , from the novel of the same name by Harriet Beecher Stowe . In 1821, William Henry Brown established the African Grove Theatre in New York City. It
4263-416: A set of playwrights who followed O'Neill's path of philosophical searching, Philip Barry , Thornton Wilder ( Our Town ) and William Saroyan ( The Time of Your Life ). Theater criticism kept pace with the drama, such as in the work of George Jean Nathan and in the numerous books and journals on American theater that were published during this time. The stature that American drama had achieved between
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#17328633701264466-558: A small proportion of plays written and performed were actually published, and the smaller production in Scotland meant that a much less significant record of Scottish drama remains to us. The ribald verse play in Scots, Philotus , is known from an anonymous edition published in London in 1603. Drama in Wales as a literary tradition dates to morality plays from north-east Wales in the second half of
4669-768: A structure of shared sovereignty during prosecution of the Revolutionary War and facilitating international relations and alliances. The Articles were fully ratified on March 1, 1781. At that point, the Continental Congress was dissolved and a new government of the United States in Congress Assembled took its place the following day, on March 2, 1782, with Samuel Huntington leading the Congress as presiding officer. According to British historian Jeremy Black ,
4872-645: A theater was built in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1716, and the original Dock Street Theatre opened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1736, the birth of professional theater in the English colonies may have begun when Lewis Hallam arrived with his theatrical company in Williamsburg in 1752. Lewis and his brother William , who arrived in 1754, were the first to organize a complete company of actors in Europe and bring them to
5075-600: A theatre company, which evolved into the National Theatre, and a ballet company, which eventually became the English Royal Ballet . The Royal Shakespeare Company operates out of Stratford-upon-Avon, producing mainly but not exclusively Shakespeare's plays. The RSC was formally established on 20 March 1961 with the royal announcement that the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre would henceforth be known as
5278-634: A theatre in Bloomsbury . This work was interrupted by World War I. Finally, in 1948, the London County Council presented a site close to the Royal Festival Hall for the purpose, and a "National Theatre Act", offering financial support, was passed by Parliament in 1949. In July 1962, a board was set up to supervise construction of a National Theatre on the South Bank site and a separate board
5481-640: A theatrical career. Before the first English colony was established in 1607, there were Spanish dramas and Native American tribes that performed theatrical events. Representations continued to be held in Spanish-held territories in what later became the United States. For example, at the Presidio of Los Adaes in the New Philippines (now in Louisiana ), several plays were presented on October 12, 1721. Although
5684-419: A trend towards more contemporary and rural stories in preference to the usual historical or fantastical melodramas. James Sheridan Knowles and Edward Bulwer-Lytton established a "gentlemanly" drama that began to re-establish the former prestige of the theatre with the aristocracy . For much of the first half of the 19th century, drama in London and provincial theatres was restricted by a licensing system to
5887-654: A true 'cycle' of plays and most likely performed around the Feast of Corpus Christi probably in the town of Wakefield , England during the late Middle Ages until 1576. The Ludus Coventriae (also called the N Town plays " or Hegge cycle ), now generally agreed to be a redacted compilation of at least three older, unrelated plays, and the Chester cycle of twenty-four pageants, now generally agreed to be an Elizabethan reconstruction of older medieval traditions. These biblical plays differ widely in content. Most contain episodes such as
6090-598: A variety of styles, of which André and The Father; or, American Shandyism are his best. At 825 Walnut Street in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, is the Walnut Street Theatre , or, "The Walnut". Founded in 1809 by the Circus of Pepin and Breschard , "The Walnut" is the oldest theater in America. The Walnut's first theatrical production, The Rivals , was staged in 1812. In attendance were President Thomas Jefferson and
6293-466: A vehicle for deliberation and collective action. During secret debates, conservative Joseph Galloway proposed the creation of a colonial Parliament that would be able to approve or disapprove acts of the British Parliament, but his idea was tabled in a vote of 6 to 5 and was subsequently removed from the record. Congress called for a boycott beginning on December 1, 1774, of all British goods; it
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6496-413: A wealth of Great Leading Ladies, including Helen Hayes , Katherine Cornell , Tallulah Bankhead , Judith Anderson , and Ruth Gordon . Musical theater saw stars such as Ethel Merman , Beatrice Lillie , Mary Martin , and Gertrude Lawrence . After World War II, American theater came into its own. Several American playwrights, such as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams , became world-renowned. In
6699-439: A year earlier. 'Cato', a play about revolution, was performed for George Washington and his troops at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777–1778. The Revolutionary period was a boost for dramatists, for whom the political debates were fertile ground for both satire, as seen in the works of Mercy Otis Warren and Colonel Robert Munford, and for plays about heroism, as in the works of Hugh Henry Brackenridge . The postwar period saw
6902-624: Is a common tourist activity in London. American Revolution The American Revolution was a rebellion and political movement in the Thirteen Colonies which peaked when colonists initiated an ultimately successful war for independence against the Kingdom of Great Britain . Leaders of the American Revolution were colonial separatist leaders who originally sought more autonomy as British subjects, but later assembled to support
7105-611: Is also taught in high schools and colleges, which was not done in previous eras, and many become interested in theater through this genre. Theatre of the United Kingdom Theatre was introduced from Europe to what is now the United Kingdom by the Romans and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose (an example has been excavated at Verulamium ). By the medieval period, theatre had developed with
7308-440: Is best known for two prose plays, The Great Divide (1906, later adapted into three film versions ) and The Faith Healer (1909), which together point the way to modern American drama in their emphasis on the emotional conflicts that lie at the heart of contemporary social conflicts. Other key playwrights from this period (in addition to continued work by Howells and Fitch) include Edward Sheldon , Charles Rann Kennedy and one of
7511-519: Is famous or notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court . Although documented history of Irish theatre began at least as early as 1601, the earliest Irish dramatists of note were: William Congreve (1670–1729), author of The Way of the World (1700); late Restoration playwright, George Farquhar (?1677–1707), The Recruiting Officer (1706); as well as two of
7714-451: Is most famous for Rumpole of the Bailey a British television series which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients. It has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes. Other notable radio dramatists included Brendan Behan and novelist Angela Carter . Novelist Susan Hill also wrote for BBC radio, from
7917-460: Is sometimes nicknamed the "Age of Shakespeare" for the influence he held over the era. Other important Elizabethan and 17th-century playwrights include Ben Jonson , Christopher Marlowe , and John Webster . The English playwrights were intrigued by the Italian model as a conspicuous community of Italian actors had settled in London. The linguist and lexicographer John Florio (1553–1625), whose father
8120-650: The BBC Light Programme . But he made his debut as an original playwright with The Dock Brief , starring Michael Hordern as a hapless barrister, first broadcast in 1957 on BBC Radio 's Third Programme , later televised with the same cast, and subsequently presented in a double bill with What Shall We Tell Caroline? at the Lyric Hammersmith in April 1958, before transferring to the Garrick Theatre . Mortimer
8323-669: The British Empire was a constitutional monarchy with sovereignty in the King-in-Parliament . Aristocrats inherited seats in the House of Lords , while the gentry and merchants controlled the elected House of Commons . The king ruled through cabinet ministers who depended on majority support in the Commons to govern effectively. British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic proudly claimed
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8526-763: The City of London . The RSC was closely involved in the design of these two venues. Since 2002 the RSC has had no regular London home, concentrating its work in Stratford at the Swan Theatre and the redeveloped Royal Shakespeare Theatre (re-opened in 2010). An important cultural movement in the British theatre that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s was Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama ), art (the term itself derives from an expressionist painting by John Bratby ), novels, film, and television plays . The term angry young men
8729-415: The Declaration of Independence , which embodied the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism , rejected monarchy and aristocracy , and famously proclaimed that " all men are created equal ". The fighting continued for five years, now known as the Revolutionary War . During that time, the kingdoms of France and Spain entered as allies of the United States. The decisive victory came in
8932-518: The Declaration of Independence , which was drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson and presented by the Committee of Five , which had been charged with its development. The Congress struck several provisions of Jefferson's draft, and then adopted it unanimously on July 4. The Declaration embodied the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism , rejected monarchy and aristocracy , and famously proclaimed that " all men are created equal ". With
9135-686: The English Empire , and they formed part of the British Empire after the union of England and Scotland in 1707. The development of a unique American identity can be traced to the English Civil War (1642–1651) and its aftermath. The Puritan colonies of New England supported the Commonwealth government responsible for the execution of King Charles I . After the Stuart Restoration of 1660, Massachusetts did not recognize Charles II as
9338-1054: The Fall of Lucifer , the Creation and Fall of Man , Cain and Abel , Noah and the Flood , Abraham and Isaac , the Nativity , the Raising of Lazarus , the Passion , and the Resurrection . Other pageants included the story of Moses , the Procession of the Prophets , Christ's Baptism , the Temptation in the Wilderness , and the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin . In given cycles,
9541-448: The Gaiety Theatre inspired further demands, including: a structure in the capital that would present "exemplary theatre"; that would form a permanent memorial to Shakespeare; a supported company that would represent the best of British acting; and a theatre school. A London Shakespeare League was founded in 1902 to develop a Shakespeare National Theatre and – with the impending tri-centenary in 1916 of his death – in 1913 purchased land for
9744-467: The Great Depression also had an effect on theater in the United States. Plays took on social roles, identifying with immigrants and the unemployed. The Federal Theatre Project , a New Deal program set up by Franklin D. Roosevelt , helped to promote theater and provide jobs for actors. The program staged many elaborate and controversial plays such as It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis and The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein . By contrast,
9947-419: The Great Lakes . About 60,000 Loyalists migrated to other British territories in Canada and elsewhere, but the great majority remained in the United States. With its victory in the American Revolution, the United States became the first constitutional republic in world history founded on the consent of the governed and the rule of law . The Thirteen Colonies were established in the 17th century as part of
10150-452: The Hat Act of 1732, and the Iron Act of 1750. Colonial reactions to these policies were mixed. The Molasses Act of 1733 placed a duty of six pence per gallon upon foreign molasses imported into the colonies. This act was particularly egregious to the New England colonists, who protested it as taxation without representation. The act increased the smuggling of foreign molasses, and the British government ceased enforcement efforts after
10353-508: The Hessian and British armies at Trenton and Princeton , thereby regaining control of most of New Jersey. The victories gave an important boost to Patriots at a time when morale was flagging, and they have become iconic events of the war. In September 1777, in anticipation of a coordinated attack by the British Army on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, the Continental Congress was forced to depart Philadelphia temporarily for Baltimore , where they continued deliberations. In 1777,
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#173286337012610556-399: The Interregnum 1642–1660, English theatres were kept closed by the Puritans for religious and ideological reasons. When the London theatres opened again with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of Charles II (reigned 1660–1685). Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted by topical writing and by the introduction of
10759-426: The Marquis de Lafayette . Provincial theaters frequently lacked heat and minimal theatrical property ("props") and scenery . Apace with the country's westward expansion , some entrepreneurs operated floating theaters on barges or riverboats that would travel from town to town. A large town could afford a long "run"—or period of time during which a touring company would stage consecutive multiple performances—of
10962-450: The Metropolitan Opera . Also, Broadway musicals were developed around Disney's Mary Poppins , Tarzan , The Little Mermaid , and the one that started it all, Beauty and the Beast , which may have contributed to Times Square 's revitalization in the 1990s. Also, Mel Brooks 's The Producers and Young Frankenstein are based on his hit films. The early years of the 20th century, before World War I, continued to see realism as
11165-448: The Olive Branch Petition in which they attempted to come to an accord with King George. The king, however, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion which declared that the states were "in rebellion" and the members of Congress were traitors. The Battle of Bunker Hill followed on June 17, 1775. It was a British victory—but at a great cost: about 1,000 British casualties from a garrison of about 6,000, as compared to 500 American casualties from
11368-428: The Royal Court Theatre . Joe Orton 's dramatic debut in 1963 was the radio play The Ruffian on the Stair , which was broadcast on 31 August 1964. Tom Stoppard 's "first professional production was in the fifteen-minute Just Before Midnight programme on BBC Radio, which showcased new dramatists". John Mortimer made his radio debut as a dramatist in 1955, with his adaptation of his own novel Like Men Betrayed for
11571-463: The Royal National Theatre in London: Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru (the Welsh language national theatre of Wales, founded 2003), National Theatre of Scotland (founded 2006), National Theatre Wales (the English language national theatre company of Wales, founded 2009). Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru attempts to shape a distinctive identity for drama in Welsh while also opening it up to outside linguistic and dramatic influences. The West End of London has
11774-455: The Royal Proclamation of 1763 , designating the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River as an Indian Reserve closed to white settlement. The Proclamation failed to stop westward migration while angering settlers, fur traders, and land speculators in the Thirteen Colonies. George Grenville became prime minister in 1763, and "the need for money played a part in every important decision made by Grenville regarding
11977-404: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the company as the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1962 the RSC established the Aldwych Theatre as its London base for productions transferred from Stratford to London, its stage redesigned to match the RST's apron stage. In 1982, the company took up London residence in both the Barbican Theatre and The Pit studio space in the Barbican Centre under the auspices of
12180-407: The Savoy Theatre in 1881 to present their joint works, and through the inventor of electric light Sir Joseph Swan , the Savoy was the first theatre, and the first public building in the world, to be lit entirely by electricity. The success of Gilbert and Sullivan greatly expanded the audience for musical theatre. This, together with much improved street lighting and transportation in London led to
12383-405: The Shubert brothers founded rival agency, The Shubert Organization . For playwrights, the period after the War brought more financial reward and aesthetic respect (including professional criticism) than was available earlier. In terms of form, spectacles, melodramas and farces remained popular, but poetic drama and romanticism almost died out completely due to the new emphasis upon realism, which
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#173286337012612586-404: The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in its three different locations. The Stephen Joseph Theatre was the first theatre in the round in Britain. Other playwrights whose careers began later in the century are: Caryl Churchill ( Top Girls , 1982), Michael Frayn (1933-) playwright and novelist, David Hare (1947- ), David Edgar (1948- ). Dennis Potter 's most distinctive dramatic work
12789-414: The Tea Act lowering the price of taxed tea exported to the colonies, to help the British East India Company undersell smuggled untaxed Dutch tea. Special consignees were appointed to sell the tea to bypass colonial merchants. The act was opposed by those who resisted the taxes and also by smugglers who stood to lose business. In every colony demonstrators warned merchants not to bring in tea that included
12992-414: The colonies . They brought a repertoire of plays popular in London at the time, including Hamlet , Othello , The Recruiting Officer , and Richard III . The Merchant of Venice was their first performance, shown initially on September 15, 1752. Encountering opposition from religious organizations, Hallam and his company left for Jamaica in 1754 or 1755. Soon after, Lewis Hallam, Jr. , founded
13195-518: The mummers' plays , a form of early street theatre associated with the Morris dance , concentrating on themes such as Saint George and the Dragon and Robin Hood . These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The medieval mystery plays and morality plays , which dealt with Christian themes, were performed at religious festivals. The most important work of literature surviving from
13398-445: The play-within-a-play used to trap a murderer and a ghost intent on vengeance, appear in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Thomas Kyd is frequently proposed as the author of the hypothetical Ur-Hamlet that may have been one of Shakespeare's primary sources for Hamlet . George Chapman (c. 1559–1634) was a successful playwright who produced comedies (his collaboration on Eastward Hoe led to his brief imprisonment in 1605 as it offended
13601-400: The rise of satire in 1960s Britain . The Chichester Festival Theatre was Britain's first modern thrust stage theatre. It was inspired by the Festival Theatre of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival launched by Tyrone Guthrie in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario . The inaugural Artistic Director of the Chichester Festival was Sir Laurence Olivier , and it was at Chichester that
13804-404: The "Shakespeare Committee" purchasing the playwright's birthplace for the nation demonstrating a recognition of the importance of 'serious drama'. The following year saw more pamphlets on a demand for a National Theatre from London publisher, Effingham William Wilson. The situation continued, with a renewed call every decade for a National Theatre. In 1879 the residency of the Comédie-Française at
14007-549: The 15th century. The development of Renaissance theatre in England did not have great influence in Wales as the gentry found different forms of artistic patronage. One surviving example of Welsh literary drama is Troelus a Chresyd , an anonymous adaptation from poems by Henrysoun and Chaucer dating to around 1600. With no urban centres to compare to England to support regular stages, morality plays and interludes continued to circulate in inn-yard theatres and fairs, supplemented by visiting troupes performing English repertoire. During
14210-432: The 1740s. On the other hand, certain merchants and local industries benefitted from the restrictions on foreign competition. The limits on foreign-built ships greatly benefitted the colonial shipbuilding industry, particularly in New England. Some argue that the economic impact was minimal on the colonists, but the political friction that the acts triggered was more serious, as the merchants most directly affected were also
14413-454: The 1860s, French operettas, continued to be popular, together with Victorian burlesque . Scottish "national drama" emerged in the early 1800s, as plays with specifically Scottish themes began to dominate the Scottish stage. The existing repertoire of Scottish-themed plays included John Home 's Douglas (1756) and Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd (1725), with the last two being the most popular plays among amateur groups. Douglas elicited
14616-455: The 1950s and 1960s, experimentation in the Arts spread into theater as well, with plays such as Hair including nudity and drug culture references. Musicals remained popular as well, and musicals such as West Side Story and A Chorus Line broke previous records. At the same time, shows like Stephen Sondheim 's Company began to deconstruct the musical form as it had been practiced through
14819-450: The 1950s and 1960s, many major British playwrights either effectively began their careers with the BBC , or had works adapted for radio. Most of playwright Caryl Churchill 's early experiences with professional drama production were as a radio playwright and, starting in 1962 with The Ants , there were nine productions with BBC radio drama up until 1973 when her stage work began to be recognised at
15022-410: The 1960s, and the maturation of black drama through Lorraine Hansberry , James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka . In the musical theater, important figures include Rodgers and Hammerstein , Lerner and Loewe , Betty Comden and Adolph Green , Richard Adler and Jerry Ross , Frank Loesser , Jule Styne , Jerry Bock , Meredith Willson and Stephen Sondheim . The period beginning in the mid-1960s, with
15225-548: The 19th century, "The stage was at a low ebb, Elizabethan glories and Georgian artificialities had alike faded into the past, stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theater had become a place of evil repute". On April 15, 1865, less than a week after the end of the United States Civil War , Abraham Lincoln , while watching a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.,
15428-700: The American Company, opened a theater in New York, and presented the first professionally mounted American play— The Prince of Parthia , by Thomas Godfrey —in 1767. In the 18th century, laws forbidding the performance of plays were passed in Massachusetts in 1750, in Pennsylvania in 1759, and in Rhode Island in 1761, and plays were banned in most states during the American Revolutionary War at
15631-466: The American Revolution (see Salutary neglect ) . During the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the British government fielded 45,000 soldiers, half British Regulars and half colonial volunteers. The colonies also contributed money to the war effort; however, two-fifths of this spending was reimbursed by the British government. Great Britain defeated France and acquired that nation's territory east of
15834-469: The Americans invaded northeastern Quebec under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery , expecting to rally sympathetic colonists there. The attack was a failure; many Americans were killed, captured, or died of smallpox. In March 1776, aided by the fortification of Dorchester Heights with cannons recently captured at Fort Ticonderoga , the Continental Army led by George Washington forced
16037-466: The British had significant advantages, including a highly trained army, the world's largest navy, and an efficient system of public finance that could easily fund the war. However, they seriously misunderstood the depth of support for the American Patriot position, misinterpreting the situation as merely a large-scale riot. The British government believed that they could overawe the Americans by sending
16240-664: The British out of Boston in the spring of 1776, and neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas. The British, however, were amassing forces at their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia . They returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army in August at the Battle of Brooklyn . This gave the British control of New York City and its strategic harbor . Following that victory, they requested
16443-399: The British sent Burgoyne's invasion force from Canada south to New York to seal off New England. Their aim was to isolate New England, which the British perceived as the primary source of agitation. Rather than move north to support Burgoyne, the British army in New York City went to Philadelphia in a major case of mis-coordination, capturing it from Washington. The invasion army under Burgoyne
16646-549: The British to evacuate Boston . The revolutionaries now fully controlled all thirteen colonies and were ready to declare independence. There still were many Loyalists, but they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the Royal officials had fled. Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of Massachusetts outside Boston 's city limits, and
16849-551: The British to deploy troops to Boston. A Boston town meeting declared that no obedience was due to parliamentary laws and called for the convening of a convention. A convention assembled but only issued a mild protest before dissolving itself. In January 1769, Parliament responded to the unrest by reactivating the Treason Act 1543 which called for subjects outside the realm to face trials for treason in England. The governor of Massachusetts
17052-656: The Crown nullified their colonial charters in response. In 1686, James finalized these efforts by consolidating the separate New England colonies along with New York and New Jersey into the Dominion of New England . Edmund Andros was appointed royal governor and tasked with governing the new Dominion under his direct rule . Colonial assemblies and town meetings were restricted, new taxes were levied, and rights were abridged. Dominion rule triggered bitter resentment throughout New England. When James tried to rule without Parliament ,
17255-539: The English aristocracy removed him from power in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was followed by the 1689 Boston revolt , which overthrew Dominion rule. Colonial governments reasserted their control after the revolt. The new monarchs, William and Mary , granted new charters to the individual New England colonies, and local democratic self-government was restored. After the Glorious Revolution,
17458-470: The English. Grenville believed that the colonies should help pay the troop costs. In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act , decreasing the existing customs duties on sugar and molasses but providing stricter measures of enforcement and collection. That same year, Grenville proposed direct taxes on the colonies to raise revenue, but he delayed action to see whether the colonies would propose some way to raise
17661-564: The Irish and Germans, which often dovetailed with concerns over temperance and Roman Catholic. This period also saw plays about American expansion to the West (including plays about Mormonism) and about women's rights. Among the best plays of the period are James Nelson Barker 's Superstition; or, the Fanatic Father , Anna Cora Mowatt 's Fashion; or, Life in New York , Nathaniel Bannister 's Putnam,
17864-922: The Iron Son of '76 , Dion Boucicault 's The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana , and Cornelius Mathews 's Witchcraft; or, the Martyrs of Salem . At the same time, America had created new dramatic forms in the Tom Shows , the showboat theater and the minstrel show . During postbellum North, theater flourished as a postwar boom allowed longer and more-frequent productions. The advent of American rail transport allowed production companies, actors, and large, elaborate sets to travel easily between towns, which made permanent theaters in small towns feasible. The invention and practical application of electric lighting also led to changes to and improvements of scenery styles as well as changes in
18067-671: The King with its anti-Scottish sentiment ), tragedies (most notably Bussy D'Ambois ) and court masques ( The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn ). David Lyndsay 's Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis (1552), is a surviving example of a Scots dramatic tradition in the period that has otherwise largely been lost. James Wedderburn is recorded as having written anti-Catholic tragedies and comedies in Scots around 1540 before being forced to flee into exile. Although
18270-624: The Lord Chamberlain in Great Britain. James Planché was a prolific playwright. He revolutionised stage productions of Shakespeare and the classics by introducing the use of historically appropriate costume design , working with antiquarians to establish what was known about period dress. Dion Boucicault (1820–90) made the latest scientific inventions important elements in his plots and exerted considerable influence on theatrical production. His first big success, London Assurance (1841)
18473-642: The Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive with no protection from the British army. In each of the Thirteen Colonies, American patriots overthrew their existing governments, closed courts, and drove out British colonial officials. They held elected conventions and established their own legislatures , which existed outside any legal parameters established by the British. New constitutions were drawn up in each state to supersede royal charters. They proclaimed that they were now states , no longer colonies . On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified
18676-464: The Middle Cornish period is An Ordinale Kernewek ("The Cornish Ordinalia "), a 9000-line religious drama composed around the year 1400. The longest single surviving work of Cornish literature is Bywnans Meriasek (The Life of Meriasek), a play dated 1504, but probably copied from an earlier manuscript. There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays from
18879-635: The Mississippi River. In early 1763, the Bute ministry decided to permanently garrison 10,000 soldiers in North America. This would allow approximately 1,500 politically well-connected British Army officers to remain on active duty with full pay (stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable). A standing army would provide defense against Native Americans in
19082-503: The Patent theatre companies, and all other theatres could perform only musical entertainments (although magistrates had powers to license occasional dramatic performances). By the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments had become popular, and provided a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama which did not contravene the Patent Acts, as it
19285-580: The Revels and open the first Theatre Royal in Dublin in 1662 in Smock Alley. In 1662 Katherine Philips went to Dublin where she completed a translation of Pierre Corneille 's Pompée , produced with great success in 1663 in the Smock Alley Theatre, and printed in the same year both in Dublin and London. Although other women had translated or written dramas, her translation of Pompey broke new ground as
19488-469: The Revolutionary War, which ended British colonial rule over the colonies, establishing their independence as the United States of America in July 1776. Discontent with colonial rule began shortly after the defeat of France in the French and Indian War in 1763. Although the colonies had fought and supported the war, Parliament imposed new taxes to compensate for wartime costs and turned control of
19691-684: The Thirteen Colonies (Georgia joined in 1775) sent delegates to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia . It began coordinating Patriot resistance through underground networks of committees . In April 1775 British forces attempted to disarm local militias around Boston and engaged them . On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress responded by authorizing formation of the Continental Army and appointing George Washington as its commander-in-chief. In August
19894-525: The Tony Award two years in a row, and composer-playwright Jonathan Larson , whose musical Rent ran for over twelve years. Another major piece of American theater includes the activism in it, including works created by Lorraine Hansberry , such as A Raisin in the Sun . Her works push for representation for African Americans, as well as equality. Another activist in American theater is William Finn , who created
20097-624: The Virginia legislature to propose independence, and he did so on June 7, 1776. On June 11, a committee was created by the Second Continental Congress to draft a document explaining the justifications for separation from Britain. After securing enough votes for passage, independence was voted for on July 2. Gathered at Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia , 56 of the nation's Founding Fathers , representing America's Thirteen Colonies , unanimously adopted and issued to King George III
20300-495: The Wars was cemented during the post-World War II generation, with the final works of O'Neill and his generation being joined by such towering figures as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller , as well as by the maturation of the musical theater form. Other key dramatists include William Inge , Arthur Laurents and Paddy Chayefsky in the 1950s, the avant garde movement of Jack Richardson, Arthur Kopit , Jack Gelber and Edward Albee
20503-518: The Waverley novels, largely first performed in minor theatres, rather than the larger Patent theatres, included The Lady in the Lake (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1819), and Rob Roy , which underwent over 1,000 performances in Scotland in this period. Also adapted for the stage were Guy Mannering , The Bride of Lammermoor and The Abbot . These highly popular plays saw the social range and size of
20706-638: The Word"), in 1982. It is "a play about language and only about language", but it deals with a wide range of issues, stretching from language and communication to Irish history and cultural imperialism. Friel responds strongly to both political and language questions in modern-day Northern Ireland. In 1970, American actor and director Sam Wanamaker founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust and the International Shakespeare Globe Centre, with
20909-610: The World Wars were years of extremes. Eugene O'Neill 's plays were the high point for serious dramatic plays leading up to the outbreak of war in Europe. Beyond the Horizon (1920), for which he won his first Pulitzer Prize; he later won Pulitzers for Anna Christie (1922) and Strange Interlude (1928) as well as the Nobel Prize in Literature . Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne remained
21112-490: The ancestors of the English music hall . These forms flourished at the expense of legitimate English drama, which went into a long period of decline. By the early 19th century it was no longer represented by stage plays at all, but by the closet drama , plays written to be privately read in a "closet" (a small domestic room). Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron were the most important literary dramatists of their time (although Shelley's plays were not performed until later in
21315-655: The appearance of Indigenous people, boarded the ships of the East India Company and dumped £10,000 worth of tea from their holds (approximately £636,000 in 2008) into Boston Harbor . Decades later, this event became known as the Boston Tea Party and remains a significant part of American patriotic lore. The British government responded by passing four laws that came to be known as the Intolerable Acts , further darkening colonial opinion towards England. The first
21518-468: The audience for theatre expand and helped shape theatre going practices in Scotland for the rest of the century. In 1847, a critic using the pseudonym Dramaticus published a pamphlet describing the parlous state of British theatre. Production of serious plays was restricted to the patent theatres , and new plays were subjected to censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office . At the same time, there
21721-406: The audience using comic skits, parodies of popular plays and musicals, and general buffoonery and slapstick comedy, all with heavy utilization of racial stereotyping and racist themes. Throughout the 19th century, theater culture was associated with hedonism and even violence; actors (especially women) were looked upon as little better than prostitutes. Jessie Bond wrote that by the middle of
21924-693: The award-winning work of Cuban Americans Fornés (multiple Obies) and her student Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer), to Puerto Rican playwrights José Rivera and Miguel Piñero , and to the Tony Award-winning musical about Dominicans in New York City, In the Heights . Finally, the rise of the gay rights movement and of the AIDS crisis led to a number of important gay and lesbian dramatists, including Christopher Durang , Holly Hughes , Karen Malpede , Terrence McNally , Larry Kramer , Tony Kushner , whose Angels in America won
22127-414: The beginning of the 20th century, legitimate 1752 (non-vaudeville) theater had become decidedly more sophisticated in the United States, as it had in Europe. The stars of this era, such as Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore , were often seen as even more important than the show itself. The advance of motion pictures also led to many changes in theater. The popularity of musicals may have been due in part to
22330-408: The best strategy for a dramatist was to become an actor and/or a manager, after the model of John Howard Payne , Dion Boucicault and John Brougham . This period saw the popularity of certain native character types, especially the "Yankee", the "Negro" and the "Indian", exemplified by the characters of Jonathan , Sambo and Metamora . Meanwhile, increased immigration brought a number of plays about
22533-516: The birth of American social comedy in Royall Tyler 's The Contrast , which established a much-imitated version of the "Yankee" character, here named "Jonathan". But there were no professional dramatists until William Dunlap , whose work as playwright, translator, manager and theater historian has earned him the title of "Father of American Drama"; in addition to translating the plays of August von Kotzebue and French melodramas, Dunlap wrote plays in
22736-454: The century). Shakespeare was enormously popular, and began to be performed with texts closer to the original, as the drastic rewriting of 17th and 18th century performing versions for the theatre (as opposed to his plays in book form, which were also widely read) was gradually removed over the first half of the century. Melodramas, light comedies, operas, Shakespeare and classic English drama, pantomimes , translations of French farces and, from
22939-468: The city their main political and military base of operations, holding it until November 1783 . The city became the destination for Loyalist refugees and a focal point of Washington's intelligence network . The British also took New Jersey, pushing the Continental Army into Pennsylvania. Washington crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey in a surprise attack in late December 1776 and defeated
23142-598: The colonies "in all cases whatsoever". The repeal nonetheless caused widespread celebrations in the colonies. In 1767, the British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts , which placed duties on several staple goods, including paper, glass, and tea, and established a Board of Customs in Boston to more rigorously execute trade regulations. Parliament's goal was not so much to collect revenue but to assert its authority over
23345-507: The colonies exported agricultural products to Britain in return for manufactured goods. They also imported molasses, rum, and sugar from the British West Indies . The British government pursued a policy of mercantilism in order to grow its economic and political power. According to mercantilism, the colonies existed for the mother country's economic benefit, and the colonists' economic needs took second place. In 1651, Parliament passed
23548-675: The colonies were legally British corporations subordinate to the British Parliament. Parliament insisted that the colonists effectively enjoyed a " virtual representation ", as most British people did, since only a small minority of the British population were eligible to elect representatives to Parliament. However, Americans such as James Otis maintained that there was no one in Parliament responsible specifically to any colonial constituency, so they were not "virtually represented" by anyone in Parliament. The Rockingham government came to power in July 1765, and Parliament debated whether to repeal
23751-611: The colonies' western lands over to the British officials in Montreal . Representatives from several colonies convened the Stamp Act Congress ; its "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" argued that taxation without representation violated their rights as Englishmen . In 1767, tensions flared again following the British Parliament's passage of the Townshend Acts . In an effort to quell the mounting rebellion, King George III deployed troops to Boston . A local confrontation resulted in
23954-541: The colonies, acknowledged that he leaked the letters, which led to him being removed from his position. In Boston, Samuel Adams set about creating new Committees of Correspondence , which linked Patriots in all 13 colonies and eventually provided the framework for a rebel government. Virginia, the largest colony, set up its Committee of Correspondence in early 1773, on which Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson served. A total of about 7,000 to 8,000 Patriots served on these Committees; Loyalists were excluded. The committees became
24157-549: The colonies. The new taxes were enacted on the belief that Americans only objected to internal taxes and not to external taxes such as custom duties. However, in his widely read pamphlet, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania , John Dickinson argued against the constitutionality of the acts because their purpose was to raise revenue and not to regulate trade. Colonists responded to the taxes by organizing new boycotts of British goods. These boycotts were less effective, however, as
24360-406: The colonies—and for that matter by the ministries that followed up to 1776." The national debt had grown to £133 million with annual debt payments of £5 million (out of an £8 million annual budget). Stationing troops in North America on a permanent basis would cost another £360,000 a year. On a per capita basis, Americans only paid 1 shilling in taxes to the empire compared to 26 shillings paid by
24563-469: The crowd. They hit 11 people; three civilians died of wounds at the scene of the shooting, and two died shortly after. The event quickly came to be called the Boston Massacre . The soldiers were tried and acquitted (defended by John Adams ), but the widespread descriptions soon began to turn colonial sentiment against the British. This accelerated the downward spiral in the relationship between Britain and
24766-478: The design of theater interiors and seating areas. In 1896, Charles Frohman , Al Hayman , Abe Erlanger , Mark Klaw , Samuel F. Flenderson, and J. Fred Zimmerman, Sr. formed the Theatrical Syndicate , which established systemized booking networks throughout the United States, and created a management monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and bookings until the turn of the 20th century, when
24969-409: The direct payment of colonial officials, which had been paid by local authorities. This would have reduced the influence of colonial representatives over their government. The letters' contents were used as evidence of a systematic plot against American rights, and discredited Hutchinson in the eyes of the people; the colonial Assembly petitioned for his recall. Benjamin Franklin, postmaster general for
25172-723: The early 1970s. Irish playwright Brendan Behan , author of The Quare Fellow (1954), was commissioned by the BBC to write a radio play The Big House (1956); prior to this he had written two plays Moving Out and A Garden Party for Irish radio. Among the most famous works created for radio are Dylan Thomas 's Under Milk Wood (1954), which was later adpated into the 1972 film starring Richard Burton and Glynis Johns , Samuel Beckett 's All That Fall (1957), Harold Pinter 's A Slight Ache (1959), Robert Bolt 's A Man for All Seasons (1954), and Terence Rattigan 's Cause Célèbre (1975), which earned starring actress Glynis Johns
25375-506: The early years, most of the plays produced came from Europe; only with Godfrey's The Prince of Parthia in 1767 do we get a professionally produced play written by an American, although it was a last-minute substitute for Thomas Forrest's comic opera The Disappointment; or, The Force of Credulity , and although the first play to treat American themes seriously, Ponteach; or, the Savages of America by Robert Rogers , had been published in London
25578-608: The expanding British Empire. Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer was the first play to be staged in New York City on December 6, 1732. It was also the first play to be staged in the Colony of New South Wales , which is now Australia . The age of Augustan drama was brought to an end by the censorship established by the Licensing Act 1737 . After 1737, authors with strong political or philosophical points to make would no longer turn to
25781-543: The fact the early films had no sound, and could thus not compete, until The Jazz Singer of 1927, which combined both talking and music in a moving picture. More complex and sophisticated dramas bloomed in this time period, and acting styles became more subdued. Even by 1915, actors were being lured away from theater and to the silver screen , and vaudeville was beginning to face stiff competition. While revues consisting of mostly unconnected songs, sketches, comedy routines, and dancing girls ( Ziegfeld girls ) dominated for
25984-571: The fall of 1781, when the combined American and French armies captured an entire British army in the Siege of Yorktown . The defeat led to the collapse of King George's control of Parliament, with a majority now in favor of ending the war on American terms. On September 3, 1783, the British signed the Treaty of Paris giving the United States nearly all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of
26187-440: The famous "Whaur's Yer Wullie Shakespeare Noo?" jeer from a member of one of its early audiences, and was also the subject of a number of pamphlets for and against it. It also arguably led to James MacPherson 's Ossian cycle. Home was hounded by the church authorities for Douglas . It may have been this persecution which drove Home to write for the London stage, in addition to Douglas' success there, and stopped him from founding
26390-449: The first 20 years of the 20th century, musical theater would eventually develop beyond this. One of the first major steps was Show Boat , with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein . It featured songs and non-musical scenes which were integrated to develop the show's plot. The next great step forward was Oklahoma! , with lyrics by Hammerstein and music by Richard Rodgers . Its "dream ballets" used dance to carry forward
26593-641: The first National Theatre company was formed. Chichester's productions would transfer to the National Theatre's base at the Old Vic in London . The Theatres Act 1968 abolished the system of censorship of the stage that had existed in Great Britain since 1737. The new freedoms of the London stage were tested by Howard Brenton 's The Romans in Britain , first staged at the National Theatre during 1980, and subsequently
26796-458: The first in a series of Navigation Acts , which restricted colonial trade with foreign countries. The Thirteen Colonies could trade with the rest of the empire but only ship certain commodities like tobacco to Britain. Any European imports bound for British America had to first pass through an English port and pay customs duties. Other laws regulated colonial industries, such as the Wool Act of 1699 ,
26999-617: The first professional actresses (in Shakespeare's time, all female roles had been played by boys). New genres of the Restoration were heroic drama , pathetic drama , and Restoration comedy . The Restoration plays that have best retained the interest of producers and audiences today are the comedies, such as William Wycherley 's The Country Wife (1676), The Rover (1677) by the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn , and John Vanbrugh 's The Relapse (1696). Restoration comedy
27202-415: The first rhymed version of a French tragedy in English and the first English play written by a woman to be performed on the professional stage. Aphra Behn (one of the women writers dubbed " The fair triumvirate of wit ") was a prolific dramatist and one of the first English professional female writers. Her greatest dramatic success was The Rover (1677). Theatre began to spread from the United Kingdom to
27405-529: The first state constitution. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. New Jersey , South Carolina , and Virginia created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown. The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices. On May 26, 1776, John Adams wrote James Sullivan from Philadelphia warning against extending
27608-407: The focus of an unsuccessful private prosecution in 1982. The height of Alan Ayckbourn 's commercial success included Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975) and Just Between Ourselves (1976), all plays that focused heavily on marriage in the British middle classes. Throughout his writing career, all but four of his plays were premièred at
27811-750: The franchise too far: Depend upon it, sir, it is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation, as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters. There will be no end of it. New claims will arise. Women will demand a vote. Lads from twelve to twenty one will think their rights not enough attended to, and every man, who has not a farthing, will demand an equal voice with any other in all acts of state. It tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and prostrate all ranks, to one common level[.] The resulting constitutions in states, including those of Delaware , Maryland , Massachusetts , New York , and Virginia featured: In Pennsylvania , New Jersey , and New Hampshire ,
28014-469: The goods taxed by the Townshend Acts were widely used. In February 1768, the Assembly of Massachusetts Bay Colony issued a circular letter to the other colonies urging them to coordinate resistance. The governor dissolved the assembly when it refused to rescind the letter. Meanwhile, a riot broke out in Boston in June 1768 over the seizure of the sloop Liberty , owned by John Hancock , for alleged smuggling. Customs officials were forced to flee, prompting
28217-422: The great range of intellectual issues which he tackles in different plays. Both Pinter and Stoppard continued to have new plays produced into the 1990s. Beyond the Fringe was a comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook , Dudley Moore , Alan Bennett , and Jonathan Miller . It played in London's West End and then on New York 's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to
28420-417: The hated new tax. In most instances, the consignees were forced by the Americans to resign and the tea was turned back, but Massachusetts governor Hutchinson refused to allow Boston merchants to give in to pressure. A town meeting in Boston determined that the tea would not be landed, and ignored a demand from the governor to disperse. On December 16, 1773, a group of men, led by Samuel Adams and dressed to evoke
28623-432: The inaugural Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. Seven performed in Edinburgh, and one undertook a version of the medieval morality play "Everyman" in Dunfermline Abbey , about 20 miles north, across the Firth of Forth , in Fife. These groups aimed to take advantage of the large assembled theatre crowds to showcase their own, alternative, theatre. The Fringe got its name the following year (1948) after Robert Kemp ,
28826-423: The issuance of the Declaration of Independence, each colony began operating as independent and sovereign states. The next step was to form a union to facilitate international relations and alliances. On November 5, 1777, the Congress approved the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and sent it to each state for ratification. The Congress immediately began operating under the Articles' terms, providing
29029-418: The king proclaimed Massachusetts to be in a state of open defiance and rebellion . The Continental Army surrounded Boston, and the British withdrew by sea in March 1776, leaving the Patriots in control in every colony. In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress began to take on the role of governing a new nation . It passed the Lee Resolution for national independence on July 2, and on July 4, 1776, adopted
29232-454: The late medieval period ; although these collections are sometimes referred to as "cycles," it is now believed that this term may attribute to these collections more coherence than they in fact possess. The most complete is the York cycle of forty-eight pageants. They were performed in the city of York , from the middle of the fourteenth century until 1569. There are also the Towneley plays of thirty-two pageants, once thought to have been
29435-413: The leaders of the American resistance to British actions, and later largely determined the war effort at the state and local level. When the First Continental Congress decided to boycott British products, the colonial and local Committees took charge, examining merchant records and publishing the names of merchants who attempted to defy the boycott by importing British goods. Meanwhile, Parliament passed
29638-406: The legendary producer Brock Pemberton (founder of the Tony Awards ) was among those who felt that it was more than ever a time for comic entertainment, in order to provide an escape from the prevailing harsh social conditions: typical of his productions was Lawrence Riley 's comedy Personal Appearance (1934), whose success on Broadway (501 performances) vindicated Pemberton. The years between
29841-485: The legitimate king for more than a year after his coronation . In King Philip's War (1675–1678), the New England colonies fought a handful of Native American tribes without military assistance from England, thereby contributing to the development of a uniquely American identity separate from that of the British people . In the 1680s, Charles and his brother, James II , attempted to bring New England under direct English control. The colonists fiercely opposed this, and
30044-477: The main development in drama. But starting around 1900, there was a revival of poetic drama in the States, corresponding to a similar revival in Europe (e.g. Yeats , Maeterlinck and Hauptmann ). The most notable example of this trend was the "Biblical trilogy" of William Vaughn Moody , which also illustrate the rise of religious-themed drama during the same years, as seen in the 1899 production of Ben-Hur and two 1901 adaptations of Quo Vadis . Moody, however,
30247-454: The mid-century, moving away from traditional plot and realistic external settings to explore the central character's inner state; his Follies relied on pastiches of the Ziegfeld Follies -styled revue; his Pacific Overtures used Japanese kabuki theatrical practices; and Merrily We Roll Along told its story backwards. Similarly, Bob Fosse 's production of Chicago returned the musical to its vaudeville origins. Facts and figures of
30450-408: The most famous playwright in the world, William Shakespeare , wrote around 40 plays that are still performed in theatres across the world to this day. They include tragedies, such as Hamlet (1603), Othello (1604), and King Lear (1605); comedies, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1594–96) and Twelfth Night (1602); and history plays, such as Henry IV, Part 1 . The Elizabethan age
30653-489: The most politically active. The British government lacked the resources and information needed to control the colonies. Instead, British officials negotiated and compromised with colonial leaders to gain compliance with imperial policies. The colonies defended themselves with colonial militias , and the British government rarely sent military forces to America before 1755. According to historian Robert Middlekauff , "Americans had become almost completely self-governing" before
30856-502: The most successful playwrights on the London stage in the 18th century, Oliver Goldsmith (?1730–74), She Stoops to Conquer (1773) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), The School for Scandal (1777). Anglo-Irish drama in the 18th century also includes Charles Macklin (?1699–1797), and Arthur Murphy (1727–1805). Thomas Sydserf was behind the establishment in Edinburgh of the first regular theatre in Scotland, and his 1667 play Tarugo's Wiles: or, The Coffee-House , based on
31059-518: The most successful women playwrights in American drama, Rachel Crothers , whose interest in women's issues can be seen in such plays as He and She (1911). During the period between the World Wars, American drama came to maturity, thanks in large part to the works of Eugene O'Neill and of the Provincetown Players . O'Neill's experiments with theatrical form and his combination of Naturalist and Expressionist techniques inspired other playwrights to use greater freedom in their works, whether expanding
31262-497: The new Scottish national theatre that some had hoped he would. Walter Scott was keenly interested in drama, becoming a shareholder in the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh . Baillie's Highland themed The Family Legend was first produced in Edinburgh in 1810 with the help of Scott, as part of a deliberate attempt to stimulate a national Scottish drama. Scott also wrote five plays, of which Hallidon Hill (1822) and MacDuff's Cross (1822), were patriotic Scottish histories. Adaptations of
31465-454: The objective of building a faithful recreation of Shakespeare's Globe close to its original location at Bankside, Southwark. Shakespeare's Globe opened to the public in 1997. Performances are engineered to duplicate the original environment of Shakespeare's Globe; there are no spotlights, plays are staged during daylight hours and in the evenings (with the help of interior floodlights), there are no microphones, speakers or amplification. During
31668-451: The oldest, continuously performing theatrical society in the United States. Prominent New Yorkers who have been members of the ACC include Theodore, Frederick and John Steinway of the piano manufacturing family; Gordon Grant, the marine artist; Christopher La Farge, the architect; Van H. Cartmell, the publisher; Albert Sterner , the painter; and Edward Fales Coward, the theater critic and playwright. Elsie De Wolfe , Lady Mendl, later famous as
31871-788: The passing of Civil Rights legislation and its repercussions, came the rise of an "agenda" theater comparable to that of the 1930s. Many of the major midcentury playwrights continued to produce new works, but were joined by names like Sam Shepard , Neil Simon , Romulus Linney , David Rabe , Lanford Wilson , David Mamet , and John Guare . Many important dramatists were women, including Beth Henley , Marsha Norman , Wendy Wasserstein , Megan Terry , Paula Vogel and María Irene Fornés . The growth of ethnic pride movements led to more success by dramatists from racial minorities, such as black playwrights Douglas Turner Ward , Adrienne Kennedy , Ed Bullins , Charles Fuller , Suzan-Lori Parks , Ntozake Shange , George C. Wolfe and August Wilson , who created
32074-432: The plays came to be sponsored by the newly emerging Medieval craft guilds . Having grown out of the religiously based mystery plays of the Middle Ages, the morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment, which represented a shift towards a more secular base for European theatre. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without
32277-507: The plot and develop the characters. Amateur performing groups have always had a place alongside professional acting companies. The Amateur Comedy Club, Inc. was founded in New York City on April 18, 1884. It was organized by seven gentlemen who broke away from the Madison Square Dramatic Organization, a socially prominent company presided over by Mrs. James Brown Potter and David Belasco . The ACC staged its first performance on February 13, 1885. It has performed continuously ever since, making it
32480-415: The postwar theater The postwar American theater audiences and box offices diminished, due to the undeclared "offensive" of television and radio upon the classical, legitimate theater . According to James F. Reilly, executive director of the League of New York Theatres , between 1930 and 1951 the number of legitimate theaters in New York City dwindled from 68 to 30. Besides that, the admissions tax has been
32683-461: The prewar period tended to be a derivative in form, imitating European melodramas and romantic tragedies, but native in content, appealing to popular nationalism by dramatizing current events and portraying American heroism. But playwrights were limited by a set of factors, including the need for plays to be profitable, the middle-brow tastes of American theater-goers, and the lack of copyright protection and compensation for playwrights. During this time,
32886-617: The principles he expounded in his essay "Art for Truth's Sake in the Drama". Although Fleming did not appeal to audiences—critics and audiences felt it dwelt too much on unseemly topics and included improper scenes, such as Margaret nursing her husband's bastard child onstage—other forms of dramatic realism were becoming more popular in melodrama (e.g., Augustin Daly 's Under the Gaslight ) and in local color plays ( Bronson Howard 's Shenandoah ). Other key dramatists during this period are David Belasco , Steele MacKaye , William Dean Howells , Dion Boucicault , and Clyde Fitch . Vaudeville
33089-439: The propaganda value of drama in the Scottish Reformation was important, the Kirk hardened its attitude to such public entertainments. In 1599 James VI had to intervene to overturn a prohibition on attending performances by a visiting theatre troupe from England. Scottish drama did not succeed in becoming a popular artform in the face of religious opposition and the absence of King and court after 1603. As with drama in England, only
33292-403: The province of Massachusetts. A new ministry under Lord North came to power in 1770, and Parliament repealed most of the Townshend duties, except the tax on tea. This temporarily resolved the crisis, and the boycott of British goods largely ceased, with only the more radical patriots such as Samuel Adams continuing to agitate. In June 1772, American patriots, including John Brown , burned
33495-478: The rebels' weapons and arrest their leaders, leading to the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Patriots assembled a militia 15,000 strong and laid siege to Boston, occupied by 6500 British soldiers. The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on June 14, 1775. The congress was divided on the best course of action. They authorized formation of the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief, and produced
33698-445: The resulting constitutions embodied: The radical provisions of Pennsylvania 's constitution lasted 14 years. In 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and rewrote the constitution. The new constitution substantially reduced universal male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to
33901-484: The revenue themselves. Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765, which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets were required to have the stamps—even decks of playing cards. The colonists did not object that the taxes were high; they were actually low. They objected to their lack of representation in the Parliament, which gave them no voice concerning legislation that affected them, such as
34104-495: The same time, the economic crisis of the Great Depression led to the growth of protest drama, as seen in the Federal Theater Project 's Living Newspaper productions and in the works of Clifford Odets (e.g., Waiting for Lefty ), as well as moralist drama, as in Lillian Hellman 's The Little Foxes and The Children's Hour . Other key figures of this era include George S. Kaufman , George Kelly , Langston Hughes , S. N. Behrman , Sidney Howard , Robert E. Sherwood , and
34307-669: The stage as their first hope of making a living, and novels began to have dramatic structures involving only normal human beings, as the stage was closed off for serious authors. Prior to the Licensing Act 1737, theatre was the first choice for most wits. After it, the novel was. In the 18th century, the highbrow and provocative Restoration comedy lost favour, to be replaced by sentimental comedy , domestic Bourgeois tragedy such as George Lillo 's The London Merchant (1731), and by an overwhelming interest in Italian opera . Popular entertainment became more important in this period than ever before, with fair-booth burlesque and mixed forms that are
34510-548: The stage. Again in the 1950s, the absurdist play Waiting for Godot (1955) (originally En attendant Godot , 1952), by the Paris-based Irish expatriate Samuel Beckett profoundly affected British drama. The Theatre of the Absurd influenced Harold Pinter (1930-2008), (The Birthday Party, 1958), whose works are often characterised by menace or claustrophobia. Beckett also influenced Tom Stoppard (1937-) ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead ,1966). Stoppard's works are however also notable for their high-spirited wit and
34713-471: The stamp tax or to send an army to enforce it. Benjamin Franklin appeared before them to make the case for repeal, explaining that the colonies had spent heavily in manpower, money, and blood defending the empire, and that further taxes to pay for those wars were unjust and might bring about a rebellion. Parliament agreed and repealed the tax on February 21, 1766, but they insisted in the Declaratory Act of March 1766 that they retained full power to make laws for
34916-399: The tax, violating the unwritten English constitution . This grievance was summarized in the slogan "No taxation without representation". Shortly following adoption of the Stamp Act, the Sons of Liberty formed, and began using public demonstrations, boycotts, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws became unenforceable. In Boston , the Sons of Liberty burned the records of
35119-459: The techniques of Realism , as in Susan Glaspell 's Trifles , or borrowing more heavily from German Expressionism (e.g., Elmer Rice 's The Adding Machine ), Other distinct movements during this period include folk-drama/regionalism ( Paul Green 's Pulitzer-winning In Abraham's Bosom ), "pageant" drama (Green's The Lost Colony , about the mysterious Roanoke Colony ), and even a return to poetic drama ( Maxwell Anderson 's Winterset ). At
35322-499: The troops killing protesters in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. In 1772, anti-tax demonstrators in Rhode Island destroyed the Royal Navy customs schooner Gaspee . On December 16, 1773, activists disguised as Indians instigated the Boston Tea Party and dumped chests of tea owned by the British East India Company into Boston Harbor . London closed Boston Harbor and enacted a series of punitive laws , which effectively ended self-government in Massachusetts. In late 1774, 12 of
35525-446: The twentieth century. Synge's most famous play, The Playboy of the Western World , "caused outrage and riots when it was first performed" in Dublin in 1907. George Bernard Shaw turned the Edwardian theatre into an arena for debate about important political and social issues, like marriage, class, "the morality of armaments and war" and the rights of women. In the 1920s and later Noël Coward (1899–1973) achieved enduring success as
35728-401: The unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America. In April 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Congress issued the Halifax Resolves explicitly authorizing its delegates to vote for independence. By June, nine Provincial Congresses were ready for independence; Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New York followed. Richard Henry Lee was instructed by
35931-627: The unwritten British constitution , with its guarantees of the rights of Englishmen , protected personal liberty better than any other government. It served as the model for colonial governments . The Crown appointed a royal governor to exercise executive power. Property owners elected a colonial assembly with powers to legislate and levy taxes, but the British government reserved the right to veto colonial legislation. Radical Whig ideology profoundly influenced American political philosophy with its love of liberty and opposition to tyrannical government. With little industry except shipbuilding,
36134-628: The urging of the Continental Congress . In 1794, president of Yale College , Timothy Dwight IV , in his "Essay on the Stage", declared that "to indulge a taste for playgoing means nothing more or less than the loss of that most valuable treasure: the immortal soul." In spite of such laws, a few writers tried their hand at playwriting. Most likely, the first plays written in America were by European-born authors—we know of original plays being written by Spaniards, Frenchmen and Englishmen dating back as early as 1567—although no plays were printed in America until Robert Hunter's Androboros in 1714. Still, in
36337-512: The vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson . Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October. Moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that the colonists were equal to all other British citizens and that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen , and Congress emphasized their determination by organizing
36540-473: The war. James Bridie , the pseudonym used by Osborne Henry Mavor (1888–1951), was a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and surgeon, considered to be a founding father of modern Scottish theatre, following his involvement with the founding of both the Citizens Theatre and Scotland's first college of drama, now known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama . The Edinburgh Festival Fringe started life when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to
36743-456: The west and foreign populations in newly acquired territories (the French in Canada and the Spanish in Florida ). In addition, British soldiers could prevent white colonists from instigating conflict with Native Americans and help collect customs duties. Migration beyond the Appalachian Mountains increased after the French threat was removed, and Native Americans launched Pontiac's War (1763–1766) in response. The Grenville ministry issued
36946-440: The work A New Brain , about representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in entertainment. Although earlier styles of theater such as minstrel shows and Vaudeville acts have disappeared from the landscape, theater still remains a popular contemporary American art form. Broadway productions still entertain millions of theatergoers even as productions have become more elaborate and expensive. At the same time, theater has also served as
37149-421: The world's first professional interior decorator, acted in Club productions in the early years of the 20th Century, as did Hope Williams , and Julie Harris in the 1940s. Early 20th century theater was dominated by the Barrymores— Ethel Barrymore , John Barrymore , and Lionel Barrymore . Other greats included Laurette Taylor , Jeanne Eagels , and Eva Le Gallienne . The massive social change that went on during
37352-494: Was Italian, was a royal language tutor at the Court of James I , and a possible friend and influence on William Shakespeare, had brought much of the Italian language and culture to England. The earliest Elizabethan plays includes Gorboduc (1561) by Sackville and Norton as well as The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again , Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy established
37555-434: Was a burgeoning theatre sector featuring a diet of low melodrama and musical burlesque ; but critics described British theatre as driven by commercialism and a 'star' system. Kotzebue's plays were translated into English and Thomas Holcroft 's A Tale of Mystery was the first of many English melodramas. Pierce Egan , Douglas William Jerrold , Edward Fitzball , James Roland MacLaren and John Baldwin Buckstone initiated
37758-513: Was a comedy in the style of Sheridan, but he wrote in various styles, including melodrama. T. W. Robertson wrote popular domestic comedies and introduced a more naturalistic style of acting and stagecraft to the British stage in the 1860s. A change came in the late 19th century with the plays on the London stage by the Irishmen George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen , all of whom influenced domestic English drama and vitalised it again. The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
37961-434: Was accompanied by music. The passing of the Theatres Act 1843 removed the monopoly on drama held by the Patent theatres, enabling local authorities to license theatres as they saw fit, and also restricted the Lord Chamberlain's powers to censor new plays . The 1843 Act did not apply to Ireland where the power of the Lord Lieutenant to license patent theatres enabled control of stage performance analogous to that exercised by
38164-540: Was adopted by serious drama, melodrama and comedy alike. This realism was not quite the European realism of Ibsen 's Ghosts , but a combination of scenic realism (e.g., the " Belasco Method") with a less romantic view of life that accompanied the cultural turmoil of the period. The most ambitious effort towards realism during this period came from James Herne , who was influenced by the ideas of Ibsen, Hardy and Zola regarding realism, truth, and literary quality; his most important achievement, Margaret Fleming , enacts
38367-415: Was an ex-slave. African-American works would not be regarded again until the 1920s Harlem Renaissance . A popular form of theater during this time was the minstrel show , which featured white (and sometimes, especially after the Civil War, black ) actors dressed in " blackface (painting one's face, etc. with dark makeup to imitate the coloring of an African or African American)." The players entertained
38570-401: Was assassinated by a nationally popular stage-actor of the period, John Wilkes Booth . Victorian burlesque , a form of bawdy comic theater mocking high art and culture, was imported from England about 1860 and in America became a form of farce in which females in male roles mocked the politics and culture of the day. Criticized for its sexuality and outspokenness, this form of entertainment
38773-399: Was common in the late 19th and early 20th century, and is notable for heavily influencing early film, radio, and television productions in the country. (This was born from an earlier American practice of having singers and novelty acts perform between acts in a standard play.) George Burns was a very long-lived American comedian who started out in the vaudeville community, but went on to enjoy
38976-447: Was constituted to run a National Theatre Company and lease the Old Vic theatre. The company was to remain at the Old Vic until 1976, when the new South Bank building was opened. The theatrical landscape has since been reconfigured, moving from a single national theatre at the end of the 20th century to four as a result of the devolution of cultural policy. National theatre companies were founded in Scotland and Wales as complements to
39179-439: Was enforced by new local committees authorized by the Congress. It also began coordinating Patriot resistance by militias which existed in every colony and which had gained military experience in the French and Indian War. For the first time, the Patriots were armed and unified against Parliament. King George declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion in February 1775 and the British garrison received orders to seize
39382-429: Was followed by The Rock (1934), Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and Family Reunion (1939). There were three further plays after the war. Saunders Lewis (1893–1985), writer in Welsh, was above all a dramatist. His earliest published play was Blodeuwedd (The woman of flowers) (1923–25, revised 1948). Other notable plays include Buchedd Garmon (The life of Germanus) (radio play, 1936) and several others after
39585-404: Was hounded off the "legitimate stage" and found itself relegated to saloons and barrooms . The female producers, such as Lydia Thompson were replaced by their male counterparts, who toned down the politics and played up the sexuality, until the burlesque shows eventually became little more than pretty girls in skimpy clothing singing songs, while male comedians told raunchy jokes. The drama of
39788-401: Was instructed to collect evidence of said treason, and the threat caused widespread outrage, though it was not carried out. On March 5, 1770, a large crowd gathered around a group of British soldiers on a Boston street. The crowd grew threatening, throwing snowballs, rocks, and debris at them. One soldier was clubbed and fell. There was no order to fire, but the soldiers panicked and fired into
39991-487: Was often applied members of this artistic movement. It used a style of social realism which depicts the domestic lives of the working class, to explore social issues and political issues. The drawing room plays of the post war period, typical of dramatists like Terence Rattigan and Noël Coward were challenged in the 1950s by these Angry Young Men , in plays like John Osborne 's Look Back in Anger (1956). Arnold Wesker and Nell Dunn also brought social concerns to
40194-458: Was opened in Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford upon Avon in 1879; and Herbert Beerbohm Tree founded an Academy of Dramatic Art at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1904. Producer Richard D'Oyly Carte brought together librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan , and nurtured their collaboration. Among Gilbert and Sullivan 's best known comic operas are H.M.S. Pinafore , The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado . Carte built
40397-425: Was produced for television. Translations by Brian Friel was first performed at the Guildhall, Derry , Northern Ireland , in 1980. An Irish-language version of the play has been produced. The play has also been translated into Welsh by Elan Closs Stephens . The Welsh version has visited a number of venues in Wales and was first published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch , under its Welsh title Torri Gair ("Breaking
40600-426: Was the Massachusetts Government Act which altered the Massachusetts charter and restricted town meetings. The second was the Administration of Justice Act which ordered that all British soldiers to be tried were to be arraigned in Britain, not in the colonies. The third was the Boston Port Act , which closed the port of Boston until the British had been compensated for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party. The fourth
40803-477: Was the Quartering Act of 1774 , which allowed royal governors to house British troops in the homes of citizens without permission of the owner. In response, Massachusetts patriots issued the Suffolk Resolves and formed an alternative shadow government known as the Provincial Congress, which began training militia outside British-occupied Boston. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress convened, consisting of representatives from each colony, to serve as
41006-416: Was the third attempt to have an African-American theater, but this was the most successful of them all. The company put on not only Shakespeare, but also staged the first play written by an African-American, The Drama of King Shotaway . The theater was shut down in 1823. African-American theater was relatively dormant, except for the 1858 play The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown , who
41209-419: Was to maintain something of the Festival atmosphere in Edinburgh all year round, the Traverse Theatre quickly and regularly presented cutting edge drama to an international audience on both the Edinburgh International Festival and on the Fringe during August. Sadler's Wells , under Lilian Baylis , nurtured talent that led to the development of an opera company, which became the English National Opera (ENO),
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