Restoration drama
Set design for Arsinoe by Sir James Thornhill, pen, ink and wash, England, 1705. Museum no. D.25-1891
Engraved print of Duke's Theatre, London, late 17th century
Engraved print of Duke's Theatre, London, 17th century
The term 'Restoration' refers to the period following the restoration of Charles II to the throne of the United Kingdom in 1660.
The introduction of scenery and elaborate stage machinery to the English public stage in the 1660s gave rise to blockbusting semi-operas. Many of these were adaptations of other plays, often by Shakespeare. These had episodes of music, singing, dancing and special effects. They even had transformation scenes.
The 1674 production of 'The Tempest' had many spectacular scenes including a storm.
The advances in scene design impacted on the design of theatre buildings, and behind the thrust stage a scenic stage was added, framed by a proscenium arch.
The Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden was planned by William Davenant and designed by Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul's Cathedral. It cost £9000 (about £600,000 today) paid for by 'adventurers' (we would call them backers).
It stood by the River Thames and steps led up from the river for those patrons arriving by boat. The theatre was the grandest ever seen in Britain up to that time, with an elaborate proscenium arch, one of the first in London.
Over the theatre were flats, where Thomas Betterton, the leading actor of the late 17th century and director of the acting company, lived.
Restoration dramatists
Audiences had a preference for Restoration comedy and heroic tragedy in addition to plays by Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher and Shakespeare. Restoration dramatists include William Wycherley, George Etherege, Thomas Otway, William Congreve and George Farquhar. The double standards of courtiers and members of the aristocracy were reflected in Restoration drama's obsession with social behaviour. Powerful and well-mannered characters were often portrayed as corrupt and sexually promiscuous.
Women writers
The Restoration period also saw women become recognised as professional playwrights. The most famous of these was Aphra Behn. A group of women writers known as The Female Wits produced many works for the stage. They included Mary Pix, Catherine Trotter and the prolific Susannah Centlivre who wrote 19 plays including 'A Bold Stroke for a Wife'.
Wax figurine of Edith Evans
Wax figurine by Agatha Walker of Edith Evans as Mistress Page from The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, moulded plaster coated in wax and coloured, 1924, Eddison Collection. Museum no. S.1043-1996
Scene from Tyrone Guthrie's production of The Country Wife
Horner, the central character in William Wycherley's comedy, The Country Wife, is a sexually voracious man about London who pretends he is impotent. Mrs Squaeamish, Lady Fidget and Margery Pinchwife are three of his conquests, though it is Margery who is the 'Country Wife' of the title. Gallants (men about town), fops (foolishly effete gentlemen) and cuckolds (men whose wives have cheated on them) were nothing new to English comedy at the Restoration it was probably a combination of the character of Horner, and Margery's country ways introduced into London society, that made the play different. Here are Ernest Thesiger, Ursula Jeans and Freda Jackson (the maid) from Tyrone Guthrie's 1936 Old Vic production of the play. It was a huge success, starring Michael Redgrave (who was at that time new to the London stage) as Horner, and Edith Evans as Lady Fidget.
Portrait of George Farquhar
The Irish playwright, George Farquhar, began his career as an actor. He accidentally wounded another player during a stage fight by using a real sword instead of a stage prop and decided that acting was not for him. Instead he tried his luck as a playwright in London. His first major success was The Constant Couple or a Trip to the Jubilee, performed at Drury Lane in 1699. Farquhar's next plays were not so popular and he tried to solve his money problems by marrying a rich woman. To his surprise, his chosen bride turned out to be penniless. He joined the army, which provided a regular income, and was sent to the Midlands to recruit soldiers.
Farquhar used his army experience in a play, The Recruiting Officer, written in 1706. This was a great hit with the public and Farquhar followed it with another, The Beaux' Stratagem, in 1707. Both plays are frequently staged today. Sadly, Farquhar did not live to enjoy his successes. He died soon after the first performances of The Beaux Stratagem, aged 29.
Portrait of Susanna Centlivre
The playwright Susannah Centlivre was a contemporary of the female wits and wrote her first play in 1700. She was successful during her lifetime and her works were regularly performed for the next two centuries.
Centlivre is best known for her comedies, many of which were adapted from French and Spanish works. Her plays were in the style of Restoration comedy, with immoral characters and risqué jokes. Often, however, it is the resourceful woman who comes out on top, rather than the leading man. Her prologues often express an active feminism and challenge male prejudice against women writers. Little is known about her personal life. Rumour has it that she came from a puritan family, but joined a troupe of strolling players after her parents’ death. She apparently lived for some months disguised as a man. This was not as uncommon as it sounds, a woman alone was at risk, and this was a means to protect oneself. She was married three times, first to an actor, then to an army officer and lastly to a cook in the royal household.
Portrait of Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was the first English woman to earn her living by writing. She was born in 1640 and brought up in the West Indies but returned to England aged 18. She married a Dutch merchant, but after his death, she found herself in a debtors' prison and was forced to look for means to support herself. Her first employment was as a spy, but she was not paid and turned to writing. Her first play The Forced Marriage was a tragi-comedy and was produced at one of London's two main theatres, Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, with the famous Thomas Betterton playing the lead. She went on to write many more comedies in the Restoration style (full of bawdy jokes and immoral characters). These were considered perfectly acceptable if written by a man, but not from the pen of a woman. She also wrote a novel set in the West Indies called Oroonoko which was made into a play shortly after Behn's death in 1689.
Portrait of Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway began his career as an actor, but only made one stage appearance. He suffered so badly from stage fright that he gave up acting and turned to playwriting instead. In 1675 his first play Alcibiades, a tragedy, was staged at the Duke's Theatre. One of the minor roles was taken by Elizabeth Barry, who went on to become the greatest actress of her day. Otway fell passionately in love with Mrs Barry, but she did not return his feelings. He wrote two more plays containing leading roles for Barry, then abandoned the theatre for a while and joined the army. But he soon returned to writing and had great success with The Orphan or The Unhappy Marriage and Venice Preserved, both of which again gave starring roles to Mrs Barry. Her successes do not appear to have made her any fonder of the playwright, however. Venice Preserved, a tragedy of politics and personal honour, was enormously popular and is still revived today.
Scene from The Beaux' Stratagem
The Beaux' Stratagem, a comedy by George Farquhar, was first performed at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1707.
Archer, one of the beaux of the title, is wooing Mrs Sullen, the discontented wife of a country squire. In this photograph, Archer is played by John Clements and his wife, Kay Hammond, plays Mrs Sullen. Clements and Hammond were a popular husband-and-wife acting partnership of the mid 20th century and appeared together in a number of 18th century comedies. The Beaux' Stratagem, produced and directed by Clements, was extremely popular and ran for over 500 performances.
The beaux are two fashionable London gentlemen, who, like their creator hope to marry wealthy women. Arriving in Lichfield, where they are not known, they pass themselves off as a lord and his servant. Aimwell, the 'lord', woos Dorinda, sister of Squire Sullen, but Archer prefers the Squire's wife. All ends happily when Dorinda falls in love with Aimwell and, radically for the time, the Squire grants his wife a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility.
Royal patents
When Charles II was restored to the throne, the theatre companies were quick to provide public performances again, initially in converted tennis courts. However, their freedom was short lived and Charles II soon reorganised the theatre by creating a monopoly through royal patent. This licensed only two companies to produce theatre in London. Their theatres Lincoln 's Inn Fields and Drury Lane became known as the 'patent theatres' and were managed and directed by Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant respectively.
Charles II had a taste for the drama and opera he had seen in exile in France. He encouraged Killigrew and Davenant to introduce women on stage, thus breaking with the tradition of boy actors taking female roles and to introduce moveable perspective scenery which revolutionised staging and the design of theatre buildings.
The royal patents also permitted a wide-ranging repertory, such as tragedies, comedies, plays, opera, musical theatre and dancing.
Restoration actors
The leading Restoration actor was Thomas Betterton whom diarist Samuel Pepys regarded as the best in the world, noting that 'he could command attention even from the fops and flower girls'. Betterton went on to manage the Duke's Company from 1668. Other Restoration actors included Cave Underhill, Thomas Otway and Colley Cibber.
The first women on stage
The Restoration saw the emergence of the first professional actresses and playwrights. Breeches parts, where women disguised themselves as men (and thus revealed their ankles and legs in men's clothing) quickly proved very popular in Restoration drama.
The first woman to appear on the professional stage in England is generally considered to be Margaret Hughes who performed at the Vere Street Theatre in 1660 in a production of Othello. Davenant employed eight actresses to perform with his company shortly afterwards.
Other notable actresses included Elizabeth Barry who was known as the queen of tragedy. She was trained for the stage by the notorious womaniser, the Earl of Rochester, who was also her lover. The most infamous actress of this period was Nell Gwyn, who was painted nude for Charles II and bore him two children.
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Contemporary British Playwrights
The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights
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