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British Drama in the Nineteenth Century

Instructor: Prof. Ecaterina Haniu PhD

Patent and Non-patent Theatres

In the early years of the 19th century restrictions of the Licensing Act
allowed plays to be shown at only two theatres in London - Drury Lane
and Covent Garden. Their programme was predominantly
Shakespearean although some contemporary writers like Sheridan
(who managed Drury Lane until 1809) were also popular.
To escape the restrictions of the royal patents, non-patent theatres
interspersed dramatic scenes with musical interludes.
Melodrama and burlesque with their short scenes and musical
accompaniment were popular at this time.
Melodrama became so popular that it was also produced in the patent
theatres.
Legitimate and Illegitimate Theatre and Drama
The term 'legitimate drama' came into use in the 18th century. It
referred to the permission granted to the two patent theatres (Covent
Garden and Drury Lane) to present serious drama such as the plays of
Shakespeare.
These two, to which Haymarket was later added, were the accepted
legitimate theatres.
Legitimate and Illegitimate Theatre and Drama
The other 'illegitimate' theatres could only stage pieces with music and
dancing. In the 19th century the distinction came to be used to
indicate serious drama as opposed to farce or musical comedy.
In the 1830s J.R.Planch a writer of burlesques, and later famous as a
Pantomime writer, created a sketch starring the characters of Mother
Drama, and her two sons - Legitimate Drama and Illegitimate Drama.
This burlesqued the Licensing Act and coined the terms legitimate and
illegitimate drama.
drama.
In 1843 the Licensing Act was dropped enabling other theatres to
present plays.
The huge growth in demand for theatrical entertainment in the early
19th century made the patent theatres system unworkable. Theatres
had sprung up across London and the boundaries between what was
allowed in the patent theatres (legitimate drama) and what was
presented in other theatres (illegitimate theatre) had become blurred.

The Melodrama

Melodrama became popular from the 1780s to 1790s and lasted until
the early 20th century.
The first drama in Britain to be labelled a melodrama was Thomas
Holcrofts A Tale of Mystery in 1802.

Music and Melodrama

Melodrama consisted of short scenes interspersed with musical

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

The Early Melodrama

Early melodrama aimed to appeal to a working class audience. Indeed

the heroes and heroines were nearly always from the working class
and the villains were aristocrats or the local squire.
Melodrama often had romantic settings; ruined castles and wild
mountains, reflecting the Romantic movements obsession with the
wilds of nature and exotic travel.
In the 1820s, they became more familiar in settings and characters.
In the 1820s and 30s there was a craze for domestic melodrama and
for real life horror stories. Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn was
based on a true story of the murder of a young girl. Her lover (and
murderer) was sentenced to death.
Popular novels were also turned into melodramas. Uncle Toms Cabin
was the first famous abolitionist work of fiction, and became a stage
play in 1852. After its American success, the play opened at Londons
Adelphi Theatre.

Later Melodrama

Melodrama became synonymous with spectacle and remained popular

until the early 20th century. Charles Keans The Corsican Brothers was
a hit with Queen Victoria in 1856.
Melodramas at Drury Lane were truly spectacular productions designed
to show off the new technology of the theatre. The Whip and Ben Hur
were designed by Bruce Sensation Smith and stage effects included
train crashes, boats sinking and chariot races.

Characteristics of Melodrama

Body Language
The actors of in the 1800s were trained in the classical style, which
meant that they were taught a set of movements to express certain
emotions. Even if the audiences did not understand the verbal
language, they could interpret the body language.

Examples of Emotions:
Grief Head down, shoulders rounded, hands cupping the face. Raising
the shoulders up and down, with a sobbing noise, is optional.

Fear Face turned to the right side, with the right hand to the mouth,
fingers curled under touching the top of the palm.
Horror Eyes wide, mouth open, both hands to the cheeks with the
fingers extended.
Overwhelmed Chin up bringing the face to look up, one arm dropped
limp to the side, the other hand open with palm towards the audience
on the top of the forehead.

Types of Melodramas
Most Frequently Performed
Gothic;
Domestic (urban or rural);
Animals used (along with the Romantic concept of nature);
Equestrian dramas: horses forerunners of the modern Western;
Canine melodramas: like Lassie;
Nautical melodramas: interest in the sea;
Disaster melodramas;
Temperance plays
Melodramatic Writers
On the Continent:
o August Friederich von Kotzebue (1761-1819) German over
200 plays: domestic melodramas:
o Ren Charles Guilbert de Pixrcourt (1773-1844) French over 100 plays.
In the U.K. and U.S.:
o Dion Boucicault (1822-1890) the most successful Englishlanguage melodramas, among which The Corsican Brothers
(1852), The Octoroon (1859).
Combined sentiment, wit, and local color with sensational
and spectacular endings.
He was the first in the U.S. to demand and receive royalties
for performances of his plays.
His plays contained volcanoes, earthquakes, burning
buildings, etc.
Melodrama Performances
Dion Boucicault (1820-1890)

Other Popular 19th Century Theatrical Forms

The 19th century was the age of a truly popular theatre. New theatres
opened to satisfy a demand for entertainment from the workers who
flooded into the major cities as the Industrial Revolution took hold.

Pantomime, ballad opera, melodrama, circus, equestrian drama,

aquatic drama and burlesque were all popular forms of entertainment.

Other Popular 19th Century Theatrical Forms

Specialty acts: jugglers, tumblers.

Pantomimes elaborate tricks with scenery and costume.
Short musical revues ("vaudevilles" in France).
Comic operas sentimental stories, original music.
Revivals of Shakespeare usually Bowdlerized.
The well-made play:
play: "piece
"piece bien-faite.
bien-faite. the master of which was
Eugne Scribe (1791-1861) French over 300 plays.
His plays had many lines of action unfolded by coincidence and
chance.
His
His influence on later writers was greatIbsen in particular.

Major Trends in 19th Century Theatre

The typical producing organization was the resident company

performing a large number of plays each season, till the end of the
19th century.
"Stock companies" actors together played a wide variety of roles in
many plays, usually with fixed salaries.
Some variations: visiting stars, touring companies, long runs.
The beginning of the star system.

19th Century Staging

Increased interest in historical accuracy.

Expanded to interest in unusual or exotic; therefore, authentic folk
dances and costumes and picturesque settings were now brought on
stage.
This "realism" also led to the leveling of the stage floor.
With the use of electric lighting, which illuminated much better, there
was an increased need for greater scenic realism.
The new technology allowed spectacular effects on the stage.

Stage Effects

The essence is revealed through the simplest gestures and focus on

the most basic ordinary activity; attention is given both to detail and
ensemble playing.
Sir Squire Bancroft (14 May 1841 19 April 1926), born Squire White
Butterfield,
Butterfield, was an English actor-manager.
In 1879 Squire Bancroft and his wife Marie Wilton took over the
Haymarket Theatre and instigated a new form of drama known as
drawing-room comedy or cup and saucer drama owing to the
realism of their stage sets.

The cup-and saucer drama

Marie Wilton introduced a new young playwright, Tom Robertson. He

had devised a new kind of play - these became known as problem
plays because they dealt seriously and sensitively with issues of the
day. They went on to produce a string of successful and profitable hits
by Robertson: Society,
Society, Ours,
Ours, Caste,
Caste, Play and School.
School.
Caste was about marriage across the class barrier and explored
prejudices towards social climbing. People talked in normal language
and dealt with ordinary situations and the performers didnt act but
behaved like their audience - they spoke, they didnt declaim.
In Ours a pudding was made on stage quite a shock, as people were
not used to seeing such realistic tasks in a stage setting.
In The Vicarage the characters shocked the audience by making tea
(hence the reference to cup and saucer dramas).