Major Developments 1750 - 1850Lewis Hallam CompanyStage YankeeRoyall Tylers The ContrastIndustrial RevolutionAge of Revolution/Age of Reason/Enlightenment

Origins of RomanticismIdealismSupernatural ideasStrum und Drang (Storm and Stress)

Characteristic Strum und Drang pose

Characteristics of S & SNo precise style or formIn defiance of neo-classical rulesSupported Hamburg DramaturgyShakespeareHeroes are men of actionExtreme emotions and actions

8 Assumptions about RomanticismExalted natureDistrusted reasonDistrusted society and civilizationEquality of manStressed importance of detailsSearch for truth and perfectionExalted the artist (high priest)Criticism is personal and subjective

MelodramaSimplification of human natureClear-cut heroes and villainsNo moral ambiguityMusic underscored action and emotionsExotic settings, spectacular effectsEpisodic in plot (lots of scene changes)Pixerecourt & Kotzebue

A. W. Schlegel (1767 - 1845)Das Athenaeum1st appearance of romanticism in print

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749 - 1832)Germanys greatest literary figure.

Johann Christoph Fredrich Schiller (1759 - 1805)Weimer Classicism with GoetheMaria StuartGoethes masterpiece: Faust, Part One and Two.Henrich von Kleist (1777 - 1811)George Buchner (1813 - 1837)

Romantic Drama in EnglandDramatic Wasteland1660 - 1700 = 600 plays1700 - 1750 = 2000 plays1750 - 1800 = 3200 plays1800 - 1850 = 12,000 plays!!Samuel Coleridge popularized it in England

Dion Boucicault (1822 - 1890)

Romantic Drama in FranceNeo-classicism still very strongBoulevard theatersMme. De StaelVictor Hugo (1801 - 1885)Romantic credo in preface to Cromwell

Hugos Preface to Cromwell

Why is Hugo writing this essay? What is his motivation? What does he hope to accomplish?Argues for movement away from beauty and purity of neo-classicism and toward the ugliness and truth of romanticism.What does Hugo say about art/beauty and nature?Art should mingle ugliness & beauty, the ridiculous & the sublime.

Hugos Preface to CromwellWhat does he say are the differences between the beautiful and the ugly?Only one type of beautiful. The ugly has a thousand types. The details of life!Why does Hugo say that Christianity is responsible for giving birth to the drama of the 19th C.?Christianity made us aware of twofold nature of existence: life/death, earth/heaven.

Hugos Preface to CromwellWhat does Hugo have to say about the unities of time, place and action?Place: ridiculousTime: ridiculousAction: essential! But avoid simplicity of action.

Hernani (Feb. 25, 1830)

The Hernani Riot

John Phillip Kemble

Sara Siddons

Master Henry Betty1809: Old Price RiotsMacbeth

Edmund Kean (1789? - 1833)

William Charles Macready (1793 - 1873)

Edwin Forrest (1806 - 1872)Metamora; or the Last of the Wapanogas

Astor Place Riot (1849)

Charlotte Cushman (1816 - 1876)

Ira Aldridge (1804 - 1867)

Edwin Booth

Fullers great-grandfather Foppe

Design and TechnologyMood and atmosphere more importantNo more generic setsHistorical accuracyNapoleon and Egyptian historyGibbons history of RomeAntiquarianismScientisim (observation)

Madame Vestris and the box set

Gas LightingWilliam Murdock: 1802Frederick Winsor: gas lighting in theaters. No go!1810 - 1820: street lighting installed1815: first use in theater1816: first use onstage (Chestnut Street Theatre in Philly)

Pros and Cons of Gas LightingPros:More and brighter light on stageIntensity controlReplaced candles and oil lampsCheaper than candlesCons:HeatFumesFire

Changes caused by gasSubtler scene paintingToned down make-upActing style had to changeGreater depth to the stageAuditoriums could be dimmed

LimelightFirst instrument to use a lense to concentrate, magnify and reflect lightPhosphelioulamproteron1837: first application in theatre (Covent Gardens by Macready)

Popular Entertainment: Dioramas

Theatre StructuresCovent Gardens

Trapdoors

Steele Mackayes Madison Square Theatre

James Robinson Planche(1796 - 1880)Costume historian

World Technological ChangesPopulation growthCommunication systems improvedSteampowerIndustrial revolutionSteam engine (James Watt)RailwayPhotography (Daguerre & Talbot)