Restoration comedy is the name given to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a rebirth of English drama. A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of Worship and Doctrine, Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Drama was introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and Auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose Restoration comedy is famous (or notorious) for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court. Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. A rake is defined as a man habituated to immoral conduct Rakes are frequently Stock characters in novels Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations Ethos (ˈiːθɒs (grc ἦθος ἔθος plurals ethe (ἤθη ethea (ἤθεα is a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed The socially diverse audiences included both aristocrats, their servants and hangers-on, and a substantial middle-class segment. These playgoers were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, by crowded and bustling plots, by the introduction of the first professional actresses, and by the rise of the first celebrity actors. Mythos (Aristotle In literature the plot comprises all the events in a story particularly rendered towards the achievement of some particular Artistic or Emotional An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama.
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Theatre companies
Original patent companies, 1660–82
Charles II was an active and interested patron of the drama. Soon after his restoration, in 1660, he granted exclusive play-staging rights, so-called Royal patents, to the King's Company and the Duke's Company, led by two middle-aged Caroline playwrights, Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant. Letters patent are a type of Legal instrument in the form of an Open letter issued by a Monarch or Government, granting an office right The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. The Duke's Company was one of the two theatre companies (the other being the King's Company) that were chartered by King Charles II at the start of the English Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Thomas Killigrew (7 February 1612 &ndash 19 March 1683 was an English Dramatist and theatre manager Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March, 1606 &ndash April 7, 1668) also spelled D'Avenant, was an English Poet The patentees scrambled for performance rights to the previous generation's Jacobean and Caroline plays, which were the first necessity for economic survival before any new plays existed. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James Their next priority was to build new, splendid patent theatres in Drury Lane and Dorset Gardens, respectively. The patent theatres were the Theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken Drama " after the English Restoration of Charles II in 1660 Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671 was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre Striving to outdo each other in magnificence, Killigrew and Davenant ended up with quite similar theatres, both designed by Christopher Wren, both optimally provided for music and dancing, and both fitted with moveable scenery and elaborate machines for thunder, lightning, and waves. Sir Christopher Wren ( 20 October 1632 &ndash 25 February 1723) was a 17th century English Designer, Astronomer
The audience of the early Restoration period was not exclusively courtly, as has sometimes been supposed, but it was quite small and could barely support two companies. There was no untapped reserve of occasional playgoers. Ten consecutive performances constituted a smash hit. This closed system forced playwrights to be extremely responsive to popular taste. Fashions in the drama would change almost week by week rather than season by season, as each company responded to the offerings of the other, and new plays were urgently sought. The King's Company and the Duke's Company vied with one another for audience favour, for popular actors, and for new plays, and in this hectic climate the new genres of heroic drama, pathetic drama, and Restoration comedy were born and flourished. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Heroic drama is a type of play popular during the Restoration era in England, distinguished by both its verse structure and its subject matter The term she-tragedy refers to a vogue in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for tragic plays focused on the sufferings of an innocent and virtuous woman
United Company, 1682–95
Both the quantity and quality of the drama suffered when in 1682 the more successful Duke's Company ate the struggling King's Company, and the amalgamated United Company was formed. The production of new plays dropped off sharply in the 1680s, affected by both the monopoly and the political situation (see Decline of comedy below). Restoration comedy is the name given to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710 The influence and the incomes of the actors dropped, too. In the late 80s, predatory investors ("Adventurers") converged on the United Company, while management was taken over by the lawyer Christopher Rich. Christopher Rich (1657—1714 was a lawyer and theatrical manager in London in the late 17th and early 18th century and the father of the important impresario John Rich. Rich attempted to finance a tangle of "farmed" shares and sleeping partners by slashing salaries and, dangerously, by abolishing the traditional perks of senior performers, who were stars with the clout to fight back.
War of the theatres, 1695–1700
The company owners, wrote the young United Company employee Colley Cibber, "who had made a monopoly of the stage, and consequently presum'd they might impose what conditions they pleased upon their people, did not consider that they were all this while endeavouring to enslave a set of actors whom the public were inclined to support. Colley Cibber (ˈkɒli ˈsɪbɚ (11 June 1671 &ndash 12 November 1757 was a British actor-manager playwright and Poet Laureate. " Performers like the legendary Thomas Betterton, the tragedienne Elizabeth Barry, and the rising young comedienne Anne Bracegirdle had the audience on their side and, in the confidence of this, they walked out. Thomas Patrick Betterton (ca 1635 &ndash 28 April 1710) English Actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in Elizabeth Barry (1658 – November 7, 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period Anne Bracegirdle, (c 1671 &ndash September 12[[ 748]] was an English Actress.
The actors gained a Royal "licence to perform", thus bypassing Rich's ownership of both the original Duke's and King's Company patents from 1660, and formed their own cooperative company. This unique venture was set up with detailed rules for avoiding arbitrary managerial authority, regulating the ten actors' shares, the conditions of salaried employees, and the sickness and retirement benefits of both categories. The cooperative had the good luck to open in 1695 with the première of William Congreve's famous Love For Love and the skill to make it a huge box-office success. William Congreve ( 24 January 1670 &ndash 19 January 1729) was an English Playwright and Poet.
London again had two competing companies. Their dash to attract audiences briefly revitalized Restoration drama, but also set it on a fatal downhill slope to the lowest common denominator of public taste. Rich's company notoriously offered Bartholomew Fair-type attractions — high kickers, jugglers, ropedancers, performing animals — while the cooperating actors, even as they appealed to snobbery by setting themselves up as the only legitimate theatre company in London, were not above retaliating with "prologues recited by boys of five, and epilogues declaimed by ladies on horseback" (Dobrée, xxi). Bartholomew Fair is a Comedy in five acts by Ben Jonson, the last written of his four great comedies The demand for new plays stimulated William Congreve and John Vanbrugh into writing some of their best comedies, but also gave birth to the new genre of sentimental comedy, which was soon to replace Restoration comedy in the public favour. Sir John Vanbrugh (pronounced "Van'-bru" (24 January 1664? – 26 March 1726 was an English Architect and Dramatist, perhaps best known
Actors
First actresses
Restoration comedy was strongly influenced by the introduction of the first professional actresses. Before the closing of the theatres, all female roles had been played by boys, and the predominantly male audiences of the 1660s and 1670s were both curious, censorious, and delighted at the novelty of seeing real women engage in risqué repartee and take part in physical seduction scenes. Samuel Pepys refers many times in his famous diary to visiting the playhouse in order to watch or re-watch the performance of some particular actress, and to how much he enjoys these experiences. Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703 was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for
Daringly suggestive comedy scenes involving women became especially common, although of course Restoration actresses were, just like male actors, expected to do justice to all kinds and moods of plays. (Their role in the development of Restoration tragedy is also important, compare She-tragedy. The term she-tragedy refers to a vogue in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for tragic plays focused on the sufferings of an innocent and virtuous woman )
A new speciality introduced almost as early as the actresses was the breeches role, which called for an actress to appear in male clothes (breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment of the time), for instance in order to play a witty heroine who disguises herself as a boy to hide, or to engage in escapades disallowed to girls. A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing ( Breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants A quarter of the plays produced on the London stage between 1660 and 1700 contained breeches roles. Playing these cross-dressing roles, women behaved with the freedom society allowed to men, and some feminist critics, such as Jacqueline Pearson, regard them as subversive of conventional gender roles and empowering for female members of the audience. Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioural norms associated particularly with Males or Females in a given social group or system Elizabeth Howe has objected that the male disguise, when studied in relation to playtexts, prologues, and epilogues, comes out as "little more than yet another means of displaying the actress as a sexual object" to male patrons, by showing off her body, normally hidden by a skirt, outlined by the male outfit.
Successful Restoration actresses include Charles II's mistress Nell Gwyn, the tragedienne Elizabeth Barry who was famous for her ability to "move the passions" and make whole audiences cry, the 1690s comedienne Anne Bracegirdle, and Susanna Mountfort (a. Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn (or Gwynn or Gwynne) (1650 - 14 November 1687 was one of the earliest English Actresses to receive prominent recognition Elizabeth Barry (1658 – November 7, 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period Anne Bracegirdle, (c 1671 &ndash September 12[[ 748]] was an English Actress. k. a. Susanna Verbruggen), who had many breeches roles written especially for her in the 1680s and 90s. Susanna Verbruggen, née Percival aka Susanna Mountfort (c 1667 &ndash 1703 was an English actress working in London Letters and memoirs of the period show that both men and women in the audience greatly relished Mountfort's swaggering, roistering impersonations of young women wearing breeches and thereby enjoying the social and sexual freedom of the male Restoration rake. A rake is defined as a man habituated to immoral conduct Rakes are frequently Stock characters in novels
First celebrity actors
During the Restoration period, both male and female actors on the London stage became for the first time public personalities and celebrities. A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention Documents of the period show audiences being attracted to performances by the talents of particular actors as much as by particular plays, and more than by authors (who seem to have been the least important draw, no performance being advertised by author until 1699). Although the playhouses were built for large audiences—the second Drury Lane theatre from 1674 held 2000 patrons — they were of compact design, and an actor's charisma could be intimately projected from the thrust stage.
With two companies competing for their services from 1660 to 1682, star actors were able to negotiate star deals, comprising company shares and benefit nights as well as salaries. A benefit concert is a Concert, show or gala featuring musicians comedians or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose often directed at a specific This advantageous situation changed when the two companies were amalgamated in 1682, but the way the actors rebelled and took command of a new company in 1695 is in itself an illustration of how far their status and power had developed since 1660.
The greatest fixed stars among Restoration actors were Elizabeth Barry ("Famous Mrs Barry" who "forc 'd Tears from the Eyes of her Auditory") and Thomas Betterton, both of them active in organising the actors' revolt in 1695 and both original patent-holders in the resulting actors' cooperative. Thomas Patrick Betterton (ca 1635 &ndash 28 April 1710) English Actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in
Betterton played every great male part there was from 1660 into the 18th century. After watching Hamlet in 1661, Samuel Pepys reports in his diary that the young beginner Betterton "did the prince's part beyond imagination. Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 " Betterton's expressive performances seem to have attracted playgoers as magnetically as did the novelty of seeing women on the stage. He was soon established as the leading man of the Duke's Company, and played Dorimant, the seminal irresistible Restoration rake, at the première of George Etherege's Man of Mode (1676). A rake is defined as a man habituated to immoral conduct Rakes are frequently Stock characters in novels Sir George Etherege (1635? Maidenhead, Berkshire &ndashc May 10, 1692, Paris) was an English Dramatist. Betterton's position remained unassailable through the 1680s, both as the leading man of the United Company and as its stage manager and de facto day-to-day leader. He remained loyal to Rich longer than many of his coworkers, but eventually it was he who headed the actors' walkout in 1695, and who became the acting manager of the new company.
Comedies
Variety and dizzying fashion changes are typical of Restoration comedy. Even though the "Restoration drama" unit taught to college students is likely to be telescoped in a way that makes the plays all sound contemporary, scholars now have a strong sense of the rapid evolution of English drama over these forty years and of its social and political causes. The influence of theatre company competition and playhouse economics is also acknowledged.
Restoration comedy peaked twice. The genre came to spectacular maturity in the mid-1670s with an extravaganza of aristocratic comedies. Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations Twenty lean years followed this short golden age, although the achievement of Aphra Behn in the 1680s is to be noted. In the mid-1690s a brief second Restoration comedy renaissance arose, aimed at a wider audience. The comedies of the golden 1670s and 1690s peak times are extremely different from each other. An attempt is made below to illustrate the generational taste shift by describing The Country Wife (1676) and The Provoked Wife (1697) in some detail. These two plays differ from each other in some typical ways, just as a Hollywood movie of the 1950s differs from one of the 1970s. The plays are not, however, offered as being "typical" of their decades. Indeed, there exist no typical comedies of the 1670s or the 1690s; even within these two short peak-times, comedy types kept mutating and multiplying.
Aristocratic comedy, 1660–80
The drama of the 1660s and 1670s was vitalised by the competition between the two patent companies created at the Restoration, as well as by the personal interest of Charles II, and the comic playwrights rose to the demand for new plays. They stole freely from the contemporary French and Spanish stage, from English Jacobean and Caroline plays, and even from Greek and Roman classical comedies, and combined the looted plotlines in adventurous ways. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. The theatre of ancient Greece, or ancient Greek drama, is a theatrical Culture that flourished in ancient Greece between c "Classical literature" redirects here For literature in Classical languages outside the Graeco-Roman sphere see Ancient literature. Resulting differences of tone in a single play were appreciated rather than frowned on, as the audience prized "variety" within as well as between plays. Early Restoration audiences had little enthusiasm for structurally simple, well-shaped comedies such as those of Molière; they demanded bustling, crowded multi-plot action and fast pace. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his Stage name, Molière, ( January 15, 1622 – February 17 1673) was a French Even a splash of high heroic drama might be thrown in to enrich the comedy mix, as in George Etherege's Love in a Tub (1664), which has one heroic verse "conflict between love and friendship" plot, one urbane wit comedy plot, and one burlesque pantsing plot. Sir George Etherege (1635? Maidenhead, Berkshire &ndashc May 10, 1692, Paris) was an English Dramatist. (See illustration, top right. ) Such incongruities contributed to Restoration comedy being held in low esteem in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, but today the early Restoration total theatre experience is again valued on the stage, as well as by postmodern academic critics. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism
The unsentimental or "hard" comedies of John Dryden, William Wycherley, and George Etherege reflected the atmosphere at Court, and celebrated with frankness an aristocratic macho lifestyle of unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England William Wycherley ( c 1640 – 31 December 1715) was an English Dramatist of the Restoration period Sir George Etherege (1635? Maidenhead, Berkshire &ndashc May 10, 1692, Paris) was an English Dramatist. Machismo is a prominently exhibited or excessive Masculinity. The Earl of Rochester, real-life Restoration rake, courtier and poet, is flatteringly portrayed in Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676) as a riotous, witty, intellectual, and sexually irresistible aristocrat, a template for posterity's idea of the glamorous Restoration rake (actually never a very common character in Restoration comedy). For other people of this name see John Rochester. John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester ( April 1, 1647 &ndash July 26 The Man of Mode is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676 and first performed March 2 of the same year Wycherley's The Plain Dealer (1676), a variation on the theme of Molière's Le misanthrope, was highly regarded for its uncompromising satire and earned Wycherley the appellation "Plain Dealer" Wycherley or "Manly" Wycherley, after the play's main character Manly. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his Stage name, Molière, ( January 15, 1622 – February 17 1673) was a French Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux (June 4th 1666 is a 17th century Comedy of manners written by French playwright Molière. The single play that does most to support the charge of obscenity levelled then and now at Restoration comedy is probably Wycherley's The Country Wife (1675). Obscenity (in Latin obscenus, meaning "foul repulsive detestable" is a term that is most often used in a legal context to The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley.
Example. William Wycherley, The Country Wife (1675):
The Country Wife has three interlinked but distinct plots, which each project sharply different moods:
1. The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. Horner's impotence trick provides the main plot and the play's organizing principle. The upper-class town rake Horner mounts a campaign for seducing as many respectable ladies as possible, first spreading a false rumour of his own impotence, in order to be allowed where no complete man may go. The trick is a great success and Horner has sex with many married ladies of virtuous reputation, whose husbands are happy to leave him alone with them. In one famously outrageous scene, the "China scene", sexual intercourse is assumed to take place repeatedly just off stage, where Horner and his mistresses carry on a sustained double entendre dialogue purportedly about Horner's china collection. Not to be confused with Puns which employ multiple phrases A double entendre is a Figure of speech similar to the Pun, in A dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog) is a reciprocal Conversation between two or more entities. The Country Wife is driven by a succession of near-discoveries of the truth about Horner's sexual prowess (and thus the truth about the respectable ladies), from which he extricates himself by quick thinking and good luck. Horner never becomes a reformed character, but keeps his secret to the end and is assumed to go on merrily reaping the fruits of his planted misinformation, past the last act and beyond.
2. The married life of Pinchwife and Margery is based on Molière's School For Wives. Pinchwife is a middle-aged man who has married an ignorant young country girl in the hope that she will not know to cuckold him. However, Horner teaches her, and Margery cuts a swathe through the sophistications of London marriage without even noticing them. She is enthusiastic about the virile handsomeness of town gallants, rakes, and especially theatre actors (such self-referential stage jokes were nourished by the new higher status of actors), and keeps Pinchwife in a state of continual horror with her plain-spokenness and her interest in sex. A running joke is the way Pinchwife's pathological jealousy always leads him into supplying Margery with the very type of information he wishes her not to have.
3. The courtship of Harcourt and Alithea is a comparatively uplifting love story in which the witty Harcourt wins the hand of Pinchwife's sister Alithea. Wit is a form of intellectual Humour. A wit (person is someone skilled in making witty remarks
Decline of comedy, 1678–90
When the two companies were amalgamated in 1682 and the London stage became a monopoly, both the number and the variety of new plays being written dropped sharply. In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient There was a swing away from comedy to serious political drama, reflecting preoccupations and divisions following on the Popish Plot (1678) and the Exclusion Crisis (1682). Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates which gripped England in Anti-Catholic hysteria from 1678 until 1681. The Exclusion Bill Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The few comedies produced also tended to be political in focus, the whig dramatist Thomas Shadwell sparring with the tories John Dryden and Aphra Behn. The Whigs (with the Tories) are often described as one of two political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to Thomas Shadwell (c 1642 &ndash 19 November 1692) was an English Playwright and miscellaneous Writer who was appointed In the political tradition of some English-speaking countries, the term Tory has referred to a variety of political parties and Creeds since it was John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England Behn's unique achievement as an early professional woman writer has been the subject of much recent study.
Comedy renaissance, 1690–1700
During the second wave of Restoration comedy in the 1690s, the "softer" comedies of William Congreve and John Vanbrugh reflected mutating cultural perceptions and great social change. William Congreve ( 24 January 1670 &ndash 19 January 1729) was an English Playwright and Poet. Sir John Vanbrugh (pronounced "Van'-bru" (24 January 1664? – 26 March 1726 was an English Architect and Dramatist, perhaps best known The playwrights of the 1690s set out to appeal to more socially mixed audiences with a strong middle-class element, and to female spectators, for instance by moving the war between the sexes from the arena of intrigue into that of marriage. The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. The focus in comedy is less on young lovers outwitting the older generation, more on marital relations after the wedding bells. Thomas Southerne's dark The Wives' Excuse (1691) is not yet very "soft": it shows a woman miserably married to the fop Friendall, everybody's friend, whose follies and indiscretions undermine her social worth, since her honour is bound up in his. Thomas Southerne ( 1660 - May 22, 1746) Irish Dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660 and entered For the meanings of the acronym FOP see FOP (disambiguation. The fop (also known as a fribble, popinjay, fashion-monger Mrs Friendall is pursued by a would-be lover, a matter-of-fact rake devoid of all the qualities that made Etherege's Dorimant charming, and she is kept from action and choice by the unattractiveness of all her options. All the humour of this "comedy" is in the subsidiary love-chase and fornication plots, none in the main plot.
In Congreve's Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700), the "wit duels" between lovers typical of 1670s comedy are underplayed. The Way of the World is a play written by British Playwright William Congreve. The give-and-take set pieces of couples still testing their attraction for each other have mutated into witty prenuptial debates on the eve of marriage, as in the famous "Proviso" scene in The Way of the World (1700). Vanbrugh's The Provoked Wife (1697) follows in the footsteps of Southerne's Wives' Excuse, with a lighter touch and more humanly recognizable characters. The Provoked Wife is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh.
Example. John Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife (1697):
The Provoked Wife is something of a Restoration problem play in its attention to the subordinate legal position of married women and the complexities of "divorce" and separation, issues that had been highlighted in the mid-1690s by some notorious cases before the House of Lords (see Stone). The problem play is a form of drama that emerged during the 19th century as part of the wider movement of realism in the arts The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords"
Sir John Brute in The Provoked Wife is tired of matrimony. He comes home drunk every night and is continually rude and insulting to his wife. She is meanwhile being tempted to embark upon an affair with the witty and faithful Constant. Divorce is not an option for either of the Brutes at this time, but forms of legal separation have recently come into existence, and would entail a separate maintenance to the wife. Such an arrangement would not allow remarriage. Still, muses Lady Brute, in one of many discussions with her niece Bellinda, "These are good times. A woman may have a gallant and a separate maintenance too. "
Bellinda is at the same time being grumpily courted by Constant's friend Heartfree, who is surprised and dismayed to find himself in love with her. The bad example of the Brutes is a constant warning to Heartfree to not marry.
The Provoked Wife is a talk play, with the focus less on love scenes and more on discussions between female friends (Lady Brute and Bellinda) and male friends (Constant and Heartfree). These exchanges, full of jokes though they are, are thoughtful and have a dimension of melancholy and frustration.
After a forged-letter complication, the play ends with marriage between Heartfree and Bellinda and stalemate between the Brutes. Constant continues to pay court to Lady Brute, and she continues to shilly-shally.
End of comedy
The tolerance for Restoration comedy even in its modified form was running out at the end of the 17th century, as public opinion turned to respectability and seriousness even faster than the playwrights did. Interconnected causes for this shift in taste were demographic change, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, William's and Mary's dislike of the theatre, and the lawsuits brought against playwrights by the Society for the Reformation of Manners (founded in 1692). Demographics or demographic data refers to selected population characteristics as used in government Marketing or opinion research or the Demographic profiles The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (VII of Scotland in 1688 by a union See also William III of England, Mary II of England The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the joint sovereignty over the Kingdom of England The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691 When Jeremy Collier attacked Congreve and Vanbrugh in his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage in 1698, he was confirming a shift in audience taste that had already taken place. Jeremy Collier ( 23 September 1650 - 26 April 1726) was an English theatre critic non-juror Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage is an anti-theatre pamphlet written in 1698 by the Non-juror bishop and divine Jeremy At the much-anticipated all-star première in 1700 of The Way of the World, Congreve's first comedy for five years, the audience showed only moderate enthusiasm for that subtle and almost melancholy work. The comedy of sex and wit was about to be replaced by the drama of obvious sentiment and exemplary morality.
After Restoration comedy
Stage history
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the sexual frankness of Restoration comedy ensured that theatre producers cannibalised it or adapted it with a heavy hand, rather than actually performed it. Today, Restoration comedy is again appreciated on the stage. The classics, Wycherley's The Country Wife and The Plain-Dealer, Etherege's The Man of Mode, and Congreve's Love For Love and The Way of the World have competition not only from Vanbrugh's The Relapse and The Provoked Wife, but from such dark unfunny comedies as Thomas Southerne's The Wives Excuse. Thomas Southerne ( 1660 - May 22, 1746) Irish Dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660 and entered Aphra Behn, once considered unstageable, has had a major renaissance, with The Rover now a repertory favourite.
Literary criticism
Distaste for sexual impropriety long kept Restoration comedy not only off the stage but also locked in a critical poison cupboard. Victorian critics like William Hazlitt, although valuing the linguistic energy and "strength" of the canonical writers Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve, always found it necessary to temper aesthetic praise with heavy moral condemnation. William Hazlitt ( 10 April 1778 &ndash 18 September 1830) was an English Writer remembered for his humanistic Essays and Aphra Behn received the condemnation without the praise, since outspoken sex comedy was considered particularly offensive coming from a woman author. At the turn of the 20th century, an embattled minority of academic Restoration comedy enthusiasts began to appear, for example the important editor Montague Summers, whose work ensured that the plays of Aphra Behn remained in print. Augustus Montague Summers ( 10 April, 1880 - 10 August, 1948) was an eccentric English author and clergyman
"Critics remain astonishingly defensive about the masterpieces of this period", wrote Robert D. Hume as late as 1976. It is only over the last few decades that that statement has become untrue, as Restoration comedy has been acknowledged a rewarding subject for high theory analysis and Wycherley's The Country Wife, long branded the most obscene play in the English language, has become something of an academic favourite. "Minor" comic writers are getting a fair share of attention, especially the post-Aphra Behn generation of women playwrights which appeared just around the turn of the 18th century: Delarivier Manley, Mary Pix, Catharine Trotter, and Susannah Centlivre. Delarivier (sometimes spelt Delariviere, Delarivière or de la Rivière) Manley (1663 or c Mary Pix (1666 &ndash 1709 was an English Novelist and Playwright. Catharine Trotter Cockburn ( 16 August 1679 - 11 May 1749) was a novelist dramatist and philosopher Susanna Centlivre (born Susanna Freeman, also known professionally as Susanna Carroll; baptised November 1667 - December 1 A broad study of the majority of never-reprinted Restoration comedies has been made possible by Internet access (by subscription only) to the first editions at the British Library. The British Library ( BL) is the National library of the United Kingdom.
List of notable Restoration comedies
- Charles Sedley, The Mulberry-garden (1668)
- George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, The Rehearsal (1671)
- John Dryden, Marriage-A-la-Mode (1672)
- William Wycherley, The Country Wife (1675), The Plain-Dealer (1676)
- George Etherege, Love in a Tub (1664), The Man of Mode (1676)
- Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677), The Roundheads (1681), The Rover, Part II (1681), The Lucky Chance (1686)
- Thomas Shadwell, Bury Fair (1689)
- Thomas Southerne, Sir Anthony Love (1690), The Wives Excuse (1691)
- William Congreve, The Old Bachelor (1693), Love For Love (1695), The Way of the World (1700)
- John Vanbrugh, The Relapse (1696), The Provoked Wife (1697)
- George Farquhar, Love and a Bottle (1698), The Constant Couple (1699), Sir Harry Wildair (1701), The Recruiting Officer (1706), The Beaux' Stratagem (1707)
- Susannah Centlivre, The Perjured Husband (1700), The Basset-Table, (1705), The Busie Body (1709)
See also
References
- Cibber, Colley (first published 1740, Everyman's Library ed. Sir Charles Sedley 5th Baronet (March 1639 &ndash August 20 1701) was an English wit Dramatist and politician George Villiers 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG, PC, FRS (10 January 1628 – 16 April 1687 was an English Statesman and poet The Rehearsal was a satirical play aimed specifically at John Dryden and generally at the sententious and overly ambitious theater of the Restoration John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England This article is about the play by John Dryden; Marriage á-la-mode is also the name of a series of pictures by William Hogarth. William Wycherley ( c 1640 – 31 December 1715) was an English Dramatist of the Restoration period The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. The Plain Dealer is a Restoration comedy by William Wycherley, first performed on 11 December 1676. Sir George Etherege (1635? Maidenhead, Berkshire &ndashc May 10, 1692, Paris) was an English Dramatist. The Man of Mode is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676 and first performed March 2 of the same year The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers is a play in two parts written by the English author Aphra Behn. Thomas Shadwell (c 1642 &ndash 19 November 1692) was an English Playwright and miscellaneous Writer who was appointed Thomas Southerne ( 1660 - May 22, 1746) Irish Dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660 and entered William Congreve ( 24 January 1670 &ndash 19 January 1729) was an English Playwright and Poet. The Way of the World is a play written by British Playwright William Congreve. Sir John Vanbrugh (pronounced "Van'-bru" (24 January 1664? – 26 March 1726 was an English Architect and Dramatist, perhaps best known The Relapse or Virtue in Danger is a Restoration comedy from 1696 written by John Vanbrugh. The Provoked Wife is the second original comedy written by John Vanbrugh. George Farquhar (1677 or 1678 – April 29, 1707) was an Irish Dramatist. The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers the womanising Plume and the The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in March 1707 Susanna Centlivre (born Susanna Freeman, also known professionally as Susanna Carroll; baptised November 1667 - December 1 The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored Restoration style, also known as Carolean style (from the Latin Carolus (Charles refers to the Decorative arts popular in England from the Essay of Dramatick Poesie by John Dryden was published in 1668. John Rich (1692 - 1761 was an important director and theatre manager in 18th century London. 1976). An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber. London: J. M. Dent & Sons.
- Dobrée, Bonamy (1927). Introduction to The Complete Works of Sir John Vanbrugh, vol. 1. Bloomsbury: The Nonesuch Press.
- Howe, Elizabeth (1992). The First English Actresses: Women and Drama 1660–1700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Hume, Robert D. (1976). The Development of English Drama in the Late Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Milhous, Judith (1979). Thomas Betterton and the Management of Lincoln's Inn Fields 1695–1708. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
- Morgan, Fidelis (1981). The Female Wits - Women Playwrights on the London Stage 1660–1720 London: Virago
- Pearson, Jacqueline (1988). The Prostituted Muse: Images of Women and Women Dramatists 1642–1737. New York: St. Martin's Press.
- Stone, Lawrence (1990). Road to Divorce:England 1530–1987. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Van Lennep, William (ed. ) (1965). The London Stage 1660–1800: A Calendar of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces Together with Casts, Box-Receipts and Contemporary Comment Compiled From the Playbills, Newspapers and Theatrical Diaries of the Period, Part 1: 1660–1700. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
Further reading
This section lists a selection of seminal critical studies.
- Canfield, Douglas (1997). Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
- Fujimura, Thomas H. (1952). The Restoration Comedy of Wit. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Holland, Norman N. (1959). The First Modern Comedies: The Significance of Etherege, Wycherley and Congreve. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Hughes, Derek (1996). English Drama, 1660-1700. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0198119746.
- Markley, Robert (1988). Two-Edg'd Weapons: Style and Ideology in the Comedies of Etherege, Wycherley, and Congreve. Oxford : Clarendon Press.
- Weber, Harold (1986). The Restoration Rake-Hero: Transformations in Sexual Understanding in Seventeenth-Century England. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
- Zimbardo, Rose A. (1965). Wycherley's Drama: A Link in the Development of English Satire. New Haven: Yale University Press.
External links
- Restoration playhouses
- The Restoration drama database project
- 17th Century Database
- Aphra Behn, The Rover
- William Congreve, Love For Love
- William Congreve, The Way of the World
- George Etherege, The Man of Mode
- John Vanbrugh, The Provoked Wife. Use with caution, this is an abridged and bowdlerised text.
- William Wycherley, The Country Wife
- William Wycherley, The Gentleman Dancing-Master
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