Chapter 10

Box Set: flats hinged together to represent a room usually with doors and other normal room features. Box sets began to be used by a lot of theatre artists between 1800 and 1875, and in the United states Edwin Booth is given credit for making them popular. (p 361 in Living Theatre edition 5)

Spoken décor: “Dialogue indicating locale” (p 229 & 201 in Living Theatre edition 5)

She Stoops to Conquer: A comedy by Oliver Goldsmith written in 1773. Kate Hardcastle poses as a lower-class woman in order to make Charles Marlow, a suitor, more comfortable around her so they can get married. (some of this can be found on p 297 of Living Theatre editioin 5)

Drame- A new dramatic form, defined as any serious play that did not fit the neoclassical definition of tragedy.

Boulevard Theaters- Boulevard theatre is a theatrical aesthetic which emerged from the boulevards of Paris's old city. Starting from the second half of the 18th century, popular and bourgeois theatre alike took up residence on the boulevard du Temple, then nicknamed crime boulevard due to the many melodramas and murder stories shown there. In addition to the many attractions on display there -- fireworks, pantomime, acrobats, etc. -- a so-called boulevard repertoire emerged as separate from upper-class theatre. Then, starting from the Second French Empire, vaudeville theatre and comédie d'intrigue arrived on the scene. Boulevard theatre is an entertainment form promoted by private theatre companies.

The Marriage of Figaro- Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata (Trans: The Marriage of Figaro or the Day of Madness), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784). Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna because of its satire of the aristocracy, considered as dangerous in the decade before the French revolution, the opera became one of Mozart's most successful works. The overture is especially famous and is often played as a concert piece. The musical material of the overture is not used later in the work, aside from a brief phrase during the Count's aria.

Sentimental Comedy: in eighteenth-century England, comedy that reaffirmed middle-class morality: the virtuous characters were rewarded and the wicked punished.

School for Scandal: written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, this play is a late comedy of manners that employs elements of sentimental comedy. As a burlesque, it mocks high society while giving the audience a sense of poetic justice as the good are rewarded in the end and the bad punished.

The Hallams- English family that came to colonial America. Included: Adam, Helen, Lewis, Lewis Jr., Thomas, William, and Mrs. Hallams.

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais- (24 January 1732 - 18 May 1799) was an inventor, musician, politician, fugitive,and revolutionary (both French and American). He was best known, however, for his theatrical works, especially the three Figaro plays (marriage of Figaro) which were semi autobiographical. he was successful in court circles. wrote Barber of Seville. emphasis on sentimentality and morality. adhered to eighteenth century philosophy.

boulevard theaters
- In eighteenth-century France, theatres located on Boulevard du Temple in paris, catering to popular tastes

Servant of Two Master
-writen by Carlo Goldoni about 1743 at the request of actor Antionio Sacco
-still performed

Romanticism-a 19th century literary and dramatic movement which developed in retaliation of the strictness of neoclassicism. it imitates the structure of Shakespeare's plays, but Romantics wanted to free the writer of all rules. It stressed mood and atmosphere over content.

Dumesnil and Clairon- They are both 18th century French actresses, known as 2 of the greatest, who were rivals. They had contracting acting styles (Clairon rejected the bombastic approach). Dumesnil came first, but Clairon studied more in the art of acting. Dumesnil's style was spontaneous and intuitive; Clairon's style was reliable, and impressive.

Charles Macklin: An actor best know for his revolutionary sympathetic portrayal of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The merchant of Venice. He was born in Ireland and then ran away to London around 1717. He started as a comic performer. He was known for his wild days as a youth. He is known for his natural style of performing, rooted in his gift of observation and mimicry. In 1746 he started writing plays and later produced about forty plays. He died in 1797 penniless.

Ballad Opera- parody of Italian opera in 1730’s. No sung dialogue (recitative). Spoken dialogue alternated with songs that have contemporary melodies Characters drawn from lower class, social and political satires making fun at contemporary issues.

Carlo Gozzi- His commedia transformed through a mix of prose and poetry and a combination of improvised and planned actions. He had 10 plays performed 1761-1765 and his fantasies were based on western and asian myth. His 2 most popular were The King Stag (1762), and The Green Bird (1765). He wanted scenery, costumes, language, and story line to emphasize the imaginative and fanciful elements of theatre. He inspired the romantics in early 19th century and nonrealistic theatre of the 20th century.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe- (1749-1832) responsible for important innovations in German theatre. He was a theatrical director, playwright, critic, philosopher and a minister of the court. He held intensive rehearsals and expected actors to work as a unified ensemble company and he penalized those that broke rehearsal rules. He didn’t favor natural acting but talking to the audience. He also liked the pictorial arrangement of performers on the stage (careful blocking) and also helped to improve the actors’ social status with personal behavior.

Goetz Von Berlichlingen- “storm and stress”, one of the first plays with historically accurate costuming. It was written in 1733 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the Shakespearean style, emphasizing wide ranged adventures of independent-minded heroes and it was the forerunner of 19th century romanticism.

Friedrich Schiller was a German poet, Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe, with whom he greatly discussed issues concerning aesthetics, encouraging Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches; this thereby gave way to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Die Xenien (The Xenies), a collection of short but harshly satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda.

Storm and stress: An antineoclassical movement in 18th century Germany which was the forerunner to romanticism. "Storm and stress" dramatists rejected dramatic rules.

John Gay: known for his influential Ballad Opera The Beggars Opera, that appealed to the rising middle and lower classes.

The Beggars Opera: Considered among the first english operas, and called a "ballad opera." Ballad Operas were parodies of the infamous Italian opera, and were frequently social/political satires. Characters were drawn from the lower classes, and there was no sung recitative; it was built of popular songs, and the story carried by spoken dialogue.