The Genius of the Later English Theater [antikvár]

The English Theater Since 1660: An Introduction In 1642, when the Puritans had the upper hand, Parliament declared that "public stage-plays shall cease and be foreborne." Charles I was executed in 1649, and not until 1660, when Charles II was restored to the throne, were English theaters reopened. During this interregnum there was, of course, some theatrical activity—^playlets were given in private homes, illegal performances were occasionally given in the abandoned theaters, Sir William D'Avenant was permitted to produce (as an opera) The Siege of Rhodes, and some plays were written that were not performed. Most of the drama of the Interregnum, like most of the Caroline drama (named for Charles I) that preceded it, can be broadly characterized as courtly and romantic, presenting an idealized image of magnanimous men and lovely ladies. When Charles II permitted the drama to be re-established in 1660, and authorized Thomas Killigrew and William D'Avenant to form two dramatic companies, the audiences and the plays at first continued the Caroline tradition. The Elizabethan theater had drawn its audience from all levels of society, but the Restoration theater attracted only court society and their hangers-on (with their footmen in the upper gallery). Apparently this limited audience did not attend the theater with much interest or regularity. Samuel Pepys has a number of depressing entries m his diary. March 23, 1661: "To the Red Bull 7