Theatre History Exam 2

August Wilhelm von Schlegel

1767-1845, German essayist and leader in romanticism movement, thought that the unities of time and place don’t matter and playwrights should find their own, forms outside of neoclassicism are fine, translated many Shakespeare plays

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1772-1834, major theorist of romanticism in England

Victor Hugo

1802-1885, abandon unities of time and place and strict separation of genres, place dramatic actions within specific historical milieus, art should go beyond neoclassicist’s idealized nature to a truthful depiction that included both the sublime and the grotesque, plays include Hernani, Marion Delorme, The King Amuses Himself, Ruy Blas, as a director was concerned with actors’ stage positions and the overall composition

Alexandre Dumas pere

1802-1857, plays concerned with characters’ inner feelings, especially their inability to resist love’s compelling force, characters are selfish and fight to protect their egos, notable play is Lorenzaccio

Alexandre Dumas fils

1824-1895, dramatist of thesis plays about current social problems utilizing well-made play formula

August Friedrich von Kotzebue

playwright known for first true melodrama Misanthropy and Repentance (1789)

Pixerecourt

father of the melodrama, insisted on absolute control over staging of his works, primarily concerned with coordinating special effects

John Philip Kemble

1757-1823, English actor and manager, largely responsible for English theatre maintaining stability between 1800 and 1817 as acting manager of Drury Lane (1788-1803) and Covent Garden (1803-retirement), advocated for historical accuracy and individualizing detail in design, leading English-speaking actor from 1790 until retirement, classical acting style which emphasized dignity and grace

Sarah Kemble Siddons

1755-1831, greatest tragic actress of her time, classical acting style which emphasized dignity and grace but with greater emotional intensity than her brother John Philip

George Frederick Cooke

1756-1812, early romantic actor, favored realistic acting, famous for villainous roles, first major English actor to tour in the US

Edmund Kean

1787-1833, most impactful romantic actor, starred as somewhat villainous roles, rarely did comedy, didn’t care about dignity and grace and instead emphasized realistic emotion

Thomas D. Rice

1808-1860, American actor that created the Jim Crow song and dance which inspired many imitators and the Minstrel Show

Samuel Drake

1769-1854, ran touring theatre company in the US

Edwin Forrest

1806-1872, actor known for “heroic” masculine style with a strong physical presence and booming voice, appeals to working class

Charlotte Cushman

1816-1876, American-born actress known for fully embodied performance style and specific character costumes, famous as a tragic actress with great emotional control and for playing romantic leads opposite other women as heterosexual couples

William Charles Macready

1793-1873, acting style is passionate but realistic, manages Covent Garden Theatre then Drury Lane, known for giving blocking to other actors (kind of early director), sought historical accuracy in scenery and costumes

Madame Vestris

1797-1856, burlesque and extravaganza, light comedy, manager of Olympic Theatre and Covent Garden (with second husband Charles Mathews the Younger)

J.R. Planché

1796-1880, led movement toward antiquarianism, extensive historical research for his costume designs, wrote about 175 burlesque and extravaganza works

Henry Irving

1838-1905, English actor-manager, starred and stage managed at Lyceum Theatre before becoming manager in 1878, known for melodrama then and Shakespeare now

William Dunlap

American playwright, best known for The Father and André and adapting Kotzebue works, wrote History of American Theatre (1832) and first history of American art (1834)

Anna Cora Mowatt

1819-1870, American playwright known for the comedy of manners Fashion (1845) and gained fame as an actress in both the US and England

Laura Keene

1820-1873, English actress, worked for Vestris, ran her own theatre in New York where she also starred at

Steele Mackaye

1842-1894, American actor, playwright, director, designer, and teacher that introduced Delsarte method to US, started the American Academy of Dramatic Art at his Lyceum Theatre

Syndicate

US theatre organization started in 1896 by Sam Nixon, Fred Zimmerman, Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, Marc Klaw, and Abraham Erlanger, offered full season to theatre managers in exchange for exclusive booking partnership, was mostly in control of American theatre by 1900, only accepted plays with wide appeal and thus influenced American theatre to remain conservative and commercial

Minnie Maddern Fiske

1864-1932, American actress who championed realistic drama, based acting on direct observation of life and psychology, resisted the Syndicate, leased Manhattan Theatre 1901-1907 to produce plays

Harrison Grey Fiske

1861-1942, American dramatist and editor of The New York Dramatic Mirror (most influential theatrical newspaper), husband of Minnie Maddern, leased Manhattan Theatre 1901-1907 to produce plays

David Belasco

1854-1931, American producer and dramatist, worked in California and New York (managed Madison Square Theatre, stage manager at Lyceum, opened Stuybesant theatre), known for tailoring plays to certain individuals (“star maker”), was able to make a deal with the Syndicate because his plays were so in demand

George II Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

1826-1914, trained in arts before succeeding to the throne in 1866, led changes in Meiningen Players’ (court theatre) repertory and productions, sought to do justice to the chosen scripts including historical accuracy, productions granted long rehearsal periods and high quality materials, leading figure in the movement towards unified production

Emile Zola

1840-1902, French advocate of scientific method, literature becoming scientific, and Naturalism in theatre, thought dramatists should record things like a scientist

Andre Antoine

1858-1943, French manager that started Théâtre Libre, prioritized authenticity in design and maintenance of the fourth wall, went on to open another theatre and serve as director of Odéon, contributed to realism based upon past theatrical conventions

Théâtre Libre

Andre Antoine’s company, subscription model, produced plays that were refused licenses since the theatre was exempt from censorship, produced many Naturalist plays and comedies rosses (reversed morality)

Freie Bühne

“Free Stage,” German theatre group established in 1889 with inspiration from Théâtre Libre, democratic organization, employed professional actors from established theatres on Sundays, had little influence except for producing plays that were otherwise censored

August Strindberg

1849-1912, Swedish dramatist, playwright of Miss Julie (1888) and The Ghost Sonata (1907), wrote “dream plays” that reshaped reality according to his subjective vision, first dramatist to make extensive use of the unconscious

Victorie Sardou

1831-1908, became one of the most popular playwrights 1860-1900 by using the well-made play formula for all dramatic types

Sarah Bernhardt

1844-1923, most famous French actress of late nineteenth century, still considered one of the greatest actresses for her technical skills and portrayals of seductiveness, pain, tearful rage, and death

Dion Boucicault

1822-1890, Irish comic actor and successful dramatist, specialized in melodrama

Richard Wagner

1813-1883, German dramatist, significant forerunner of modernism, rejected realism, influenced creation of new type of theatre structure that was class-less and had a hidden orchestra pit, aimed for complete illusion in his plays (no tuning, applause, curtain calls) and historical accuracy

Konstantin Stanislavsky

1863-1938, co-founder of Moscow Art Theatre, known for developing efficient approach to acting training and process

Aurelian Lugné-Poë

1869-1940, French actor and stage manager at the Théâtre Libre, Théâtre d’Art, and lead of Théâtre de l’Oeuvre, “the word creates the decor” meaning simple scenery and a unity of style and mood

Charles Matthews the Elder

1776-1835, one-man shows with many different characters, including a Black Shakespearean actor based on his experience with the African Grove theatre in NY

Henrik Ibsen

1828-1906, resident dramatist and stage manager at Norwegian theatres, playwright of A Doll’s House, radical thinker whose plays suggested that current ideology caused problems and needed to be changed, plays focused on the struggle for integrity, most work contributed to development of realism but later work influenced nonrealistic drama

Maurice Maeterlinck

1862-1949, Belgian French-language playwright, originally emphasized dramatic silent moments but moved towards more straightforward action

Eugene Scribe

1791-1861, contributed over 300 pieces to Parisian theatres across genres, popularized the well-made play formula which realistic movement built upon, wrote A Glass of Water (1840)

well-made play (piece bien faite)

careful exposition and preparation, cause-to-effect arrangement of incidents, building scenes to a climax, and skillful manipulation of withheld information, startling reversals, and suspense

combination company

American theatre model of traveling with stars and full company that rapidly expanded in the 1870s with the railway system

gas light

theatres move away from candles in the 1840s and 1850s

expressionism

style of art in which human emotions are projected onto inanimate objects, truth is subjective

Moscow Art Theatre

theatre formed in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, fully realized professional organization with a focus on theatrical production, produced several Chekhov plays including The Cherry Orchard, staged both new and repertory plays