Theatre 1879

Theatre 1879

Henrik Ibsen starts this year with one his best know and most widely done realistic plays, A Doll's House. This one looks into deceit and deception in domestic life. It is also taken up by the feminist movement as an accurate picture of the intolerable position of a wife and mother in a patriarchic society. This one will be a favorite down through the years.

Gilbert* and Sullivan* write The Pirates of Penzance*. This year that fabulous French actress, Sarah Bernhardt* (1844-1923), makes her first London

appearance (in Phaedre*). She will begin to tour more and more as time goes on, impressing audiences all over the world with her fire and passion on the stage.

This year in America, Augustin Daly* (1836-1899 see previous chapter) ends his management of the Fifth Avenue Theatre* (1869-79) and opens his own, Daly's Theatre* (New York, 1879-1920). Daly* is also theatrical critic and dramatist who adapts several plays by Dumas* and Sardou for the American stage and writes original plays that emphasize realistic special effects. Now that he has the realistic plays and a theatre of his own he will help to establish the director as a major force in the theatre. Daly's Theatre* will become one of the major theaters in New York.

Steele MacKaye* (1842-94) takes over the Fifth Avenue Theater* this year when Daly* leaves. He renames it the Madison Square Theatre*. It has two elevator stages 22 feet wide and 31 feet deep. MacKaye* is an actor, playwright, director, inventor, designer, and teacher. He will go on (in 1885) to build the New Lyceum Theatre* on Fourth Avenue where he installs the first electric lighting and begins to emphasize safety devices. He also starts the first school of acting at the Lyceum, using what he learned from studying with Delsarte (see Chapter Thirteen).

David Belasco* (1859-1931), who began his theatrical career as a child, playing the young Duke of York in Richard III* as part of Charles Kean*'s farewell tour, makes his first appearance in New York with James A. Herne* (1839-1901) in a play they jointly adapted, Hearts of Oak*. It's a flop and Belasco* goes back home to San Francisco. However, we will hear a lot about both these guys as time passes.

In London, a new playwright gets his first success in town. Henry Arthur Jones* (1851-1929) brings out his farce, A Clerical Error*. He will go on to be one of the successful playwrights of his period, despite the fact that his work depends more on melodramatic elements for their success, than on the "theatre of ideas" to which his plots belong. None of his plays wear well enough to have later revivals.

1879 Edison* comes out with what may be his most famous invention, a practical incandescent light* and a design for a complete distribution system for light and power. This will be picked up by the theatre just as soon as there are generators and electric lines up and running. This invention will also make a difference in every area of society and work.

The American novelist, Henry James* (1843-1916) has settled in London and this year he writes Daisy Miller*. He is regarded as one of the masters of the novel.

This year Germany and Austria-Hungary get together in a secret Dual Alliance* to try to protect their turf from Russia on the east and the rest of Europe on the west. There will be a big growth in alliances and confrontations among them.