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.
Parts
» Euripides* And The Crumbling State
» Aristophanes* - He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best
» Take The Frogs* for instance -
» Alexander And Logical Thinking
» Rome While all this is going on in the Greek-dominated Hellenistic world, the Romans* are busy
» Roman Writers c.275 BCE - c.110 BCE During The Era Of Senate Supremacy
» From Classical Light Into The Dark Ages The Fifth Century
» The End of the Western Empire in Italy
» Why Europe Isn't Very Interesting In The Sixth Century
» Islam* Enters Europe As We Enter The Eighth Century
» Vikings Move On As Does Islamic Culture
» Theatre Reappears In Bits And Pieces As We Move Onward Into The Tenth Century
» Europe Moves On Into The Eleventh Century
» As The Twelfth Century Begins Economic And Intellectual Profits
» The Third Crusade The One We All Remember
» More Crusades And A Small Renaissance As We Go Into The Thirteenth Century
» The Small Renaissance Part of the Century
» THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE SPACE IN CHURCH DRAMA -
» The Fourteenth Century And We Come To The Down Part Of The Late Middle Ages
» The Black Death* Comes To Europe
» Everything Takes Off In All Directions At Once
» The Renaissance Officially Begins
» Italian Theatrical Renaissance Gets Going
» Brief Consideration of the Range of Plays
» The Winds Of Reformation* Begin In Germany -
» Theatrical Scenery Takes Off
» Background for Spanish Theatre -
» Other Current Spanish Playwrights
» The English Renaissance 1588-1629
» Sources Of English Playwrighting
» William Shakespeare* -(1564-1616)
» English Settlements Begin In America
» Spanish Court Theatre Flourishes
» The French Theatre Finally Gets Up and Running Introduction
» Back in France Richelieu* Pushes Theatre Development
» English Religious Opposition Increases
» England Falls into Civil War
» English Restoration Theatre Begins
» Middle Class and Sentimental English Theatre
» Europe and America in Social Ferment
» Germany and the Beginnings of Romanticism
» American Revolutionary Times Begin
» Melodrama,* Popular Theatre, and Napoleon MELODRAMA*
» Realistic Elements In Production
» Political Philosophy Moves On
» The Mexican War* and Nationalism
» The 1848 Revolutions and Nationalism
» Some of his best known plays:
» 1908 - Theatre Theorists Publish
» New Connections, New Starts - 1911 -
» And After 1914-1925 Introduction
» The Russian Revolution - 1917
» America Draws Back Into Its Shell -
» Second World War and Its Aftermath
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