American Theatre Begins

American Theatre Begins

1752 - America: The restrictions on theatre activity in England stimulate the English actor, Lewis Hallam*, along with his wife, three children, and a troupe of 12 other professional actors to leave London and its restrictive laws to set up shop in the New World. They fix up and open the first professional theater in America in Williamsburg, Virginia. From there they travel to perform in New York, Charleston and Philadelphia.

Also in America, the Murray*-Kean* theatrical company seems to die out after this year. 1753 - Ekhof* opens an Academy of Acting in Germany but it doesn't pan out.

1754 The French philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau*, in A Dissertation on the Origin and Foundation of the Inequality of Mankind,* is beginning to outline "nature's nobleman*." This idea will become clearer as time goes on but basically, he puts forth the view that man is, by nature, virtuous. Rousseau's* ideas about the naturally virtuous nature of man will provide the basis for the next century's theatrical heroes, who will have to be "nature's noblemen."*

1755 - Germany: Lessing*' first major play, Miss Sara Sampson*, a domestic tragedy, is produced this year by Ackermann*'s company. It's soon the most popular and widely imitated play in Germany. Such plays attract a large middle class audience for the first time. Later, this play will be seen as the earliest "realistic" effort.

Ackermann* goes to East Prussia to build a permanent theatre for a dramatic company. However, he picks a bad time, a war is about to start.

Russia: The Empress has the Volkov* company appear at court again in Sumarokov*'s Sinav and Truvor*. The Cadets at the College no longer appear in plays for the court, and Russia now establishes its first professional acting company which also includes actresses. The repertory of the company is full of adaptations and imitations of French and German models. Later they will do comedies and light operas, too.

America: The Hallam* company sails to Jamaica for a year. The English are into big sugar planntations all over the West Indies, (the islands of the Caribbean.) These plantations are making money hand over fist and their main problem is what to do with all that money. Obviously this is a lucrative place to do some theatre touring.

1756 - America: The American company leader Hallam* dies, but the troupe has already joined the troupe of David Douglass* from Jamaica and in 1758 Mrs. Hallam* will become Mrs. Douglass. She will continue as leading lady of the company with Lewis Hallam, Jr.* as leading man.

Russia: The Empress establishes a State Theatre which will do Russian plays. Sumarokov* is appointed head of the Russian theatre in St. Petersburg.

1756 This is the beginning of the Seven Year's War* (1756-1763) between Prussia and Austria. England sides with Prussia (which is logical considering England's rulers are related to the Prussian ones.) France, Saxony and Russia side with Austria. The war sets back theatrical development in Central Europe, and the war will end with Prussia as the leader of the German states. The war will also enable England to take colonial territory away from the French (who are too preoccupied with events in Europe.)

In America, the Seven Year's War* is fought in the colonies and drags the native Indians into battle on both sides.

In India the Mughal Empire has fallen apart and the English and French are forced to intervene in the conflicts of rival princes to protect their flourishing commerce. The superiority of British naval power enables England to oust the French from many of their trading concessions. Next year Robert Clive* (now governor in India and known to history as the founder of the British Empire of India) will win a significant victory over the French and ensure British dominance in India. British naval forces take control of the Atlantic and In India the Mughal Empire has fallen apart and the English and French are forced to intervene in the conflicts of rival princes to protect their flourishing commerce. The superiority of British naval power enables England to oust the French from many of their trading concessions. Next year Robert Clive* (now governor in India and known to history as the founder of the British Empire of India) will win a significant victory over the French and ensure British dominance in India. British naval forces take control of the Atlantic and

1757 - France: The philosopher and man of letters, Diderot* (1713-84) comes out with the first of his two plays, Les Fils Naturel*. These two are an important expression of the "Enlightenment" and have considerable influence on the German playwright Lessing,* and European drama in general. Diderot* is an exponent of bourgeois drama* (the drame*) which is an offshoot of Comedie Larmoyante*. These mix virtue, sentiment and priggishness. The middle-class audiences are crazy about this stuff. His plays are not much good but his observations on theatre are very useful, especially his dialogue on acting, Paradoxe sur le comedien* (Paradox of the Actor*.)

1757 In England the first major canal is built to move coal from the pits to the growing population centers. Over the next fifty years canals will be built to connect all the major ports with coal fields. Now that ironmasters no longer have to be near forests for their fuel they begin to build their furnaces on the plains of Lancashire, near the ports.

1758 In France Rousseau* reflects on manners and morals on the stage in his An Epistle to Mr. d'Alembert*.

1758 - In America the Douglass* theatre company sails from Jamaica to play the mainland colonies until 1764.

1759 The Seven Year's War* is pretty savage in Canada where the English under General James Wolfe attack the French under General Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham. The upshot is that the English take Quebec.

1760 - In Germany, Lessing* believes that English drama, rather than the French neoclassical, provides the best model for German drama and he breaks with Gottsched*.

During the 1760's in England every theatre starts having scene painters on their staff to handle all that spectacle that pantomime uses.

1760 George* II has quarreled with his son, who married the daughter of the duke of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha, and when George* II dies this year the throne goes to his grandson, George III*. This one still doesn't speak English and will suffer from mental illness, ending up blind and permanently deranged. George III* will rule from 1760-1820, although his son will have to serve as regent from 1811 on.

1761 - This year Carlo Goldoni* leaves Venice and moves to Paris where he will write in Italian and in French for the Comedie Italienne*. He will remain in Paris until his death.

The other Italian playwright, Carlo Gozzi* (1720-1806) who also tries to reform the commedia dell'arte* but his changes involve changing the subject matter and keeping the characters and improvisational methods. His subject matter is a mixture of fantasy and foolery with stories that are full of fairytale characters, miraculous animals and magicians. This year

he comes out with The Love of Three Oranges* and The Raven*. Among his best, he will also write:

King Stag* (1762)

Turandot* (1765), based on a Chinese fairytale, (regarded his best work). The Beautiful Green Bird* (1765) His plays influence a number of playwrights in Germany and France (especially Alfred de

Musset*.) These plays appeal to musicians particularly and they will be widely used as librettos for opera. [see the 1920's]

1761-62 - America: The Douglass*-Hallam* company gives a presentation of "moral dialogues" in Rhode Island, the first professional performances given in New England.

Russia: Sumarokov* is too liberal and outspoken for the current court political climate. His plays are banned and he is thrown out as head of the Russian Theatre. In 1762 Volkov*'s company is attached to the political party supporting Catherine* (see below), which turns out to be a smart move. They get put in charge of the celebrations in honor of her coronation. Unfortunately Feodor Volkov* catches cold while directing a street masquerade and dies.

The Russian theatre will continue to develop mainly in the "serf" theatres on the estates of the nobility. Under Catherine*, theatre will spread all over Russia under state control. In 1763 Dmitrevsky* (see above) takes over Volkov* 's company and is appointed Inspector of State Theatres. He takes a leading part in running them in, between trips to Paris to improve his acting skills. He spends the rest of his life as the leading actor and highest theatrical administrator.

1762 - In England Garrick* finally gets to forbid audience seating on the stage. Now he can really get on with improving productions.

In Paris the Comedie Italienne* is given a monopoly on producing the Comic Opera. Between these productions and the plays of Goldoni* they are so successful that they quit putting on any French plays. The theatrical fair companies are forced to return to using songs set to popular tunes for their shows. These are now called comedies-en-vaudevilles* [the term vaudeville* seems to mean either songs of the valley or songs of the city streets, in any case it refers to satirical lyrics sung to popular tunes and vaudeville* comes to mean a play that is light or satirical and is interspersed with songs.]

The fair companies also relocate to the Boulevard du Temple (a popular recreation area) as well as playing at the fairs. This enables the companies to play year round. There are at least four important troupes that relocate on the Boulevard and this location will give rise to the term for theatres that cater to popular audiences, the boulevard theatres*.

1762 Rousseau* comes out with his most influential work, The Social Contract* in which he lays some of the ground work for the political revolutions that will soon follow.