Catherine* the Great

Catherine* the Great

In 1762 in Russia, Peter III* (and his wife Catherine) comes to the throne. Very soon after this event, Catherine* (1729-1796) heads a palace coup and deposes Peter in her favor. She becomes Empress Catherine* II (known as Catherine* the Great) and will rule Russia 1762-

96. She continues the enlightenment reforms of Peter* the Great. She calls a commission to discuss the needed reforms and makes them read her sixty page Instruction in which she 96. She continues the enlightenment reforms of Peter* the Great. She calls a commission to discuss the needed reforms and makes them read her sixty page Instruction in which she

1763 The Seven Years War comes to an end and Prussia is the winner. In America, the French give up all their territory east of the Mississippi to Prussia's ally, the English.

1764 In India, Robert Clive* is again governor and commander in chief of Bengal, where he obtains sovereignty over the whole province for the East Indian Company, founding the empire of British India. The profits from this segment of British territories soar.

1764 - (or possibly 1767) In Germany the actor Ekhof* leaves Schonemann*'s troupe to join Ackermann*'s. This troupe had been playing in Prussia but the war forced it to move to Switzerland and this year it arrives in Hamburg*. Sophia Schroder* has married Ackermann, bringing her son, Friedrich Schroder* (1744-1816) with her. Friedrich will learn everything Ekhof* knows about acting.

In America the Douglass* theatre company sails off to Jamaica again for a two year stint. 1765 - The great English actor, Garrick*, has been off to the continent checking out the

theatres and comes back this year with a bunch of new ideas for scenery and staging. He reforms stage lighting and insists that scenery be more particularized. That means that new settings have to be made for each production. He tries to improve costuming in the same direction, but it doesn't get much farther than an idea.

1766 - The German, Johann Friedrich Lowen* *(1729-71), Schonemann*'s son-in-law, publishes the first history of German theatre and proposes a permanent, subsidized, non-profit theatre to be run by a salaried manager. He further insists on high salaries, an academy to train actors and a pension system (like France) to attract the best performers. He advocates prizes to encourage dramatists.

1766 - In America, the Douglass* company returns from their sojourn in Jamaica and finds the colonies hungry for theatre. They begin to build permanent playhouses. The first, which they build this year, is the Southwark Theatre* in Philadelphia.

1767 - In the American colonies we find playwrighting getting a start with a play in the classical mold, Thomas Godfrey's* The Prince of Parthia*. It is the first American play to be produced by a professional company. Douglass* and his company put it on. They also build another theatre, this time in New York. It is called the John Street Theatre*. They will continue to build others in major towns between New York and Charleston.

In Germany, Lessing* comes out with his admirable prose comedy, Minna von Barnhelm*, Germany's first national comedy.

1767 - The German, Lowen,* (see above, 1766) persuades twelve businessmen to back his idea of a theatre. Ackermann*'s company is to perform and Lessing* is hired to be resident critic, advisor and edit a theatrical journal to promote the enterprise. The Hamburg National Theatre* opens in April. It's a great idea but it will last only two years. Despite its failure, the theatre is a break-through in noncommercial, national theatre. The job Lessing* holds comes 1767 - The German, Lowen,* (see above, 1766) persuades twelve businessmen to back his idea of a theatre. Ackermann*'s company is to perform and Lessing* is hired to be resident critic, advisor and edit a theatrical journal to promote the enterprise. The Hamburg National Theatre* opens in April. It's a great idea but it will last only two years. Despite its failure, the theatre is a break-through in noncommercial, national theatre. The job Lessing* holds comes

In France there is a new and important playwright, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais* (1732-99). This year he writes a play, Eugenie*, in Diderot* 's style of domestic drama. He'll write another in this style before he has his first success. We will pick up it, and the rest of his career, in the next chapter where it properly belongs.

1767-87 In Germany there is a group of young dramatists who are in revolt against the formal, social drama available, the drama of the past. They want to create new forms based on the doctrine of the rights of man and Rousseau*'s plea for a return to nature. We will hear a great deal about these guys later since they launch the next period of Romanticism*.

1768 Captain James Cook* (1728-1779) charts the coasts of New Zealand, and in 1771, Australia and New Guinea.

1769 - The Hamburg National Theatre* closes this year, leaving an ideal to aim for and Lessing*'s publication Hamburg Dramaturgy* (his theatrical journal promoting the enterprise,) as a major critical work.

1770 This is an historic year for modern development because James Watt* comes up with the steam engine. It will revolutionize transportation and industry.

Fortunately the money is available for industrial progress because English banks have proliferated and by now there are at least fifty, enabling profits from one part of the country to

be available in other parts. 1773 The other necessary ingredient for industrial development comes into being this year,

the London Stock Exchange will enable investment and production to flourish.