collage restoration research part 2

1. Restoration Research II
Paige foster

2. Theatres
During the interregnum a law was passed (1642) banning
performances for 5 years but even after this law became
outdated actors where shunned and theatres torn down.
When Charles II returned from
exile in France he was a patron
for the theatre and charged
William Davenant (leading the
duke company for newer/younger
performers) and Thomas Killigrew
(leading the kings company for
more experienced performers) to
revive theatre in England
While Killigrew built theatres
similar to that of the previous
Elizabethan age, Davenant
converted tennis courts creating
the proscenium and using scenic
art that was being used in France
and Italy at the time
Restoration theatre is
known for its theatre of
manners, early on plays
where very romantic
before writers started
becoming more
comfortable writing
more satirical plays. The
writer of the play was
usually the director and
would get the
proceedings from every
3rd performance of the
original run.
Thomas Killigrew
William Davenant

3. Women in Theatre
The idea of women on stage was
not new to England in 1660 when
Charles II was returned to the
throne however before the
restoration there where no English
actresses.
Women playing roles in the was being to spread
through Europe in the early 1600’s so when Charles
I wife Queen Henrietta Maria influenced a French
company to preform at Blackfriars theatre in
London they brought with them the women to play
female parts rather then young men. This shocked
the audience and the growing number of Puritans
saw this as improper, women parading them selves
on stage was immodest but it was equally immoral
for men to dress as women, theses views lead to the
ban of theatre during Oliver Cromwell's rule during
the interregnum. So when Charles II returned from
France he was already used to female actors and
wanted to give them a chance on English stages, he
issued a charter to the Kings company decreeing all
female parts be played by females and saying this
was to prevent the moral outrage of his subjects
caused by boys dressing as girls.
At first women where met with a
mixed reaction from their audiences,
some thought it added realism to
performances while others thought it
Unnatural. Men who had trained
their whole lives to play feminine
roles where now out of work or had
less roles with more competition but
“others realised the financial
opportunities of introducing their
wives and daughters to the stage.”
Eventually people began to accept
women acting and the patrons they
brought to the theatres creating
more demand for work and more
money for the companies.

4. Now women where aloud on stage they began to attract fame and patrons, “the frequency
with which these early actresses would entertain members of the nobility in their dressing
rooms, and often become their mistresses, did little to enhance the 'respectability' of their
profession.”
One of the most famous first
actresses is Nell Gwynne better
known for being one of King
Charles II mistresses, having 2
illegitimate sons by him and
apparently being one of the last
women he wised well for on his
deathbed (the others being his wife
the queen and the Duchess of
Portsmouth, another mistress of
his). She apparently started
working at the theatre as an orange
seller where she caught the kings
eye and soon began her acting
career proving to be a
talented comedic
actress as well as skilful
a singer and dancer.
Elizabeth Barry was a women
of ‘good breeding’ her father
had been barrister who had
been a Colonel in Charles I
army but lost everything in
the civil war. She tried for the
Dukes company when she
was 15 but was fired within a
year saying she was pretty
but “Untalented and
Unteachable” The Earl of
Rochester took it upon
himself to mentor (she also
became his mistress) her and
she returned to the stage to
become one of the greatest
actresses of her era. (she
played lady touchwood in the
double dealer)
Nell Gwynne
Anne Bracegirdle came to
the stage as a child and
went on to have great
success in William
Congreves comedies,
who’s mistress she is
rumoured to have been.
(she played Cynthia in the
double dealer) she was
famous for her beauty,
which caused the murder
of her good friend and
actor William Mountford
(who’s wife Suzanna
played Lady Froth in the
double dealer) when he
ran to her home to assure
her safety from abductors
and was killed by them.

5. 2 restoration Playwrights
Aphra Behn is credited with being the first
women to earn her living by writing, being
the author over 20 plays as well as serval
novels and poetry volumes. “she was
brought up in the West Indies but returned
to England aged 18. She married a Dutch
merchant, but after his death, she found
herself in a debtors' prison and was forced
to look for means to support herself. Her
first employment was as a spy, but she was
not paid and turned to writing”
Her first play The Forc’d Marriage was
staged in 1640, her most famous plays
where The Rover and Love Letters Between
a Nobleman and his Sister.
Aphra Behn is said to have been a strong
supporter of the Stuart line and declined
the opportunity to write a poem welcoming
William III to the throne.
William Congreve was born in west Yorkshire but
grew up in Ireland where his father who had been
a Cavalier decided to settle. Congreve had written
5 plays by the age of 30 4 comedies and 1
tragedies but these where the only plays he wrote
his career ending in 1700 (having only written his
first play in 1693) when the public ‘‘lost taste for
his high-brow comedy of manners’’ after this he
wrote a few poems and translations. He was also
well know for his ‘friendships’ with well known
actresses and noble women such as Anne
Bracegirdle and Duchess Henrietta Godolphin
whose daughter Mary is thought to be his.
Although Mary was recognised by Henrietta’s
husband her Grandmother thought the child to be
illegitimate and didn't recognise her until 1740
when she was 17. William was in a carriage
accident in sept 1728 from witch he never fully
recovered and is thought to be his cause of death
in Jan 1729.

6. Samuel Pepys Diary
Samuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of
Parliament, who is now well known for the diary he started on the 1st of
January 1660 at the age of 26 until 1669 when his bad eyesight prevented
him from writing anymore.
His diary gives first hand accounts of event that happened
during the early restoration era including the coronation of
Charles II, The Great Fire of London and The Plague.
As well as notable events his detailed writings give
historians an idea what life was like for the upper class of
the time, he talked about politics, his work, his finances ,
the plays he saw, social life and affairs as well as his
relationship with his wife. His diary included small details
such as the time he got up . A new watch he was proud of
and what he ate ect. witch are particularly helpful to get
and insight into restoration livng

7. Bibliography
• http://www.cwu.edu/~robinsos/ppages/resources/Theatre_History/Theahis_10.html
• http://www.slideshare.net/lisat_15/restoration-theatre-group-a
• http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-women.html#boys
• http://www.lit-arts.net/Behn/theater.htm
• http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/8478
• http://www.online-literature.com/congreve/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Congreve
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys
• http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/