Theatre in Victorian England grew dramatically between 1800-1843, expanding from two theaters to many in London's West End. New technologies like lighting and hydraulics enhanced productions, while melodrama became popular. Notable dramatists of the time included Shakespeare, Dickens, and Oscar Wilde, who wrote plays like Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest that premiered in the 1890s to critical and financial success. Theatre reflected the social and technological changes occurring during this period in England.

1. Theatre in Victorian England
“It was only in the theatre that I lived.”
(Oscar Wilde)

2. Context
• 1800- Two theaters
• 1809- John Kemble
• 1843- Licensing
• 1843- Building
• 1843- West End
1808-1810

3. Talent and
Technology
• Actions
• Visuals
• Melodrama
• Lighting
• Hydraulics
• John Ruskin
1877

4. Dramatists
• Difficult
• Shakespeare
• “Real” artists?
• Money & class
• Dickens
• Legislation
• Realism
• Naturalism
• Modernism 1838

5. Oscar Wilde
• Lady
Windermere’s Fan
• A Woman of No
Importance
• An Ideal Husband
• The Importance
of Being Earnest

6. St. James Theatre, 1896

7. Lady
Windermere’s
Fan
• “A Play About
a Good
Woman”
• 20 Feb. 1892
• Comedy
• $845,833

8. A Woman of No
Importance
• 19 April 1893
• Haymarket
Theatre
• Herbert Beerbohm
Tree

9. An Ideal
Husband
• 3 Jan. 1895
• Haymarket
Theatre
• Lewis Waller
• Success until
April

10. The
Importance
of Being
Earnest
• St. James’ Theatre
• Allan Aynesworth
• Evelyn Millard
• Irene Vanbrugh
• George Alexander
• Actor manager of
St. James
14February1895

11. Programs

12. Works Cited
• Auerbach, Nina. “Before the Curtain.” The Cambridge Companion to
Victorian and Edwardian Theatre, Edited by Kerry Powell, Cambridge
University Press, 2004, pp. 3-14.
• Bratton, Jack. “Theater in the 19th Century.” British Library,
www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/19th-century-theatre,
Accessed 6 October 2016.
• “The Importance of Being Earnest: The First Stage Production, 1895.”
Victoria and Albert Museum, www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-
importance-of-being-earnest-first-stage-production. Accessed 6 October
2016.
• Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dover, 1993.
• Newey, Katherine and Jeffery Richards. “John Ruskin at the Theatre.”
John Ruskin and the Victorian Theatre, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 1-18.