Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, first appearance and revival. Theater, opera and ballet in Britain Theaters in English-speaking countries

Theater The first court theater, which existed in 1672–1676, was defined by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich himself and his contemporaries as a kind of newfangled “fun” and “coolness” in the image and likeness of the theaters of European monarchs. The theater at the royal court did not appear immediately. Russians

The English Renaissance theater was born and developed on the market square, which determined its national British flavor and democracy. The most popular genres on public stages were morality plays and farces. During the reign of Elizabeth Tudor, the mysteries were banned. From the beginning of the 16th century, English theatrical art approached a new stage - the beginning of the development of humanistic drama, which began to take shape against the background political struggle royal power with the Catholic Church.

From the theater stage came undisguised sharp criticism and propaganda of a new humanistic ideology, which was dressed in the garb of familiar interludes and morality plays. In the play by the humanist John Rastell “Interlude on the Nature of the Four Elements” (1519), in addition to the traditional figures for morality plays, there are the following characters: Thirst for knowledge, lady Nature, Experience and, as opposed to them, the devil Ignorance and the harlot Thirst for pleasure. The irreconcilable struggle of these characters in the play ends with the victory of enlightenment over obscurantism and ignorance.

John Bale was a prominent figure in the English Reformation and a famous writer, author of the play King John. By adding social themes to the morality play, he laid the foundation for dramaturgy in the genre of historical chronicle.

The new theater was born from medieval farce. The court poet, musician and organizer of colorful spectacles John Gaywood developed the farce by writing satirical interludes. In them, he ridiculed the fraud of monks and indulgence sellers, the intrigues of the clergy, greedy for profit, and the cunning tricks of priests who covered up their sins with ostentatious piety. In addition to the main character - the rogue - and negative characters– clergy – simple-minded and good-natured commoners took part in short everyday scenes. The satirical interludes of the early 16th century became the link between medieval farcical theater and the emerging dramatic theater.

The introduction of the English people to Italian culture and art contributed to the active perception and popularization ancient culture and achievements of ancient civilization. Intensive study of the Latin language and the works of Seneca and Plautus led to translations of ancient tragedies and comedies into English. Performances based on these translations became very popular in the aristocratic and university environment.

At the same time, aristocrats and the enlightened public admired the sonnets of Petrarch and the poems of Ariosto. The novellas of Boccaccio and Bandello were known among the diverse society. At the royal court, masquerades were introduced as entertainment and entertainment events, at which scenes from Italian pastorals were played out.

The first examples of national comedy and tragedy on the theatrical stage appeared in mid-16th century century. Nicholas Udall, the author of the first English comedy, Ralph Royster Doyster (c. 1551), was an educated court entertainment organizer and through his works tried to teach people “good rules of life.”

The play "Horboduc" (1562) by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sequile was first performed at the court of Queen Elizabeth and is considered the first English tragedy. It clearly shows the imitation of Roman tragedy: the division of the play into 5 acts, choral singing and monologues of messengers, bloody crimes, but the plot is based on historical fact from medieval history. The moral of the tragedy lay in the allegorical pantomime and interludes that the actors presented between acts, explaining the unexpected twists of the plot.

After the farcical mystery and primitive farces, on the basis of ancient and Italian drama, a new English drama arose, in which there was a compositional basis, proportionality of parts, logic in the development of action and characters.

Almost all of the new generation of playwrights had a university education and came from a democratic background. Having united in a creative group called “University Minds”, in their works they tried to synthesize the high humanistic culture of aristocrats and folk wisdom with its folklore.

William Shakespeare's predecessor, the famous English playwright John Lyly (c. 1554-1606), was a court poet. In his most interesting comedy, “Alexander and Campaspe” (1584), written based on a story by the Greek historian Pliny, he showed the generosity of Alexander the Great, who, seeing the love of his friend, the artist Apelles, for the captive Campaspe, yielded her to his friend. Thus, in the struggle between duty and feeling, duty won. The idealized image of Alexander in the play is contrasted with the skeptical figure of the philosopher Diogenes, whose folk wisdom and common sense triumph over the self-confidence and arrogance of the monarch and his entourage.

John Lily laid the foundations for the so-called romantic comedy. He introduced the lyrical element into dramatic action, giving prosaic speech a bright poetic flavor. He pointed the way for the future merging of two comedy genres - romantic and farcical.

The true founder of English Renaissance drama was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a famous playwright, author of works of philosophical and atheistic content. The son of a shoemaker, who through his perseverance achieved the academic degree of Master of Science, he was distinguished by courage and freethinking. C. Marlowe preferred the work of an actor in a theater troupe to the career of a priest that opened before him after graduating from the University of Cambridge. His first dramatic work, Tamerlane the Great, was full of atheistic ideas. This monumental work in two parts was written over two years (Part I in 1587 and Part II in 1588). “Tamerlane the Great” is a dramatized biography of the famous eastern conqueror of the late 14th century, Timur. Marlowe gave his hero the strength and appearance of a legendary hero. And, what is especially important, he made a noble feudal lord, as Timur actually was, a “low-born shepherd” who only by the power of his will, energy and intelligence rose above the legitimate rulers.

K. Marlowe's play “The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus” (1588) ( rice. 22) reveals the other side human life. The rejection of ascetic principles and unconditional submission to higher power for the sake of the thirst for knowledge and joy of life is clothed in the image of the atheist Doctor Faustus. The drama of Doctor Faustus' liberated consciousness and the ensuing loneliness leads him to repentance, while releasing enormous energy in the struggle for freedom of thought.

The last tragedy of C. Marlowe, “Edward II,” written on the material of historical chronicles, became the basis of English drama, which W. Shakespeare successfully developed in his works.

The king and his retinue believed that C. Marlowe and his works posed a serious threat to power. In this regard, an order was given to physically eliminate the playwright. On May 30, 1593, Marlowe was assassinated by an agent of the king's privy council.

Simultaneously with the plays of C. Marlowe, plays by other playwrights from the “University Minds” group were staged on the stage: Thomas Kyd - “The Spanish Tragedy” (1587) and Robert Greene - “Monk Bacon and Friar Bongay”, “James IV” and “George Greene” , Wakefield field watchman" (1592).

The creative community of playwrights from the “University Minds” group preceded a new stage in the development of national drama – the emergence of Renaissance tragedy and comedy. Gradually, the image of a new hero emerged - daring and courageous, devoted to the humanistic ideal.

At the end of the 16th century, the English folk theater attracted huge crowds of people to its performances, absorbing all the revolutionary ideas and imitating the brave heroes who defended their human dignity in the struggle. The number of theater troupes steadily increased; performances from hotel courtyards and city squares moved to theaters specially built for this purpose.

In 1576, the first theater was built in London by James Burbage, which was called “Theater”. It was followed by the construction of several theater buildings: Curtain, Blackfriars, Rose and Swan ( rice. 23). Despite the fact that the city council of commons by its order prohibited the staging of theatrical performances in London itself in 1576, theaters were located on the south bank of the Thames, in an area that was beyond the authority of the council of commons.

Large wooden public theater buildings came in various shapes: round, square or octagonal. The building had no roof, only a small canopy over the stage. These theaters could accommodate up to 2,000 spectators. The bulk of the audience, consisting of ordinary people, watched the performance while standing. Rich townspeople took seats in the galleries, which were located in three tiers within the round walls of the theater.

In 1599, the Globe Theater was built, where W. Shakespeare worked. The building had an octagonal shape, the stage was trapezoidal, its base protruded into the auditorium. The functional space was divided into three parts: the front part of the stage - proscenium; the back, which was separated by two columns supporting a thatched canopy; the top one is a balcony above the back stage. This complex structure was completed by a small tower, on which a flag was hung during the performance. The stage was usually decorated with carpets and mats, and the curtain, depending on the genre (comedy or tragedy), could be blue or black. The building of the first Globe Theater was destroyed by fire in 1613. After restoration it existed until 1645 ( rice. 24).

Actors in London theaters for the most part, not counting the famous ones who enjoyed the patronage of nobles, were low-income and powerless people. The royal decree equated artists with homeless tramps and provided for punishment for troupes that did not have wealthy patrons. Despite the harsh attitude towards theaters from the authorities, their popularity increased year by year and their number increased.

The form of organization of theater troupes at that time was of two types: a mutual partnership of actors with self-government and a private enterprise headed by an entrepreneur who owned the props and bought the rights to stage the play from the playwrights. A private entrepreneur could hire any troupe, placing the actors in bondage to his whims.

The troupe, led by W. Shakespeare ( rice. 25) and his friend, famous actor Richard Burbage ( rice. 26), was called "The Lord Chamberlain's Men". The troupe's income was distributed between the playwright and the leading actors of the theater in accordance with their shares.

The quantitative composition of the troupe was no more than 10-14 people, who were supposed to perform several roles in the theater's repertoire. The female roles were played by pretty young men, achieving authentic performances through the plasticity of their movements and the lyricism of their voices. The general manner of acting of the actors was experiencing a stage of transition from an epic style and sublime pathos to a restrained form of internal drama. The leading actors of the tragic genre in the era of William Shakespeare were Richard Burbage and Edward Alleyn ( rice. 27).

W. Shakespeare entrusted Richard Burbage, his close friend and assistant, with the main roles in his tragedies. Burbage, with excellent command of his voice, not only skillfully performed his monologues, but also enhanced emotional coloring roles with looks and gestures. In the comedy genre, actors Robert Armin and William Kemp ( rice. 28) and Richard Tarleton. The most characteristic comedian was Robert Armin, who played the full role of the jester in Shakespeare's plays As You Like It and King Lear. philosophical meaning and dramatic content.

As a playwright and director, W. Shakespeare synthesized in his work all the achievements of theatrical art created before him, and brought this art to perfection. He defined its main direction, which was to achieve a mirror image of the essence of human nature, in whatever forms it may appear.

The performing arts of this period are characterized by significant emotional intensity of acting. The tone of the play was set not by loud recitation and active gestures, but by the actor’s rich imagination and ability to convey the state that he was experiencing. The advice to actors, which W. Shakespeare expressed through the mouth of Hamlet in his tragedy, is an eternal guide for all generations of artists, as long as realistic theatrical art remains alive. Drama theater reached the pinnacle of its development in the work of the great English playwright. European Renaissance. Shakespeare's work expanded the usual boundaries and showed the next generations of actors the ways to develop and improve dramatic art towards revealing the spiritual world of man.

In the middle of the 17th century, a long bourgeois-Puritan revolution ended in England, which led to the establishment of Puritanism in society. One of the Puritan dogmas, which asserted that a person should not fatalistically submit to his fate, became his ideological banner. In the country at that time, according to contemporaries, debauchery and moral decay reigned. Friendship, conscience and public duty have completely lost their meaning. At the end of the 17th – beginning of the 18th century, libertineism, or free-thinking, became the leading trend in English philosophy, which largely influenced drama and theater. Later, this direction took on a specific form and became known as wit. After the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England, wit was revered quite highly among the aristocratic community. Gradually, in accordance with the fact that a new bourgeois ideology was being formed, the attitude towards wit also changed, it became more and more critical. This could not but affect art. From the point of view of adherents of wit, life is a complex art that requires caution and insight from a person. Lies must be skillfully combined with the truth, and honesty and straightforwardness must be combined with cunning and deception. Church marriage was considered a fetter, which testified to the slavery of the man.

Immoral principles caused fair indignation on the part of respectable bourgeois, as well as writers and philosophers. As the power of the bourgeoisie strengthened and its influence increased, it actively began to attack the “witty” people. This was primarily expressed in her struggle with the English theater.

Before the restoration of the monarchy in England, during the reign of Cromwell, the theater was banned by a special parliamentary decree. The Puritan government considered the theater a breeding ground for immorality, sinfulness and vice. Municipal councils brought numerous charges against theater companies, sometimes unrelated to either the actors or the plays. The reputation of the theaters was so low that the townspeople stopped visiting them. To avoid starvation, actors were forced to leave cities for remote provinces where they could earn something. Theater troupes and schools disintegrated, teachers of oratory and performing arts, music and dance left the city. Provincial authorities were loyal to amateur performances hosted by castle owners. And in the cities the theater was revived in musical and dramatic performances (masquerades).

After the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England, a favorable period began for the revival of the theater. The audience of city theaters consisted exclusively of the aristocracy and city nobility. Dramatic art expressed the anti-puritan and anti-bourgeois spirit, which broke through after many years of persecution and forced silence. In numerous satirical comedies the role of a foolish simpleton or a cuckolded husband was invariably assigned to the hapless bourgeois.

The theater of the Restoration era was restored over a long period of time, and the changes that occurred to it during this period were significant. A theatrical monopoly was formed in England. A royal patent was issued for the right to organize a theater troupe and to create a theater. And the Lord Chamberlain was in charge of censorship, which extended to the activities of the theater troupe. The number of acting companies and theater venues in London was controlled and regulated by the English government. Particular attention was paid to the theater repertoire.

During the Restoration period in England, a special building was built to demonstrate performances and house theater troupes and props. It was a rectangular indoor room of considerable size, in which spectators were in more comfortable conditions compared to the pre-Restoration period. The theater now had backstage and a proscenium that extended into the stalls and was surrounded by a double row of boxes. At first, in such theaters, especially noble spectators were seated in chairs right on the stage, in close proximity to the actors. This created some inconvenience for the performers.

To stage performances, sets were specially made, as well as various devices that made it possible to simulate flights and various transformations. Actresses took the stage in female roles to replace the boys of Shakespeare's theater. Among the most talented female actresses of the Restoration period is Nell Guinn ( rice. 29), Mary Knapp, Elizabeth Barry (Fig. 30), Elinor Lee and other revolutionary actresses. The scope of the theatrical performance itself has also become wider. In addition to traditional drama, pantomime or farce could be introduced into the performance. Musical dance intermissions were very popular. Later, ballad operas were included in the theater's repertoire. Classical tragedies enjoyed great success during that period.

The various changes in political and social life that England experienced during this era were, in turn, reflected in the repertoire of London theaters. The bourgeoisie confidently came to power, and the audience of the third estate came to the theater. This audience, occupying most of the cheap seats in the hall, could decisively and loudly express their opinion regarding the performance, approving or booing it.

In society, outrage began to arise more and more often at performances that presented human vices and immorality in an attractive light. The book by the reactionary preacher Jeremy Collier, “A Brief Sketch of the Immorality and Impiety of the English Stage,” caused a flurry of responses and indignation in the theatrical community. Despite the fact that the book was sharply criticized by theater workers, it produced tangible positive results. The repertoire has changed, which now includes dramatic works with themes that affirm bourgeois virtues: piety, frugality and integrity.

Civil societies for the correction of morals strictly monitored the content of the works that London theaters staged. Special agents were present at the performances, observing the performance and recording any attacks against morality. Censors brought entrepreneurs and actors to trial for these violations. Not only parts that caused distrust on the part of the censors, but also entire acts were mercilessly cut out of the texts of the plays. Leading actor of the English stage of the Restoration period Thomas Betterton ( rice. 31), who was threatened with death for immoral play, was forced to revise his interpretation of many roles so that they corresponded to the new value system.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the English theater came changed, having revised its moral and ethical values. The closest attention was paid not only to human vices, but also to attempts to understand their origin and social background. In the theater one could laugh at the klutz aristocrats and bourgeois upstarts, court hypocrites and nouveau riche merchants. Watching someone else's life on stage, the viewer thought about his own, and then the necessary answers were found to many of life's questions.

The theater was a kind of school in which the viewer learned to recognize true virtue and vice. Using the examples of dramatic heroes, he developed his life position and manner of behavior. The theater of this era was an integral part of the national culture of England. Addressing a social theme, exposing human and state vices to the smallest detail has become a tradition of English theater that has survived to this day. It was in this tradition that the great English playwrights and theater workers saw their origins and genetic roots.

In England, during the period after the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, theater and the work of playwrights developed in several directions, the main of which was classicism. Only formally imitating ancient works, English playwrights characterized the action more emotionally, imbued the plays with everyday subtleties, emphasizing national character traits and unnecessary details of the origin of the heroes of these plays. There were also reflections on the changeability of their goals, desires and moods.

The most prominent classicist of this period can be called John Dryden (1631-1700) - poet, playwright and literary critic ( rice. 32). He wrote 27 plays, including tragedies, comedies and tragicomedies. He is also considered the creator of the heroic drama genre. He expressed his critical views regarding drama mainly in poetic prologues and epilogues to his own and other people's plays.

Dryden's plays seethed with violent passions, breathed with a love of freedom and high aspirations. He compared dramaturgy to ancient sculpture. In his view, dramaturgical creativity, while reflecting nature, must surpass it in order for it to be correctly perceived by the viewer in a stage perspective.

During the period 1664-1675, he wrote the best examples of English heroic drama: “The Queen of the Indians”, “The Emperor of the Indians, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards”, “Tyrannical Love” and “The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards” with a minted poetic form of the text and the statement of his concepts about honor and duty. Several of the playwright's tragedies touch on the theme of the vanity of existence and the illusion of earthly happiness.

One of his best plays, “Don Sebastian,” reveals the theme of the illusory nature of love happiness and the deceitfulness of love bliss. The young Portuguese king Sebastian, who was captured, fell in love with the barbarian queen Almeida. Love made him forget about everything. Soon Sebastian learned that the one who gave him the happiness of love and freed him from captivity turned out to be his sister. The illusion of happiness disappeared, and the unhappy lovers voluntarily retired to a monastery.

In addition to Dryden's plays, the repertoire of every English theater necessarily included works by two other famous actors and playwrights - Nathaniel Lee (1653-1692) and Thomas Otway (1652-1685). N. Lee's play “Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great” made a strong impression on the Russian Emperor Peter I during his stay in London in 1698. His dramas Mithridates and Theodosius were also popular.

Thomas Otway is known in the history of English theater as the author of "domestic tragedies" from middle-class life. The most famous of them are “The Orphan, or an Unhappy Marriage” and “Venice Saved, or the Uncovered Conspiracy.” Otway's skill lay in depicting the destructive power of passions and blindness of feelings for a person.

The plays of the creative duo John Fletcher (1579-1625) and Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) were very popular. The first edition of a collection of their plays, containing 34 works, dates back to 1647. The plays “Philastre”, “The King and Not the King”, “The Tragedy of a Girl” were republished several times. These plays masterfully portrayed love and all that goes with it. human passions. The comedies of these authors were truly funny, and the tragedies made you feel sad and worry along with the heroes.

The English language in the works of Beaumont and Fletcher was brought to perfection. This was later discussed many times by literary critics, who believed that all the words that came into everyday speech after the death of these playwrights were unnecessary. Their plays have been performed on the stages of English theaters for 40 years with constant success. Moreover, in each new theater season, their repertoire certainly included the plays “The Wayward Centurion”, “How to Control a Wife”, “Hunting the Hunter”, “The King and Not the King”, “Philastre”, which were performed in the original, without any reductions or changes.

In the 18th century in England, an ambiguous attitude towards W. Shakespeare developed. Prominent educators Joseph Addison ( rice. 33) and Richard Steele ( rice. 34), who fought for the formation of a national English theater and against the dominance of foreign, in particular Italian, opera, and spoke out in defense of its creative heritage. But some critics, such as Thomas Rymer, called his tragedies “a farce without any zest of taste.”

Therefore, many Shakespearean plays were remade by the authors to suit modern tastes. T. Otway remade W. Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", changing the title to "The Life and Fall of Caius Maria", and D. Dryden - "Antony and Cleopatra" ("All for Love"). And although Shakespeare's name continued to appear on the posters, the alteration of the text of the play was so significant that the performance had nothing in common with the original. Many of the famous playwright’s plays were performed on London stages in the same season, both in the original and in remade form, and the audience enjoyed watching both versions of the play “Romeo and Juliet”: with the tragic end of W. Shakespeare and the happy one of James Howard.

The social, acutely satirical comedy of manners also took place in the repertoire of the English theater. An early representative of this type of creativity can be called George Etheridge (1634-1691), who was considered a mocker of the morals of the century and created several plays that went down in the history of theatrical art in England: “Comic Revenge, or Love in a Barrel”, “She Would If” Could" and "Slave of Fashion". Later, this type of comedy in theater studies was called “comedy of the Restoration era.”

Comedies were very popular during that period. The actors especially loved to play in the plays of William Wycherley (1640-1716) ( rice. 35), which were distinguished by humor and bright stage presence. In some theater seasons, several theaters staged his play “The Country Wife” at once, and then a real competitive struggle for the audience flared up between theater owners. On the comedies of William Congreve ( rice. 36), who enjoyed constant success with the public, many generations of English actors honed their stage skills. In the plays “The Old Bachelor”, “Double Game” and “Love for Love”, social analysis based on accurate everyday characteristics is given first place.

Congreve's latest comedy, "That's What You Do in the World," reveals a portrait of a man of modern times - Mirabella. The hero’s advantage lies in his sound, logical reasoning and spiritual kindness. The language of the play is very elegant, free of empty wordplay and pompous phrases.

In the 18th century, the repertoire of drama theaters expanded significantly. The performances consisted of several acts and after the performance were supplemented by farce, pantomime, musical divertissement or performances by clowns and acrobats. The ending of the performance could also be decorated with a parody of some popular play or opera. For many years the same famous farces were played, regardless of the program of the entire evening. Musical divertissements, or interludes, were the most popular in the theatrical repertoire. These could be instrumental concerts or vocal performances that represented literary subjects humorous content, set to music and bearing the humorous titles “Love and a Beer Mug”, “The Confounded Dandy”, “Professor of Joking Sciences”, etc.

In addition to ballad opera, farces and interludes, in the 18th century the phenomenon of theatrical performances such as “living pictures” and “ceremonial processions” appeared. In October 1727, in the play “Richard III” at the Drury Lane Theater in London, audiences saw this for the first time. procession,” which depicted the solemn coronation ceremony of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. This show, superbly staged, with luxurious costumes for the actors, soon became an independent concert number. It gained enormous popularity among the audience and was staged regardless of the theme of the performances taking place that day.

The central core of a multi-hour theatrical performance was always a play, which was mainly chosen by the theater troupe and rehearsed for a long time. Due to increased competition, theater owners tried to take into account the demands of the mass audience. Until 1868, the repertoire was distributed between theaters by the Lord Chamberlain, who was in charge of the royal household and gave permission to stage the play. This system allowed theaters to develop an individual style. The Duke's Theater in London was famous for its mixed repertoire, while at the Royal Theater preference was given to W. Shakespeare and B. Johnson ( rice. 3 7). The authors of the new plays were both professional playwrights and amateurs, who wrote plays not only for money, but also because of the love of the theater. A gentleman playwright who did not serve in the theater, in other words, an “external author,” under an agreement with the theater remade famous plays or composed prologues and epilogues for performances. Each theater had its own playwrights and “external authors.” Many famous actors also composed new performances, in which the troupe gladly took part.

Monarchs often commissioned plays, proposing their own plots, which were sometimes born impromptu, and sometimes on the advice of court nobles. Along with talented and serious plays, a huge number of low-quality drama manuscripts were brought to the theaters, which underwent a strict selection, causing the dissatisfaction of many authors.

The play, which was approved by the theater group, had to receive permission from the royal censor for production in the theater. At the royal court, the duties of the chief censor were assigned to the Lord Chamberlain and the Chief Master of Ceremonies, who headed the institution of state censorship. Plays could be banned if they depicted violent death monarchs or inappropriate use of Bible quotations. A scene that dealt with the bribery that flourished in the royal court, if allowed by censorship, could arouse the wrath of the king and lead to the imprisonment of the censor who missed the sedition. There have been such cases in the history of English drama.

When, at the end of the 17th century, the activities of numerous societies for the correction of morality intensified, theatrical censorship also became stricter, which, during the period of intensification of the political struggle between Whigs and Tories within the country, took extreme forms. In 1737, the government issued the Censorship Act. It became the Theater Licensing Act, under which only theaters that had a royal license could exist. All plays, without exception, had to be censored by the Lord Chamberlain. In plays, authors were prohibited from touching on political issues and criticizing government officials.

As a result of this law, a state monopoly on theaters appeared, i.e. all theaters in London were closed, except for the central ones - Covent Garden and Drury Lane. The repertoire of a topical and critical nature disappeared from the stage; there were no improvisational plays that touched upon problems of foreign or domestic policy. But, despite all the censorship measures, playwrights and actors, using specific theatrical techniques and allegories, conveyed to the audience what they could not express openly.

Two artistic consultants to King George II, famous playwrights and entrepreneurs William Davenant (1606-1683) and Thomas Killigrew (1612-1683), having received a royal patent in 1660 for the monopoly right to open theaters, divided the London actors among themselves. Killigrew's troupe became known as the King's troupe, and Davenant's troupe became the Duke of York's troupe. These troupes did not have their own buildings and occupied various premises adapted for performances.

At the very beginning of the 17th century, the Red Bull Theater was built on the south-eastern outskirts of London on St. John Street. It was an open type of theater without a roof, which made the work of the troupe dependent on weather conditions. This premises was rented by various troupes, some of them did not have licenses, and the theater was periodically closed for violating the law. Disorder and rows reigned in the theatrical environment of the Red Bull, and not even a hundred spectators gathered in the auditorium. The actors in poor costumes played mediocrely, and sometimes completely incompetently. In the 70s, the Red Bull ceased to exist, and the building was taken over by the fencing club.

The construction of the Cockpit Theater also dates back to the early 17th century. It was a fairly spacious brick building located in the central area of ​​Drury Lane. The theater received its second name - "Phoenix" - after a fire in 1617 and rapid restoration. The theater existed for about 60 years and was demolished due to the fact that it no longer met modern requirements.

In the first years of the Restoration, namely in 1629, the third theater in London was built - Salisbury Court. In 1652, its owner became the prominent theatrical figure in England, William Beeston, who, despite a strict ban, was able to stage several performances during the harsh regime of Oliver Cromwell and was considered one of the best theater teachers. He began the reconstruction of the theater building, which was brought into deplorable condition during the revolution. According to his design, the roof was raised 30 feet, and a dance class was installed in the room above the stage. The boxes and stalls, which were surrounded by galleries, were significantly expanded. The theater building did not survive the London fire of 1666.

On May 7, 1663, the famous English Drury Lane Theater opened, which is still the leading theater in London today. The first performance that took place on its stage was the play “The Wayward Centurion” by F. Beaumont and D. Fletcher. The theater was built between Drury Lane and Bridges Street.

The building had a round shape. The theater had a spacious stalls and luxuriously decorated boxes. The proscenium arch was decorated with exquisite decoration. Despite the too large distance from the stage to the boxes, narrow passages in the stalls and the unfortunate location of the orchestra, this theater had significant advantages over its predecessors. In the stalls, the benches were arranged in concentric semicircles, forming an amphitheater. The stalls were surrounded by two tiers of boxes, separated by partitions and containing several rows of comfortable chairs. By this time, women were allowed to be in the boxes with men.

Most of the audience was seated in the stalls, which were illuminated during the day through a huge glass dome that crowned the top of the building. During one of the heavy downpours, streams of water fell on the heads of the spectators, which caused violent indignation from the public. In the evening, the stalls were lit with candles. The benches of the stalls were covered with green cloth.

In the center of the lower tier of the stalls there was a royal box, which was decorated with a gilded figure of Apollo and the state coat of arms of England. When members of the royal family were not present at the performance, tickets to the royal box were sold to everyone.

On November 25, 1672, a fire broke out in the theater, completely destroying both the theater premises and the adjacent buildings. The Royal Theatre, forced for several years to raise funds for a new premises, only in 1674 received a building designed by the famous architect Christopher Wren. The room did not stand out in anything special and was simple and artless. The stalls had the shape of an amphitheater, in which spectators were seated on benches upholstered in cloth and without backs. People sat all together: noble ladies and gentlemen, as well as ladies of easy virtue who flirted and talked during the performance; some played cards, not paying attention to the actors. Directly in front of the stage, under the canopy of the lower gallery, the most expensive seats were located, and the poorest spectators were crowded into the upper gallery.

For the troupe of the Duke of York in 1671, according to the design of the same Christopher Wren, a theater was built in the Dorset Garden district of London, which housed a drama and opera house. It was distinguished by its architecture and luxury of decoration. The facade of the theater overlooked the Thames and was decorated with the coat of arms of the Duke of York. The top floor was intended for the apartments of famous English actors.

The theater accommodated about 1,200 spectators and amazed with the beauty of its interior. The proscenium arch was carved in Baroque style by the renowned woodcarver Grinling Gibbons and lavishly gilded. The interior of the auditorium was much more beautiful than the best theater interiors in France and had a more convenient layout. In the stalls, which had the shape of an amphitheater, there was almost no noise to be heard. The parterre was surrounded by seven boxes that could accommodate 20 people, followed by 7 boxes on the first tier, and even higher - the racks.

At the very beginning of the 18th century, in 1705, in London, the playwright John Vanbrugh ( rice. 38) the first opera house was built, which became known as the Queen's Opera House in honor of Queen Anne. The huge stage for those performances and the specific acoustics were not suitable for dramatic performances, so singers and musicians settled in the theater. This theater existed for almost 85 years. Not avoiding the fate of many London theatres, it was destroyed by a fire that broke out in its warehouses on June 17, 1789.

During the period of the Restoration and the further development of culture in England at the beginning of the 18th century, theaters changed significantly. Their architecture has become more complex in accordance with increased requirements. Interior of theaters and interior decoration reflected the wealth of their owners. The design of the stage combined a Shakespearean platform stage and a box stage with a portal that separated it from the audience. The front part of the stage, which extended into the auditorium, became oval. Backstage and scenery appeared, painted by artists.

The main part of the performance took place on the proscenium. Towards the end, the actors had to come forward to the oval part of the stage, which was closer to the viewer and much better lit. The inside of the stage, where the scenery was located, was in twilight, which created a feeling of mysticism throughout the performance. Candles, which required a very large number for sufficient illumination, were expensive and were a luxury that theater owners allowed themselves only for the sake of members of the royal family. The faint flickering light and the swaying shadows on the walls evoked a feeling of something supernatural in the theatrical performance. The plane of the stage itself had a slight slope towards the proscenium, which was decorated with a ceremonial carved arch, where bas-reliefs and sculptures were installed, and skilled craftsmen carved intricate ornaments, and all this was covered with gilding. During the Restoration, English actors were considered officially in the royal service. The actors of the royal theater wore the uniform of royal servants made of red cloth, trimmed with red velvet, but in fact in society they were considered representatives of the lowest class. They received a small salary, for which they had to work hard.

Actors had to have the physical stamina to endure long hours of rehearsals and performances. The rooms, in which there were several people between performances, were not heated. A separate room with a fireplace was provided only in exceptional cases. Often, immediately after a successful premiere, the acting troupe had to repeat the performance late in the evening in the court theater of the royal palace. Only with an excellent memory could an actor, in a short period of time, memorize the texts of several roles in one performance or different roles of several performances.

It was not possible to earn much money during the theater season, which was interrupted during the summer when the royal family left London. Work was interrupted due to epidemics, fires, floods, religious holidays or mourning in the royal family. Due to censorship or simply a remark from the king or lord chamberlain, the theater was also closed for an indefinite period.

Most of the actors rented housing near the theater so as not to spend money on travel. Rich actors could afford to live in prestigious areas of London. If the owners of the theater were interested in a certain actor (and most often they were actresses), then the apartments for them were located in the theater building itself or in buildings adjacent to it.

English laws always stood on the side of rich people in their fights or duels with actors, although the cases that were dealt with in the courts arose through their fault. It cost nothing to insult or humiliate the actor. This was considered normal among the noble class.

During the Restoration, actresses appeared on the stage of the English theater, replacing effeminate young men dressed in women's dress. To play female roles, young men had to study for several years. The first female actresses had to have sufficient willpower and civic courage to go on stage in such a puritanical country as England and present female image in all his charm.

The first actresses came to the theater from private boarding houses. All of them were of humble origin and studied literacy, diction, music and dancing in boarding schools. Girls from the bourgeois class came to the theater with recommendations from dance teachers and private choir directors. Many wonderful actresses came from the acting environment. At a time when female education was at a very low level, the profession of an actress began to seem promising and tempting to many girls.

The theater opened the way for them to a world free from domestic tyranny and which provided considerable opportunities for personal development. But at the same time, young talents, unable to provide themselves with a minimum of living resources, fell under the influence of wealthy gentlemen and became their kept women. An actress in the pay of a rich gentleman - this phenomenon was very common and completely legal. Young actresses themselves aspired to become kept women, and often girls who had been trained in acting at the theater for several years left the theater for 1-2 years of such maintenance, after which in most cases they found shelter in London brothels. Only those who were wholeheartedly devoted to their acting profession remained on stage. Mostly these were the actors' wives.

English actors often had to travel to other countries in order to earn a living. At times these trips were very life-threatening. The actors often had to go hungry and experience all sorts of hardships. They performed, as a rule, in squares and open-air markets. Despite the differences in language, English actors were received very well in different European countries; their classical manner of acting and acting skills aroused admiration among their contemporaries. During the Renaissance, English actors demonstrated their skills in Germany, Holland, Denmark and France.

In addition to dramatic actors, English acrobats, mimes and dancers went on tour in France. The Woolton brothers, with the permission of the French government, opened a circus in Dijon. Famous actor Thomas Betterton visited France on behalf of the English government. He had to familiarize himself with the repertoire and structure of theaters.

French actors also came on tour to England, but sophisticated London audiences treated their performances with some disdain. The theatrical props and entourage of the guest performers were unpretentious, and the performances turned out dull and uninteresting. This was due to the fact that it was mainly low-income actors who toured.

Puppet theater artists were the first to come from Italy to England. Their performance greatly impressed the king, and he awarded the leading actor of the puppet troupe a medal and a gold chain. Italian actors who came on tour enjoyed the special favor of the king. For performances they were given Whitehall in the royal palace. In the 18th century, Italian opera took root in London, and was attended mainly by the London nobility. Her repertoire, designed for the refined taste of the English aristocracy, captivated the social circles of London.

The operas were first performed in English, but this made them difficult to perform, causing discrepancies between the musical theme and the English translation of the Italian text. Later, English and Italian performers sang arias in their own languages, and even later, all arias were performed in Italian. The audience understood little of the content and perceived what was happening on stage only as mechanical fun, causing neither sympathy nor reflection. Many prominent educators in England considered Italian opera to be an invasion of national culture, causing significant harm to it.

New plays in handwritten form were brought directly to the theater for review and approval. Usually the first readings were performed by the author. Perception largely depended on his dramatic abilities. new play actors. The author had to read some plays several times in order to convey to the actors his idea and pathos of the work. After the author's readings, many plays needed editing and revision by famous actors, who arbitrarily rewrote the roles, adapting them to the manners or characters of their comrades. Sometimes such edits significantly improved the plays, and sometimes the plays were almost completely rewritten to fill them with “living content.”

The roles were assigned with the direct participation of the theater owner, who himself was usually one of the leading actors. An actress who was popular during this period was assigned to the main role, regardless of whether she could cope with the role or not. Sometimes the performance of a popular actress in a role uncharacteristic of her role completely spoiled the impression of the performance. But it happened that the king himself took part in the distribution of roles.

Recognized talented playwrights had the right to choose actors to participate in their performances. And they wrote the plays taking into account who exactly would play this role. But the main role of the actor was still decisive in this matter. The audience developed a certain stereotype of the character, and the audience could start a riot in the theater if it was not the main actor who was in the play, but his understudy. Then the performance had to be stopped because all sorts of objects were flying onto the stage, including burning candles.

It took at least a month to prepare the premiere. Directing as such did not yet exist at that time, and during rehearsals the text could be subject to various unauthorized changes. After watching such performances, playwrights complained that they had been robbed of at least a thousand lines. Often the playwright took on the role of director of the play. He took care of the production and organization of work on the roles. He also developed the mise-en-scène and the movements of the characters in the stage space, down to gestures and plasticity.

Rehearsals began in the morning and ended before the performance. They took place in different ways, often noisy and confused, but sometimes they turned out to be quite professional. Evening time after performances was allocated for memorizing new texts and learning dances. Much less time and effort of the actors was spent on restoring a previously performed play to the theater’s repertoire. This took no more than two weeks.

Sometimes too hasty preparations for performances led to the fact that the actors did not know the text well. Then they carried such a gag on stage that their comrades could not resist laughing loudly and, going out of character, disrupted the performance. Often in theater troupes there was a lack of strict discipline and the reluctance of some actors to work on their diction. As a result, their performance caused irritation and dissatisfaction among the audience, because in the audience it was impossible to make out a single word that such an actor uttered.

Some actors allowed themselves to be sophisticated in decorating the author's texts with ornate expressions own composition. Entire passages by such amateur authors caused irreparable harm to performances and spoiled the playwright’s reputation. One of these zealous actors, John Lacy, was arrested by order of the king. This was done because he spontaneously made speeches with great pathos and expanded the register of urban vices in the play "Change of Crowns", which was attended by Charles II. Some comic actors allowed themselves to talk to the audience for several minutes. It was useless to prohibit them from doing this, and the authors, taking into account the characteristics of such actors, wrote in the author's notes: “Continue in the same spirit” or “At the discretion of the performer.”

For many decades, the preparation of a performance remained the weak point of English drama. Paid dress rehearsals of plays with the invitation of spectators began to be practiced in the 18th century. First they were introduced at home opera houses, and later - dramatic ones.

The fate of the performance depended on many circumstances, but its success was entirely determined on the day of the premiere. The theater received its richest fees in the period from November to February. The day of the premiere was chosen specifically. We looked to see if there were any other mass events in London that day that could doom the theater to a complete absence of spectators in the hall. Saturday was considered the best day for the premiere.

The prompter was given a fairly important place in the preparation of the performance. He legibly rewrote each role separately for the actors and, for a fee, bound the sheets in the form of a book with a cover. On the pages of these books, the prompters made notes and comments for the actors, making their own adjustments to the course of the performance. In addition to paper, pens and ink, the prompter's inventory always included a bell and a whistle. The sound of the whistle set the scenery in motion and moved, and the bell notified the orchestra about the musical introduction.

Music was an important structural element of the performance. She created a special emotional atmosphere, uniting the performers with the audience. Changing musical theme works during the performance, it was possible to give it different semantic shades. Many playwrights specifically worked with composers to create musical numbers for their plays, understanding how important the role of music and the sound of individual musical instruments is.

The playwrights especially loved the violin, flute and oboe. The London aristocracy preferred the guitar, which was played by socialites and ladies' men in plays. The number of violins in theater orchestras sometimes reached 24. A harpsichord was always present.

The location of the orchestra in the theater changed several times. At first it was located above the stage, in the depths of the stage space. The audience could not see the musicians. The place where the musicians were was called the “music attic.” Later he moved down and positioned himself between the stage and the stalls, and even later he sank to the lower level, under the stage. The orchestra's position in the theater changed several times, moving from the lower level to the top and back again.

But not a single performance took place without musical accompaniment. Where the performance provided the slightest opportunity for a musical number, it was certainly taken advantage of. Musical inserts, vocal arias and dance scenes appeared in the plays of Shakespeare and other, earlier authors. The use of music enlivened the production. To decorate the performance, playwrights specially wrote the roles of gypsies, wandering singers or cheerful guests who sang and danced, causing joyful revival of the audience.

Before the performances began, pleasant music was always played to relieve the audience of the boredom of waiting. Many spectators specially came in advance to enjoy the excellent performance of musical works.

A musical overture (necessarily “in the French style”) preceded the prologue of the performance. “Curtain Melody” concluded each act. This melody began during the characters' last lines. The next act began with a musical introduction. The end of the performance was often marked by a general dance of the actors, who danced the chaconne dance, popular in England. Music accompanied the bows of the actors and departing spectators until there was no one left in the auditorium.

The number of musical numbers in the play varied depending on the genre of the play. A tragedy included no more than two songs, a comedy could have more than five. Music had to be played in scenes of feasts, weddings and funerals. There were more than twenty musical numbers in Thomas Durfey's comedy. During this era, a new type of dramatic performance arose, which in our time is called “operetta”.

Lovers suffered under serenades, servants composed satirical couplets about their masters, epic heroes they sang ballads, and the street boys sang parodies of the rich. All this expanded the boundaries of the genre, enriched the performance with new details, adding additional color to the actors’ performances. The music, functionally intertwined with the dialogues of the characters, played the role of the psychological climax of the performance. Such a performance could not help but touch the deepest feelings of a person, while awakening his thoughts.

Dance miniatures were as much an integral part of a dramatic performance as music. And it doesn’t matter whether it was a tragedy or a comedy, an ordinary farce or a parody play. These dance miniatures were later developed into ballet, which became an independent form of dramatic art.

Playwrights and theater owners attached great importance to the dance repertoire not only of performances, but also of intermissions. During intermissions, attracting the audience with fiery melodies, the administration maintained a peaceful atmosphere in the theater, thereby distracting the most ardent spectators from the inevitable brawls.

In London posters, along with the name of the play, the names of the dances that would be offered to the public were also indicated. Were popular national dances, among them Scottish, Spanish, Irish jig and comic dances received special attention. Choreography was an integral part of the dramatic actor's skill. And the viewer increasingly preferred to watch a fun musical show with songs and dances, not paying attention to the plot of the play. The main purpose of the theater - to educate feelings and develop thinking - gave way to fun and entertainment.

In the Middle Ages, a few days before the start of a performance, bannermen, or heralds, ran around the city with identification flags, shouting the name of the miracle play that was to be performed by a traveling theater troupe. For a long time, the oral form of inviting announcements was preserved, the texts of which were rhymed and pronounced accompanied by musical instruments. In London, loud noise effects accompanying theatrical announcements were prohibited, but in country towns, trumpet-and-drum heralds always drew far more spectators to their theaters than the church bell did to church. More than a thousand spectators could gather for a performance by traveling actors in a few minutes.

The ancient traditions of announcing an upcoming theatrical performance continued until the end of the 18th century. The drummer and crier were an integral part of the flavor of rural England of that era. While the drummer attracted the attention of the town residents with an intricate drum roll, the herald shouted out all the information about the upcoming performance and handed out programs that indicated the name of the play and the start time of the performance.

In London, a flag was hoisted over the theater building on the day there was to be a performance. The time of its beginning was announced by a trumpet, and a trumpeter from the attic window of the theater blew three trumpets at certain intervals.

The first theater poster appeared in France in the second half of the 16th century. In England, posters appeared much later, only in 1564. Handwritten posters were usually hung on poles near the theater, at the gates of colleges and educational institutions, in densely populated areas. The name of the theater and the performance stood out in large letters on the poster. At the top of it was the state coat of arms with the Latin inscription “Long live the king!” In the 18th century, the poster began to indicate the cast of actors involved in the play and the start time of the performance. The playwright's name first appeared on a playbill in 1699. This was the name of the author of the comedy Double Game, William Congreve. In 1700, the Great Court of London banned theaters from posting their posters in the city and its environs.

Newspapers began publishing announcements about upcoming performances, their authors and cast. There, along with advertising information, one could find the address of the bookstore where the text of the play was sold. The Daily Courant regularly ran such advertisements in 1702, followed by the Daily Post and Daily Journal in the 1920s. At this time, theatrical announcements contained, in addition to information about the performance itself, such details as at whose request (one of the royal persons or a noble lady) the performance was given, prices for seats in the stalls, boxes and galleries, etc. In some cases, the owners theaters asked publishers to include a few lines characterizing the actors’ performances or relating to the content of the play.

In 1702, the ban on putting up playbills in London was lifted. Black and red posters began to appear on the streets of the city again. Red ones were more expensive and were printed, as a rule, on the day of the premiere or benefit performance.

On the streets, a small poster could be bought from an orange seller, and for a small bribe she would report the latest theater news or take a letter to one of the actresses. Theater owners specifically hired these traders to sell fruits and sweets during intermissions and charged them a certain fee for this. Such traders were the most valuable sources of information about behind the scenes life theater, and the most dexterous and resourceful of them were able to make a significant fortune for themselves through trade and deals with newspapermen.

Theater programs in London theaters appeared in the 60s of the 18th century after regular tours of French actors. Their colorfully designed program on 18 sheets presented detailed description machinery with the help of which the hero of the play Orpheus descends to hell. The text on the cover indicated where the plot was taken from, as well as who and where exactly would present this performance. In English programs, texts could be given to save time long letters, with which the audience could familiarize themselves in advance, and the action of the play thus did not bother the audience with forced boring scenes. Sometimes the prologue and epilogue of a play were printed on separate sheets and sold before the start of the performance. At the end of each performance, an announcement was made about the next performance. The public's reaction (approval or indignation) to the theater administration's proposal determined the fate of the upcoming performance.

Theatrical newspaper chronicles described everything that happened on the stages of theaters and behind the scenes, down to the smallest detail. The focus was also on the events that unfolded in the auditorium, including brawls between tipsy revelers. It also contained the decrees of the Lord Chamberlain and comments from the royal censorship, and also covered visits to theaters by high-ranking foreign dignitaries who were frequent guests of London theaters.

The theater auditorium, filled with people, was mirror image English society. It was a place for business meetings and love affairs. Young people could boast of their merits and talents, and parents could show off their daughters as marriageable girls. The visiting rural rich, having seen enough of the capital's fashionistas, brought new impressions and fashionable outfits to their homes.

People from different classes, passionately and sincerely passionate about dramatic art, gathered in the theater, sometimes in the most unexpected and colorful combinations. The best seats in the stalls were always occupied by noble people and critics. The audience in the stalls was mixed, and therefore the stalls often became the place of noisy arguments and fights, which often turned into duels.

The middle gallery was reserved for women of easy virtue, who appeared in the theater covering their faces with masks. The upper gallery housed servants who accompanied the gentlemen and free spectators.

It was difficult to predict the reaction of such a diverse audience to the performance, and the more difficult was the task of the actors to subjugate the attention of the audience. But this, perhaps, is the magical effect of theatrical art, when the skill and emotions of the actors captivate and carry with them into the space of the performance this parterre, sometimes unbridled in its passions and a gallery far from refined feelings.