Drama in the Victorian Age
Summary
TLDRThis lecture delves into Victorian Drama, a period where drama wasn't the main genre but still had significant contributions. Despite the limited output, writers like Thackeray, Dickens, and Collins experimented with drama. Theatres were popular leisure spots, with plays often using everyday English. Drama was dominated by farces, melodramas, and historical plays, but faced censorship challenges. Tom Robertson pioneered realistic drama with 'Cup and Saucer' plays, influencing later works. Controversies and the influence of Henrik Ibsen led to 'Play of Ideas', epitomized by Oscar Wilde's witty comedies that critiqued Victorian hypocrisy. Other playwrights like Arthur Wing Pinero and Henry Arthur Jones also made notable contributions, reflecting the complex interplay of art, politics, and society.
Takeaways
- 🎭 Drama was not a major genre during the Victorian Age, but it's important to study the little output that was produced to understand literary trends and shifts.
- 📚 Many writers of the Victorian period, such as Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, were also novelists and experimented with drama, despite limited output.
- 🎟️ Theatre-going was a popular leisure activity, with playhouses like Covent Garden and Drury Lane accommodating large audiences and staging many plays.
- 🎨 The dominant types of drama during the Victorian period were Farces, Patomimes, Melodramas, and Historical plays.
- 🚫 The Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 imposed censorship on plays for about 230 years, restricting the freedom of dramatists and the range of subjects they could address.
- 🔓 The 1860s saw a shift towards more realistic depictions in drama, with playwright Tom Robertson leading this change and influencing what later became known as 'Cup and Saucer' dramas.
- 🌐 The influence of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was significant in the Victorian stage, challenging social conventions and family institutions with his plays like 'A Doll's House'.
- 💡 George Bernard Shaw’s work 'The Quintessence of Ibsenism' was instrumental in promoting Ibsen’s work in England and the concept of the 'Play of Ideas'.
- 🎩 Oscar Wilde was a master of 'Play of Ideas', known for his witty and humorous plays that often dealt with taboo subjects and criticized the hypocrisy of Victorian society.
- 🚫 Despite his success, Wilde faced criticism and censorship, and his play 'Salome' was banned due to its controversial content.
- 📖 Other notable Victorian playwrights include Arthur Wing Pinero, Dandy Dick, Douglas Jerrold, Henry Arthur Jones, W E Henley, Tom Taylor, and Thomas William Robertson, each contributing to the diversity of Victorian drama.
Q & A
Why was drama not a major genre in the Victorian Age?
-Drama was not a major genre in the Victorian Age because it was overshadowed by other forms of writing, such as prose and novels, which were more popular and experimental for writers of that time.
What were the two major patented playhouses during the Victorian period?
-The two major patented playhouses during the Victorian period were Covent Garden and Drury Lane, which were enlarged to accommodate about 3500 people at a single time.
How did the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 impact Victorian drama?
-The Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 imposed censorship on plays, severely constraining and restricting the output of drama for about 230 years until its abolition in 1968. This led to a limitation on the range of subjects that could be handled on stage.
What type of drama dominated the Victorian period?
-The type of drama that dominated the Victorian period was mostly Farces and Patomimes, along with melodramatic and historical plays.
Who is Tom Robertson, and what is his significance in Victorian drama?
-Tom Robertson was a playwright who contributed significantly to Victorian drama by moving towards a more realistic form of depiction from the 1860s onwards. He is known for insisting on stage settings with real ceilings and properties, initiating 'Cup and Saucer' dramas.
What was the 'Cup and Saucer' drama, and how did it differ from earlier drama?
-The 'Cup and Saucer' drama was a form of drama initiated by Tom Robertson that paid a lot of realistic attention to detail. It was in stark contrast to earlier drama, which could be staged with mere representative props placed on the stage.
What controversies emerged in the 1880s and 1890s that affected the growth of stage activities?
-In the 1880s and 1890s, controversies arose due to the rise of realism in drama and literature, which was initially not well-received by the Victorian audience. This led to public outrage and even the burning of some realist novels.
How did Henrik Ibsen's work influence Victorian drama?
-Henrik Ibsen's work, although written for a Norwegian audience, reached the English stage in the 1880s and sparked a revolution in dramatic genius and social conventions, challenging authority and questioning societal norms.
What is the concept of 'Play of Ideas', and how did it change Victorian drama?
-The concept of 'Play of Ideas' marked a radical shift from action on the stage towards dialogues and the prominence of disseminating ideas. It led to a focus on intellectual content rather than just entertainment, with Oscar Wilde being a master of this new form.
What were the common themes in Oscar Wilde's comedies?
-Oscar Wilde's comedies often dealt with dangerous and compromising secrets, social hierarchy, and the hypocrisy of the Victorian society. His works were known for their wit, humor, and critical examination of societal norms.
What was the significance of the Dramatic Authors Society founded by Douglas Jerrold in 1833?
-The Dramatic Authors Society, founded by Douglas Jerrold in 1833, was significant as it aimed to protect the interests of playwrights, showing a crossover of politics and art to support each other.
Outlines
🎭 Introduction to Victorian Drama
The lecture begins by acknowledging that drama was not a predominant genre during the Victorian Age, contrary to its reputation in other literary forms. Despite this, the speaker emphasizes the importance of examining even minor literary outputs to understand the evolution of genres and their reflection of socio-political changes. The period saw playwrights, often also novelists like Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, experimenting with drama. Theatre attendance was popular, with Covent Garden and Drury Lane being notable venues. Drama during this time was characterized by farces, pantomimes, and melodramatic and historical plays. However, playwrights faced censorship challenges due to the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737, which limited the range of acceptable stage subjects for over two centuries. The lecture also touches on the gradual shift towards realism in drama from the 1860s, with Tom Robertson's contributions being pivotal.
🎩 Tom Robertson and the Emergence of Realistic Drama
This section of the lecture focuses on Tom Robertson, the playwright who pioneered a more realistic approach to drama, moving away from melodrama and embracing the spirit of the Victorian era. Robertson's plays, such as 'Society,' 'A Caste,' 'Play,' and 'School,' are highlighted for their departure from traditional farce and burlesque. He insisted on detailed stage settings, including real ceilings and properties, marking a significant shift towards realism. Robertson's work is also recognized as the precursor to 'Cup and Saucer' dramas, which emphasized realistic details, and later influenced the 'kitchen sink' plays of the 20th century. However, the growth of the stage was not without controversy, as the 1880s and 1890s saw backlash against realism and the challenging of societal norms, particularly in the works of Henrik Ibsen, whose plays stirred debate and criticism.
📚 The Impact of Ibsen and the 'Play of Ideas'
The lecture discusses the significant influence of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen on Victorian drama, despite his plays being written for a Norwegian audience. Ibsen's works, such as 'The Pillars of Society' and 'A Doll’s House,' were embraced for their unconventional questioning and challenging of authority, particularly in the context of family and social institutions. This period also saw the rise of the 'Play of Ideas,' a concept that shifted the focus from stage action to dialogue and the dissemination of ideas. Oscar Wilde is highlighted as a master of this new form, with his witty and humorous plays, such as 'A Woman of No Importance,' 'An Ideal Husband,' 'Lady Windermere’s Fan,' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest,' dealing with taboo subjects and social hypocrisy. Wilde's critical examination of Victorian society's facade and his eventual tragic downfall due to societal morals and legal repercussions are also covered.
🏛 The Legacy of Victorian Drama and its Playwrights
The final part of the lecture wraps up the discussion on Victorian drama by mentioning other significant playwrights of the period, such as Arthur Wing Pinero, Dandy Dick, Douglas Jerrold, Henry Arthur Jones, W E Henley, Tom Taylor, and Thomas William Robertson. It underscores the importance of considering lesser-known authors and genres to build a comprehensive understanding of literary history. The lecture concludes by emphasizing the continuity in literary discussions and the significance of examining non-representative events of every age to gain a deeper insight into the cultural and societal context of the time.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Victorian Age
💡Drama
💡Theatres Licensing Act of 1737
💡Realism
💡Melodrama
💡Play of Ideas
💡Censorship
💡Oscar Wilde
💡Henrik Ibsen
💡Tom Robertson
Highlights
Drama was not a major genre in the Victorian Age, but it is important to examine the little output produced to understand literary tendencies and shifts due to socio-political events.
Many writers who were also prose and novelists, such as Thackeray, Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, experimented with drama, despite limited output.
Theatre going was a popular leisure activity with major playhouses like Covent Garden and Drury Lane enlarged to accommodate large audiences.
Victorian plays often adapted earlier successful works and used everyday English, reflecting the language of the streets.
Farces, Patomimes, melodramatic, and historical plays dominated the Victorian stage.
Dramatists faced central problems and constraints compared to novelists, including censorship restrictions dating back to the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737.
The censorship of plays was a political move initially but expanded to cover religious and moral themes, impacting the freedom of expression for dramatists.
Victorian drama gradually moved towards a Realistic form of depiction from the 1860s onwards, with playwright Tom Robertson being a significant contributor.
Tom Robertson insisted on stage settings with real ceilings and properties, marking a move towards realist drama and 'Cup and Saucer' dramas.
Controversies in the 1880s and 1890s, such as the public burning of Emile Zola and Thomas Hardy's works, hampered the growth of stage activities.
The influence of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen was memorable and powerful, leading to a revolution in the Victorian stage and challenging social conventions.
Oscar Wilde was a master of the 'Play of Ideas', with his witty and humorous plays often dealing with dangerous and compromising secrets.
Wilde's play 'The Importance of Being Earnest' dealt with obscure social origins and criticized the social hierarchy and notions of aristocracy.
Wilde's personal life and the scandal surrounding it reflect the dichotomy and crisis of Victorian morals.
Arthur Wing Pinero and other playwrights like Dandy Dick and Douglas Jerrold engaged with themes of social scandal, though not all found success on stage.
Douglas Jerrold was known for founding the Dramatic Authors Society in 1833 to protect the interests of playwrights, showing a crossover of politics and art.
Henry Arthur Jones was a committed dramatist whose works, though not widely popular, demonstrated dramatic genius.
Other Victorian playwrights like W E Henley, Tom Taylor, and Thomas William Robertson are often overlooked in literary histories but contributed to the drama of the period.
Transcripts
Hello and welcome to yet another session of the course The History of English Language
and Literature. In today’s lecture, we shall be looking at Drama in the Victorian Age. At the
outset let’s begin with this cover that drama was not a major genre in the Victorian period.
The Victorian Age in fact is least known as the age of place but nevertheless as we had
been doing in a discussion of the other ages and periods as well. Even when genre or particular
forms of writing by getting eclipsed in an age. It is important to highlight even the little
output that was being produced in terms of that particular genre. This is important for
us to know how various genres were fairing at various appoints of time and also seem to see
how literary tendencies were getting shifted due to the socio-political events and the
socio our political concerns of particular times. So in order to continue building a structure,
coherence and continuity into our discussion of literary history.
Here we go taking a look at Victorian Drama though the output was quite marginal. Most of the drama
of this period was produce because many of the writers who were also prose and novelist they
also wanted to experiment in different forms of writing. We also noticed in the earlier discussion
where some of the poets also had a shown a lot of interest in writing a couple of dramas.
So many of these writers were also novelist such as Thackeray, Dickens and Wilkie Collins though
the output in terms of drama was quite limited. We noted that from the early 19th century onwards
throughout the Romantic period, drama continued to be a quite a popular form the theatre going
activity had not really come down infact they were two major patented playhouses Covent Garden
and Drury Lane. They were enlarged during this time they could house about 3500 people at a
single time and two other theatres were also quite prominent Adelphi and Sadler’s Wells.
So find a lot of place getting staged in these playhouses doing quite well in terms of prime
new generation which also indicates that the play going was a one of the important leisure
activities of those times. In the popular place of those times, a lot of everyday
English is being used. The dramatic English is no longer separate from the English which
is used in the streets and we also find an adaptation of most of the earlier successful
place being done at the Victorian period. If we try to look at the kind of drama, which
was dominating the Victorian period was mostly Farces and Patomimes. We also find a melodramatic
and historical plays as well. In the Victorian period the dramatis faced a central problem in
comparison to the novelist. Vis-à-vis the novelist they were not really free to write about anything
that also had placed a severe constrain on their genius and also on the their power of expression.
If we recall we had already taken a look at the censorship of plays which came into being
with the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 and its abolition in 1968 which was a period of about
230 years. We find the output of drama being severely constrain and restricted. So during
this period we also notice that a wide range of subjects were not being allowed to be handled
on stage because it was seemed that many of the things could be could form a corrupting influence
on the popular audience. That will also lead us to another question, how about the other genres
and how about the other forms of writing which were also “corrupting” the popular audience.
But again it is important to highlight that some of this things did have a political origin and we
find all of this continuing into the literary and other artistic forms of expression. For
instances the Theatres Licensing Act of 1737 initially we know that it was a political move,
it will be useful to recall some of the evens that let to this censorship act and also the
turn of events which had immersed from the Restoration period onwards. As we recall it,
it was mainly a political move to begin with. But however we find this censorship expanding
to cover other aspects and other areas of life as well. There is a restriction being imposed
on religious and moral themes as well. It is no longer dominated by the political tendencies or
the shifting loyalties. It is also about even trivial things such as a use of bad language on
stage or any kind of proposal of indecency. Altogether, we find the authorities trying
to ban anything and everything which is likely to deprave and corrupt the potential audience.
This being a very abstract kind of understanding it was quite impossible to bring in anything
which could offend anyone in terms of a moral or even any kind of religious a sensibility.
In spite of all of this dominating events, we find the Victorian drama gradually but steadily moving
towards a Realistic form of depiction this happens from the 1860’s onwards. In that sense, it is very
important to highlight the contributions and the significance of the playwright Tom Robertson.
If we go through the tittles of his plays, we can almost sense the kind of place that he was
producing Society in 1865, A Caste in 1867, Play in 1868 and School in 1869. We find that all of
his works were quite removed from the melodramatic depictions of that time he is also more responsive
to the society and tries to imbibe the spirit of the Victorian a temper. He also had rejected
the usual conventions of farce and burlesque and had a moved towards a more realistic depiction.
Accordingly, it is important to highlight the fact that he is the first playwright
to insist on stage setting of a room having real ceiling and real properties. So this was
a fist move towards realist drama and he is also seen as the initiator of what has later
come to be known as ‘Cup and Saucer’ dramas. This infact was a kind of drama which paid
a lot of realist attention to detail and a this is in stark contrast with the earlier
kind of drama which could be staged with a mere representative prop which was a placed on the
stage. The Cup and Saucer drama initiated by Tom Robertson could be seen as the forerunner
of kitchen sink plays about we shall be taking a look at when we talk about the 20th century drama.
In spite of this many promising tendencies, which were dominating the Victorian stage there
were also lot of controversies that emerged in the 1880’s and 1890’s which hampered the growth
of the stage activities as well. Later in our discussions on the English novel we shall also
be noticing that and this was the period when the realist form of artistic expression was gaining
a lot of popularity. But however it also had let to a lot of criticism from the popular audience.
Accordingly we find the realist novels of the French writer Emile Zola and the popular English
writer Thomas Hardy being publicly burned because of the outrage that they caused.
The Victorian England though it was quite tolerant about many kinds of expression we
do find certain unreasonable reactions and outrages against certain things that they
consider taboo or unacceptable or even obscene. Realism was one such literary
tendency that the Victorian’s initially could not tolerate at all. In drama,
we find this getting reflected ok because an outrage though it develop as a reaction to one
particular thing we do find it spreading across genres in the Victorian period.
As a result, the outrage caused by the translations of the plays of the
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen needs to be recalled at this time.
The influence of Ibsen was very memorable and extremely powerful in the Victorian stage. Though
Ibsen wrote his plays for the Norwegian audience in the 1860’s they reach the English stage only
by the 1880’s. From then on a revolution had set on not just in the dramatic genius but
also in the many things which were dominating the Victorian society in terms of a the social
conventions the family institutions etc. His important work The Pillars of Society
and A Doll’s House they were accepted with a lot of enthusiasm in England but they also had
let to a lot of criticisms because of the kind of unconventional questioning and the
challenging of authority that it did. A Doll's House for example was a quite influential in
challenging the convention of our typical English a family, it also encouraged a lot of free thought
especially from young women and this was seen as quite challenging and quite unacceptable by
many of the Victorian masters of those time. A literary event which marked the foundations
of turning point in English drama was a Bernard Shaw’s work The Quintessence of Ibsenism. This
work was a first essay to give an impetus to Ibsen’s work in England and after that in the
20th century mostly we find the reflections of this particular genius, which began to emerge
from the end of the Victorian period. Ibsen and the kind of support that he garnered in
the English stage it let to the emergence of what we now understand as the “Play of Ideas”.
The concept of the Play of Ideas was quite significant that there was a radical shift
from action on the stage towards dialogues and towards a prominence of dissemination of ideas.
Oscar Wilde was perhaps the master of this new kind of play of ideas and he was very successful
between the period 1892 and 1895. His plays were very witty and humorous it always drove
a lot of audience and his best known works were in the form of epigrammatic comedies
and in his comedies we find that mostly he was handling dangerous and compromising secrets.
Since it was infuse with a lot of humour he could even surpass many of the censorship
rules of the play and if you take a look at some of his leading a plays, A Women of No Importance
staged in 1893 was about illegitimate birth it had an not been for the comic interface that a
Wilde cave it. It would not have been possible to talk about such taboos subjects where plays
An Ideal Husband and Lady Windermere’s Fan dealt with the culpable indiscretions.
The Importance of Being Earnest so for the best known of Wilde’s plays and even this
continues to be stage even in the contemporary this dealt with obscure social origins and
Wilde was extremely critical about the social hierarchy and notions of aristocracy. In most
of the plays Wilde reveals the hypocrisy of the Victorian society, in that sense again is you
to remember that the Victorian society though it had placed a lot of value on the outgoing
religious sentiments, it was also a time dominated by a lot of hypocritical thoughts.
It was not really easy to differentiate between what the actual belief of a person was and what
he outwardly had shown. This hypocrisy was mostly found within the circles of the aristocracy and
in the upper middle class strata of the society. So Wilde was one of those who completely exposed
all of these trades and also made a lot of ridicule and fun out of it. Wilde also had
to face some criticism and censorship. His play Salome was based on a biblical tragedy
and it was written in 1891-92. Though it was written in French,
it was banned in the English stage as well and it was he could never stage it in any of the English
theatres. Allow me to read to you a passage from The Importance of Being Earnest this is from the
famous handbag scene it is also considered as one of the wittiest scenes in the English plays.
This is a conversation between two characters Lady Bracknell and Jack. Lady Bracknell asks,
“Are your parents living? I have lost both of them. Both? To lose one parent
maybe be regarded as a misfortune to lose both looks like carelessness.”
So this kind of humour which even bordered on a dark humour and a lot of irony and even
some kind of a comic cruelty was immensely popular and Wilde in that sense continues
to be one of the most quoted humorous and satires even in the contemporary.
In spite of the immense success and popularity that Wilde enjoyed
we find him moving towards a very tragic end. He had a very humiliating end to his dramatic
career. He was sentenced to 2 years of hard labour for homosexual offenses. Homosexuality
as a practise was made illegal in England in 1885. In the contrast between Wilde’s plays
and the kind of personal life that he led we can find some of the trades of Victorianism getting
embody as well. As some of the historians have pointed out the dichotomy between the elegant
social witticisms and the seeming frivolity of the comic plots and the shame and scandal
of Wilde’s private life is almost emblematic of the whole crisis of the Victorian morals
So significantly even for certain writers who tried to stay away from
some of the pressing concerns of the day and try to completely camouflage these
concerns with wit and irony and humour, we find even they are not able to stay
away from the crisis of Victorian morals. The other important works by Wilde include
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Teleny and he also wrote some non-fictional
and non-dramatic works such as The Truth of Masks and The Soul of Man Under Socialism.
In this we find him engaging in a probe behind the Victorian facade
into the details and implications of some of the standardised hypocrisies of the age.
The other significant playwrights of the Victorian period include Arthur Wing Pinero who had written
The Squire and The Second Mrs.Tanqueray. Dandy Dick who had published The Magistrate,
he also like while engaged with a lot of themes of social scandal.
Douglas Jerrold was primarily a journalist and he was associated with the periodicals Athenaeum and
The Punch. His works The Mutiny at the Nore, Martha Willis and The Factory Girl were mostly
melodramatic in nature. They were not really successful in stage and they did not find much
success in print either, but he was more known for his influence which was more significant in
him being the founder of the Dramatic Authors Society in 1833. This Society was to protect
the interest of the playwrights and in that sense it also becomes one of the moments when politics
and art crossover in order to embrace each other. Henry Arthur Jones was a more committed dramatist
than many of these minor other dramatists. His important works were The Liars,
Mrs. Danes’s Defence. We do not find him enjoying much popularity but however an
analysis of his craft would proved to us he did have a the perfect dramatic genius.
The other important Victorian playwrights whose works are not really discussed in
literary histories are W E Henley, Tom Taylor and Thomas William Robertson.
With this we come to an end of this very brief session on the Victorian dramatist. As we noted
at the beginning it is important to build in a lot of continuity into our discussion over
literary histories, which is why we focus even on lesser known authors and lesser known genres
and also the non-representative events of every age. With this we wrap up today’s
session thank you for listening and I look forward to seeing you in the next session.
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