The story of theatre

The V&A's Theatre and Performance collections chart the fascinating history of theatre in Britain from the middle ages to today. From early dramatic forms, such as mystery plays and courtroom masques, to the alternative and 'in yer confront' drama of the belatedly 20th century, via the patriotic wartime amusement of the 1940s, and the foundation of institutions such equally the Arts Council and the National Theatre.

Almost early theatre in England evolved out of church services of the 10th and 11th centuries. It became a truly pop form around 1350 when religious leaders encouraged the staging of mystery cycles (stories from the Bible) and miracle plays (stories of the lives of saints). These were written and performed in the linguistic communication of ordinary people rather than latin in order to teach the mainly illiterate masses well-nigh Christianity and the bible.

William Poel as Adonai in 'Everyman', a 15th century morality play, 1901, England. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Each play was staged on pageant wagons that candy through the streets and stopped to perform at pre-arranged sites. By the end of medieval times, many towns had specific spaces defended to public theatre.

The rise of secular drama

Following the Reformation in the 16th century – a movement that opposed the authority of the Roman Catholic Church – all religious drama in England was suppressed. Licences were issued to theatre companies allowing them to rehearse and perform in public, providing they had the approval and patronage of a nobleman.

Britain's showtime playhouse 'The Theatre' was built in Finsbury Fields, London in 1576. It was constructed by Leicester's Menan interim company formed in 1559 from members of the Earl of Leicester's household. Over the adjacent 16 years, 17 new open-air, public theatres were synthetic. About of these theatres were round, surrounding an open courtyard where members of the audience would stand effectually the 3 sides of the stage. New companies flourished and writers were expected to produce a number of new plays every year to satisfy demand. Companies became known by the title of the patron's household. The two most famous companies and violent rivals were the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

Print depicting the Globe Theatre, from an original painting engraved past Hollar Wenceslaus, 1647, London, England. Museum no. S.261-1978. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

William Shakespeare, born 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, is England'south most famous playwright. He wrote 38 plays and numerous sonnets. It is not just the latitude of his work that makes Shakespeare the greatest British dramatist only the beauty and creativity of his language and the universal nature of his writing.

Book, Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories & tragedies: published according to the truthful original copies, edited by I. Heminge and H. Condell], printed past Isaac Iaggard and Edward Blount, 1623, London, England. Museum no. Dyce 8936. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In 1594 Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men as an actor and their principal playwright. He wrote on boilerplate two new plays a year for the company. His primeval plays included The Comedy of Errors (first performed in 1594) and his first published work was the poem Venus and Adonis (1593). Shakespeare wrote many of his about famous plays for the Globe Theatre, which was erected in 1599 past the Lord Chamberlain'southward Men. When the charter on the country at their playhouse, The Theatre, in Shoreditch ran out, the company decided to dismantle the timber frame building and rebuild it on the south bank of the River Thames, renaming it The Earth.

The courtroom masque

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe. The English architect and designer, Inigo Jones (1573 – 1652), collaborated with the playwright and poet Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637) to produce a series of elaborate masques for both James I (reigned 1603 – 25) and Charles I (reigned 1625 – 49). One product, The Masque of Oberon (1611) toll over £ii,000 to stage, with costumes alone costing over £1,000.

Costume blueprint, Inigo Jones, 1613. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Inigo Jones is credited with introducing into British theatre the proscenium arch – the infinite which framed the actors on stage – and moveable scenery bundled in perspective. Inspired by stage machinery he had seen whilst travelling in France and Italia, Jones' scenery used a series of shutters that slid in and out using grooves in the floor. He even flew in scenery from higher up and introduced coloured lighting by placing candles behind tinted glass.

The closure of the theatres

In 1642 civil war broke out in England between supporters of Male monarch Charles I and the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. Theatres were closed to preclude public disorder and remained closed for 18 years, causing considerable hardship to professional theatre performers, managers and writers. Illegal performances were merely sporadic and many public theatres were demolished.

In 1656, the poet and playwright William Davenant succeeded in producing an all-sung version of the play The Siege of Rhodes in his home. This is widely considered to be the first English opera. After Charles 2 was restored to the throne in 1660, Davenant and the dramatist Thomas Killigrew were granted royal patents, which gave them virtual monopoly over presenting drama in London. These monopolies were not revoked until the 19th century.

Restoration drama

The introduction of scenery and elaborate phase machinery to the English public stage in the 1660s gave rising to blockbuster semi-operas. Many of these were adaptations of other plays, often past Shakespeare. These had episodes of music, singing, dancing and special effects. The grandest theatre at this time, which included one of the first proscenium arches, was The Duke's Theatre in Dorset Gardens. Planned by William Davenant and designed by Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul's Cathedral), it cost £9,000 (nearly £600,000 today). Information technology stood by the River Thames and steps led up from the river for those patrons arriving by gunkhole.

Print of The Knuckles's Theatre, Dorset Gardens, printed by R. Page, published for the Encyclopaedia Londinensis, 13 May 1825, London, England. Museum no. S.2351-2009. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

For the first fourth dimension women were recognised equally professional actresses and playwrights. The most famous playwright was Aphra Behn (1640 – 89), who had previously been employed every bit a spy for Charles II and spent a brief stay in a debtors' prison. A grouping of women writers known as 'The Female Wits' produced many works for the stage. They included Mary Pix (1666 – 1709), Catherine Trotter (1679 – 1749) and the prolific Susannah Centlivre (almost 1670 – 1723), who wrote 19 plays, including the satirical A Assuming Stroke for a Married woman, outset performed in 1718.

(Left to correct:) Impress depicting Aphra Behn, engraved by R. Due west. from a painting by Charles Reuben Riley, 19th century, Britain. Museum no. Southward.1391-2012. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Print depicting Mrs. Susanna Cent-Livre, engraved past P. Pelham. from a painting by D. Fermin, 1720, London, England. Museum no. S.1663-2009. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The first woman to appear on the professional stage in England is generally considered to be Margaret Hughes (1645 – 1719), who performed in a production of Othello at the Vere Street Theatre, London in 1660. Other notable actresses at this time included Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 1713) , besides known as the "queen of tragedy", and Nell Gwyn (1650 – 87), who was reputed to have been painted nude for Charles Ii and bore him two children.

(Left to right:) Impress depicting Madam Hughes (Margaret 'Peg' Hughes) from an original painting by P. Lelly in 1677, 18th century, U.k.. Museum no. S.4416-2009. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Print depicting Nell Gwyn, printed by W. L. Colls, 19th century, Uk. Museum no. South.299-2015. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

18th-century theatre

The 18th century saw the flourishing of theatre every bit a popular pastime and many theatres were enlarged and new playhouses built in London and throughout the country. One of the most successful shows on the London stage in the early on office of the 18th century was John Gay'southward ballad opera The Beggar's Opera. Gay recycled popular songs of the day and wrote new lyrics that were humorous and satirical.

Print depicting scene from The Beggar's Opera, Act III, engraved by William Blake, after painting by William Hogarth, 1790, London, England. Museum no. S.44-2019. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Shakespeare'southward plays became increasingly popular during the 18th century but were reworked to suit the tastes of the 24-hour interval. His manner was still felt to be too erratic and poets such as Alexander Pope carefully tidied upwardly any uneven poetry lines. Shakespeare's ending to Male monarch Lear was felt to be also lamentable and Nahum Tate'south revised version (where Cordelia and the Male monarch survive) was preferred to the original. David Garrick rewrote the terminate of Romeo and Juliet so that the lovers speak to each other earlier dying in the tomb and turned the Taming of the Shrew into a farce.

(Left to right) Set design for Act V Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play Richard III, Philip James de Loutherbourg, perchance for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, 30 May 1772. Museum no. South.1471-1986. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Entry ticket to 'The Oratorio, The Dedication Ode, The Ball, and to the Groovy Booth at the Fireworks' during the Shakespeare's Jubilee celebrations at Stratford-upon-Avon, 6 & 7 September 1769. Museum no. Due south.1055-2010. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

David Garrick

Garrick was ane of Great britain's greatest actors and the offset to exist called a star. From 1741 until his retirement in 1776, he was a highly successful actor, producer and theatre managing director. He wrote more than 20 plays and adapted many more, including plays by Shakespeare. In 1742, the Theatre Imperial, Drury Lane hired him and he began a triumphant career that would last for over thirty years. Within five years, he was also managing the theatre.

Portrait of David Garrick, unknown maker, 19th century, Britain. Museum no. Southward.120-1997. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Garrick changed the whole style of interim. He rejected the fashion for declamation, where actors would strike a pose and speak their lines formally, and instead preferred a more piece of cake, natural manner of speech and movement. The issue was a more subtle, less mannered mode of acting and a movement towards realism.

Stage censorship

The Licensing Act of 1737 had a huge touch on on the development of theatre in United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. It restricted the production of plays to the ii patent theatres at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London and tightened upwardly the censorship of drama, stating that the Lord Chamberlain with his Examiners of Plays must vet any script before a performance was allowed.

The act was put in place by the then Prime Minister Robert Walpole (1676 – 1745), who was concerned that political satire on the stage was undermining him and the authority of the regime. A production of The Golden Rump, a farcical play of unknown authorship, was the chief trigger for Walpole pushing the case for banning obscene drama from the public arena. The play scandalously suggested that the Queen administered enemas to the King. Henry Fielding, author of a number of successful satires, and others were suspicious that this play had in fact been engineered by Walpole himself.

(Left to right) Theatrical licence handwritten by Lord Salisbury, Lord Chamberlain, for the product of The Hue & Cry, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, May 11 1791. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Deleted page of script by the Lord Chamberlain's Part, P.27, Human activity I of the play Baton Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, 1950s, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Early on Victorian drama

To get around the restrictions of the 1737 Licensing Act, non-patent theatres interspersed dramatic scenes with musical interludes. Melodrama and burlesque, with their short scenes and musical accompaniment, became extremely popular at this time. Eventually, the huge growth in need for theatrical entertainment in the early 19th century made the patent theatres' arrangement unworkable. Theatres had sprung up across London and the boundaries between what was immune in the patent theatres (legitimate drama) and what was presented in other theatres (illegitimate theatre) had become blurred. In 1843 the Licensing Deed was dropped, enabling other theatres to present drama, although Lord Chamberlain's censorship of plays remained in place until 1968.

The Old Cost Riots

After the Covent Garden theatre burnt down in 1808, the management decided to raise prices to cover the cost of rebuilding. To increment revenue, the management reconfigured the upper gallery to squeeze in more of the one shilling seats, creating what angry patrons described every bit 'pigeon holes'. The price for a seat in the pit was raised from iii shilling and six pence to four shillings, and the admission to the public boxes went upward from six to vii shillings. A whole tier of boxes became 'private' and could only be hired for an entire season. Audiences were furious and turned their acrimony on the theatre'southward manager, the actor John Philip Kemble.

On 18 September 1809 Kemble stepped on stage in the costume of Macbeth to welcome the audience to the kickoff production in the new theatre, and was met with a barrage of shouting, hissing and hooting which connected throughout the performance. Although magistrates were summoned, and some protesters arrested, the disturbance did non stop until two in the morn. This was the beginning of what were known as the Quondam Cost (or O.P.) Riots. For the side by side 10 weeks every functioning at Covent Garden was disrupted. The chief objective of the protesters was to strength the management to restore the old system of pricing. By December 1809 the cost of legal fees, wages for bouncers, and free passes for allies who were paid to chant "N.P." ( 'New prices') meant that the theatre was losing £300 per night. Kemble accepted the demands of the rioters and made a public apology from the phase.

(Left to right) Extravaganza impress of John Philip Kemble wearing 'The OP Spectacles', Isaac Cruikshank, 17 November 1809, London, England. Museum no. Due south.4776-2009. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Extravaganza print of John Philip Kemble wearing 'The NP Spectacles', Isaac Cruikshank, 23 November 1809, London, England. Museum no. Due south.4777-2009. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Kemble family

At the turn of the 19th century the Kemble family dominated the London stage. Histrion John Philip Kemble (1757 – 1823) was said to exist the finest actor in England and his sister, Sarah Siddons (1755 – 1831), was regarded as one of the greatest ever tragedians. In her first season, she performed 80 times in seven different roles, inducing faintings and hysterics amongst her audiences. John Philip Kemble fabricated his debut on the London stage in 1783 as Village. His interim style was static and declamatory, with long sweeping lines and a detached grandeur.

Edmund Kean

The popular thespian Edmund Kean (1787 – 1833) replaced Kemble as the darling of the London phase after making his Drury Lane debut as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1814. Kean was one of the few actors who could fill up the vast Drury Lane theatre to its capacity of 3,000. His natural passion and fiery spirit suited a melodramatic style of acting. He was said to be at his best in decease scenes and those that required intensity of feeling or violent transitions from one mood to another.

(Left to right) John Philip Kemble as Richard III by William Shakespeare, painting past William Hamilton RA, later on 1788, England. Museum no. DYCE.75. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Portrait of Edmund Kean in the function of Richard III, published in London by S. Knight on 22 March 1814, London, England. Museum no. S.2183-2009. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Melodrama

Melodrama became pop from the 1780s and lasted until the early 20th century. The starting time drama in Uk to be labelled a melodrama was Thomas Holcroft's A Tale of Mystery (1802). Melodrama consisted of curt scenes interspersed with musical accompaniment and was characterised by simple moral stories with stereotypical characters – there was e'er a villain, a wronged maiden and a hero acting in an overblown mode.

Pictorial drama

From the middle of the 19th century theatre began to have on a new respectability and describe in more middle-class audiences. They were enthralled by the historical accuracy and attention to item that was condign increasingly influential in stage design. Pictorial drama placed great emphasis on costume and reflected a stylish interest in archæology and history. The inevitable long and complex scene changes meant that plays, particularly those past Shakespeare had to be cut. One of the principal exponents of pictorial drama was Charles Kean (1811 – 68), son of Edmund Kean. Charles Kean was known for his painstaking research into historic apparel and settings for his productions at the Princess's Theatre in London's Oxford Street during the 1850s.

Portrait of Charles Kean every bit Richard Two in Richard II at Princess's Theatre, London, 1857. Museum no. Southward.139:831-2007. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Actor-managers

19th century theatre was dominated past role player-managers who ran the theatres and played the atomic number 82 roles in productions. Henry Irving (1838 – 1905), Charles Kean and Beerbohm Tree (1852 – 1917) all created productions in which they were the star. Henry Irving dominated the London stage for over 25 years and was hero-worshipped by his audiences. When he died King Edward VII and the President of the United states of america sent their condolences.

Shakespeare was the nigh popular author for these actor-managers. Information technology became fashionable to give Shakespeare's plays detailed and historically realistic sets and costumes. The stage spectacle was often more important than the play itself and texts were cutting to let time to modify the massive sets and requite maximum exposure to the leading role.

Boots worn by Henry Irving as Richard Iii, at the Lyceum Theatre, 1877. Museum no. S.2754:1 to 7-2010. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The outset adult female actor-managing director in London was Eliza Vestris (1797 – 1856), a singer and dancer who as well managed the Olympic Theatre from 1830. There she presented a plan of Burlesques, many starring herself. Other women managers in the 19th century included Madge Kendal (1848 – 1935) and Sarah Lane (about 1822 – 99) at the Brittania Theatre, Hoxton.

Ellen Terry

The greatest English language actress of the late 19th and early 20th century was Ellen Terry (1847 – 1928). She joined the legendary actor-manager Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre from 1878 to 190 as his leading lady, and for more than the side by side two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her nearly famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice (1875) and Beatrice in Much Ado Most Nothing (1882). In 1903 Terry took over direction of London's Imperial Theatre where she focused on the plays of Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen. Even so fiscal failure meant she returned to acting there years later.

Photo of Ellen Terry as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, 1875, by Fradelle & Young. Museum no. S.133:218-2007. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The 5&A holds The Ellen Terry Collection, which contains a vast quantity of correspondence, including letters written by Terry to her daughter, costume designer Edith Craig, and letters written from her stage co-star Henry Irving. The annal also contains a notebook of Terry's thoughts on Irving.

19th century spectacle

The sophisticated technology and machinery of the late 19th century stage produced a succession of 'awareness' dramas in which special effects became the principal attraction. Scene painters, working with practiced technicians, produced realistic reproductions of the natural world. Using ropes, flats, bridges, treadmills and revolves, they could produce anything from a chariot race in Ben Hur to a rails crash in The Whip.

Photographic print of Act 3, Scene 6 from The Whip, Drury Lane Theatre, London, 1909. Museum no. Southward.211-2016. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Ane of the greatest designers of 'sensation' scenes was Bruce 'Sensation' Smith. He worked at Drury Lane Theatre, which became the best-selling home of such drama following the introduction of hydraulic stage machinery at the theatre in 1894.

Cup and saucer drama

The playwright Tom William Robertson (1829 – 71) introduced a new kind of play onto the 19th century theatre scene. His pioneering 'trouble plays' dealt with serious and sensitive issues of the solar day. Robertson's work was considered then revolutionary in style and subject that no established management would produce his plays. "Danger", said Effie Bancroft, "is meliorate than dullness" and she went on to produce a string of successful and profitable hits by Robertson, such as Ours (1866), Caste (1867), Play (1868) and School (1869). Degree was about marriage across the grade barrier and explored prejudices towards social mobility. People talked in normal language and dealt with 'ordinary' situations and the performers didn't 'act' but 'behaved' like their audience – they spoke, they didn't declaim.

Photograph of Marie Wilton as Nan in 'Good for Aught' at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 1879. Museum no. Due south.142:165-2007. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

New drama in the early on 20th century

The plow of the 20th century saw the emergence of two dominate trends in theatre: the dramatisation of gimmicky, moral and social issues, and an interest in a simpler and more abstract staging of plays. Innovative work from abroad, specially playwrights such equally Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov, was also influential in the shaping of this new drama.

Political theatre

Harley Granville-Barker'south management of the Royal Courtroom between 1903 and 1907 saw the popularisation of the work of George Bernard Shaw. Bernard Shaw was one of the most successful writers of the early 20th century and an outspoken fellow member of the Fabian Guild, an organisation committed to social reform and considered by many at the time to be subversive. He challenged the morality of his bourgeois audiences with his satirical and often humorous writing that included uncomfortable topics such equally religion and prostitution. Many of his plays were censored past the Lord Chamberlain, including Mrs Warren's Profession (1893, first public performance in England 1925), which centred on a old prostitute and her attempt to come up to terms with her disapproving girl.

Scene from George Bernard Shaw'south product of 'Mrs Warren'south Profession', 1985, Royal National Theatre. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

At a more grass roots level, theatre groups aimed at promoting the socialist cause and the Labour Party sprang upwards across the country.

Between 1926 and 1935 the Workers' Theatre Movement (WTM), which was allied with the Communists, used theatre to arouse for social change. WTM developed an 'agit-prop' style that took songs and sketches onto the streets in an attempt to incite change.

Unity Theatre grew out of the WTM. Information technology's aim was 'to foster and further the art of drama in accordance with the principle that true fine art, past effectively presenting and truthfully interpreting life as experienced by the bulk of people, can motion the people to work for the betterment of lodge'. Unity pioneered new forms of theatre, presenting factual information on current events to audiences, also as satirical pantomimes that challenged the Lord Chamberlain's censorship.

Printed programme, 'Plant in the Dominicus', Unity Theatre, about 1930 – 40, Cambridge Theatre. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Other influential political companies included the Salford-based Carmine Megaphones and the Hackney People's Players. Committed to removing the bourgeois trappings of theatre, they wanted to create a more concrete theatre that reflected the machine age. Pop plays were Ernst Toller'due south Masses and Men (1923)and The Machine Wreckers (1922) and Karel Capek's futuristic nightmare RUR (1920) where machines and robots are used to replace the working course.

Founded in 1908, the Actresses' Franchise League supported the suffrage movement by staging events and readings. By 1914, membership numbered 900 and in that location were groups in all major Great britain cities. Plays included Cecily Hamilton and Christopher St John'due south How the Vote Was Won (1909), and Hamilton's nearly famous work Diana of Dobson'due south (1908).

The Pioneer Players was founded by Edith Craig, daughter of Ellen Terry, the renowned English extra of the belatedly 19th and early 20th centuries. The company aimed to present plays of 'involvement and ideas' and particularly those which dealt with electric current social, political and moral bug, including suffrage. The Pioneer Players performed at the Little Theatre which operated as a club theatre to avoid the censorship of the Lord Chamberlain. Productions included Margaret Wynn Nevinson's In the Workhouse (1911) and Christopher St John's The First Actress (1911).

(Left to right) Photograph of Ellen Terry and Edith Craig, late 19th century, Great britain. Museum no. Southward.133:511-2007. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Pioneer Players product of 'The Get-go Actress', Kingsway Theatre, London, 1911. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The repertory movement

The repertory theatre movement was forged out of the passion and conviction of Barry Jackson and Annie Horniman, who believed that a wide multifariousness of theatrical experience should exist made available to people at a toll they could afford. Horniman believed that by subsidising theatres you could both enhance the standards of functioning and broaden the program a theatre could offering to its community.

Horniman was the girl of a wealthy tea merchant with no family connections to the theatre but she recognised the cultural value of the state-subsidised repertory companies in Germany. In 1903, Horniman put upwards the coin to open the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester in 1907. In just x years they produced over 200 plays at the Gaiety but were forced to close in 1917 because of financial difficulties.

Birmingham Repertory Theatre opened on 15 February 1913 with a production of Shakespeare'south Twelfth Night. Its founder Barry Jackson, like Horniman, was passionate about the need to offering the people of Birmingham a broad variety of theatrical experience, and personally subsidised the building of the Rep Theatre equally a base for his company.

Lodge Theatres in the early 20th century

In 1899 the Phase Guild was founded with the aim of supporting a theatre of ideas. Frustrated with the conservative nature of more than commercial theatres, information technology presented private Lord's day performances of experimental plays that had not been granted licences by the Lord Chamberlain. After a police force raid on their first product (Bernard Shaw'due south You lot Never Can Tell) it was argued that considering these were private performances, the Lord Chamberlain's restrictions on Dominicus performances and licensed plays were not applicable. The Stage Society won the instance and other 'club' theatres opened with members paying a minor subscription rather than an entrance fee. These theatres became the home of unlicensed, experimental and controversial plays – a situation that lasted until 1968 when censorship was finally overturned.

(Left to correct) Program for the British premiere of Samuel Becket`south 'Waiting for Godot', directed by Peter Hall, 3rd August 1955, The Arts Theatre Society, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photograph of original bandage of 'Waiting for Godot', 1955, The Arts Theatre Club, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Arts Theatre opened equally a club theatre in 1927 and quickly developed a reputation for innovative and exciting work. Plays past French and German writers such as Racine and Goethe were staged there, as well as new writing from British playwrights. Actors such as John Gielgud and Sybil Thorndike worked at the Arts Theatre even when they were well known in the West Finish – such was their commitment to presenting more experimental work.

Due west Finish theatre betwixt the wars

West End theatre between the wars was a strange mixture. For the most part theatres were impoverished by the Depression and remained conservative both in the content of their work and the staging.

The plays of George Bernard Shaw, Somerset Maugham, Terence Rattigan, Noël Coward and J B Priestley dominated the scene. Whilst Priestley and Shaw had a potent left-wing agenda, the plays were essentially conservative in form. Shakespeare'due south plays virtually vanished from the West End. His habitation now was the Sometime Vic Theatre and the regional repertory theatres which experimented with contemporary apparel productions. It was John Gielgud who brought Shakespeare back to the West Terminate in 1935 with his productions of Romeo and Juliet, Richard III and The Merchant of Venice.

Headdress, designed by Oliver Messel, worn by Vivien Leigh as Titania in Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Nighttime'due south Dream, Old Vic, London, 1937. Museum no. Southward.491:1, two-2006. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Commercial theatre thrived and at Drury Lane large budget musicals by Ivor Novello and Noël Coward used huge sets, improvident costumes and large casts to create spectacular productions. Coward'southward Cavalcade (first production in 1931) was an epic play which traced the history of the early years of the 20th century through the lives of 1 family unit. Coward remained 1 of the pop writers of this period with comedies such as The Vortex (1924), Fallen Angels (1925) and Present Laughter (1942).

(Left to right) Photograph of Noël Coward, maker unknown, early 1930s, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Printed flyer for Noël Coward's production of 'Column', 1932, Drury Lane Theatre, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Second World State of war saw a surge of involvement in the arts with many civilian and military audiences experiencing drama, opera and ballet for the kickoff fourth dimension. This interest led to the establishment of the Arts Council by the government in 1946 with an almanac grant to distribute among the arts. This grant ensured the survival of companies similar the Sadler'southward Wells Ballet and Opera and the eventual establishment of the Royal Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Visitor and the National Theatre, as well equally supporting theatre in the regions and the work of individual artists and companies. By 1956 the Arts Quango was subsidising xl companies beyond the land and between 1958 and 1970 15 new theatres had been constructed with public coin.

Mail-war West Stop theatre

Afterward the end of the Second World War, the West End was dominated by the commercial sector. Farces and 'who-dunnits' became popular, the about famous being The Mousetrap, an adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel that opened in 1952 and is yet going today. The glamorous productions of the 1950s, produced by Binkie Beaumont and H G Tennent, soon became economically unviable. Actors moved into TV to make more than money and West Cease productions shrank in size.

This period also saw an explosion of new writing with John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956) seen as the landmark for a new generation of young writers who included Arnold Wesker, Tom Stoppard, Edward Bail and Harold Pinter. Modest venues continued to promote and support new writing as more experimental productions moved into the mainstream theatres, including George Devine'southward Majestic Court. The phrase 'In yer face theatre' has been applied to many of the young writers who were produced past the Royal Court in the 1990s. This aggressive and confrontational way was designed to assault the audience's sensibilities. Information technology explored the gut-wrenching extremes of the human condition and rammed the excesses of gimmicky society downwardly its pharynx. One of the nearly successful 'In yer confront' productions was Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, which opened at the Royal Court in 1996. "A shocker in every sense of the word", declared The Daily Mail.

(Left to right) Program poster advertisement the opening repertory season of The English Stage Visitor at the Majestic Court Theatre, London, April to June 1956, including the world premiere of John Osborne's 'Await Back in Anger'. Museum no. S.876-1997. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photo of scene from performance of 'Look Dorsum in Acrimony', 1956, Royal Court Theatre‎, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The National Theatre Company was formed in 1963 at the Old Vic under Laurence Olivier and moved to its new home on London's South Bank in 1976, directed past Peter Hall. Peter Hall had also directed the first years of the Majestic Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Political theatre as well flourished at this time – notably the work of Joan Littlewood and the Portable Theatre Company, who produced young political writers such as John McGrath, David Edgar, Trevor Griffiths, David Hare and Howard Brenton. The company Joint Stock pioneered a process of collaborative working, with writers workshopping their ideas with the company to develop a script. Joint Stock was responsible for developing many of Caryl Churchill'south early plays.

Alternative Theatre

The end of theatre censorship in 1968 saw a surge in the alternative theatre movement in U.k.. No longer restricted by the Lord Chamberlain's censorious center, companies were costless to express any calendar they chose. Feminist theatre companies like Red Ladder and the Women'due south Theatre Group (at present the Sphinx) began to put on plays that expressed the political agenda of the feminist movement and questioned the male dominance of writers and directors in British theatre. Women writers like Caryl Churchill and Pam Gems wrote for companies similar Joint Stock before moving onto success in mainstream theatre.

Caryl Churchill's version of ' Dream Play' by August Strindberg, Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre, London, England, 2005. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Companies besides explored new ways of creating theatre, devising work which aimed to exist more democratic by involving the whole company in all aspects of the artistic procedure from initial concept to terminal performances.

In the funding crunch of the 1980s many 'culling' companies had their (meagre) subsidy cut and could no longer afford to continue. Even so, others successfully developed into the mainstream like Hull Truck and Mike Leigh who afterwards moved successfully into film and tv set.

Physical and visual theatre

Throughout the 1980s and 90s companies began to experiment with a more physical type of theatre. They wanted to get abroad from the restraints of realistic and naturalistic drama and create an energetic visual theatre that combined strong blueprint with choreography and physical imagery. Influenced past the work of Philippe Gaulier and Jacques Lecoq, companies such as Theatre de Complicite applied their way to the reworking of archetype texts and created new piece of work in collaboration with writers.

Theatre de Complicite'southward 'The Street of Crocodiles', Queen'due south Theatre, London, 1999. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

This departure was not completely new – in the 1960s Peter Brook had become interested in a more physical and visual theatre. He had been inspired by Japanese Noh theatre and influenced by the work of Adrienne Mnouchkine's Theatre du Soleil in Paris. Before innovators in this area included Bauhaus, Dadaist and surrealist performers, choreographer Rudolf Laban and directors Meyerhold and Jerzy Grotowski and Richard Schechozer.

Today, theatre companies and groups are producing ever-more experimental works that explore social and political questions and challenge conventions of what a operation is and how it should be presented.

Boom Theory describe their work as collaborative and interdisciplinary. Works such as Can You See Me Now? (2001) – a chase game played online and on the streets mixed video games and performance, whilst I'd Hide You (2012), My Neck Of The Woods (2013) and Too Much Information (2015) engaged diverse audiences through unlike media. Similarily, Punchdrunk, a British theatre company, produces piece of work that eliminates the boundaries betwixt phase and audience past creating immersive presentations in which the audience is gratuitous to choose what to watch and where to go.

The National Video Archive of Performance

The 5&A holds the National Video Archive of Performance (NVAP), archive of over 300 high quality live theatre performance recordings fabricated since 1992. This unique drove is bachelor for complimentary to all whether you are a researcher, an actor preparing for an audition, a stage designer reviewing past interpretations, or someone who missed the opportunity to attend a production during its run.

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