Concetti Chiave
- The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 reopened London theatres, introducing lively, witty plays full of subtleties.
- Women were allowed on stage for the first time, expanding the range of female characters in plays.
- Sir Christopher Wren designed two new indoor playhouses, featuring stages separate from the audience, unlike Elizabethan theatres.
- Artificial lighting enabled nighttime performances and allowed for the use of scenery on stage.
- The comedy of manners was the most popular genre, marked by witty dialogue and a cynical tone, with William Congreve as a key figure.
Drama - Restoration age
When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and the London theatres were reopened, people were eager for merriment, and the theatre offered plays which were alive, witty and full of subtleties. For the first time women were allowed on the stage, giving the dramatists an opportunity that had been denied to Shakespeare, who had had to limit the number of his women characters because their parts had to be played by boy actors.
The king asked Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, to design two new playhouses.
The most popular kind of play was the comedy of manners, which reflected the frivolity and wish for pleasure of the society of the time, particularly among the upper classes, It was alive, witty, full of subtleties and relied on the brillancy of the dialogue; the tone was prevalently cynical and amoral.
They key authors were George Etherege, William Wycherley, George Farquhar, and William Congreve (1670-1729), the greatest of them all. Congreve’s plays are characterized by the very witty dislogues and perfect language; the best of them is The Way of the World (1700), which set very high standards for the elegance and refinement with which he handled the characters.
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