1. 18th AND 19th CENTURY THEATRE: Sentimentalism, Romanticism and Melodrama

2. Many people objected to the disreputable antics of the Restoration plays
They disliked: crudeness, sexual comment and innuendo, lack of morals
Partly as a reaction, new types of plays were written and performed
These new plays were Sentimental dramas, aimed at being the opposite of the bawdy Restoration plays

3. Sentimentalism Sentimentalism relates to feelings or emotions
Sentimental drama aimed at touching the feelings of the audience deeply
Successful sentimental plays made audience members sympathise, feel sorry for characters in the play, and created emotional reactions
Audience members might cry or feel worried and anxious

4. Plots and acting aimed at invoking sympathy
Stories usually had happy endings
Plots could involve comedy or tragedy
There were often many terrible events before the happy, or tragic ending
Good people were always rewarded
The bad were left dead or despairing

5. Sentimental plays created a magical world with incredible twists of fate
However much the good characters suffered they were rewarded in the end, and lived happily ever after
The stories were not believable
But they were entertaining and escapist

6. The plays worked on the audience members’ emotions
The theatre gave people the opportunity to express their emotions freely in a safe and accepting environment
Sentimental plays were very popular especially with middle class people

7. Playwrights: Samuel Foote

8. Samuel Foote in “The Devil has Two Sticks”

9. The Playwrights: Richard Cumberland

10. Some of Cumberland’s Plays
Favourite theme: virtue in distress or danger
The Fashionable Lover
The Brothers
The West-Indian
He wrote more than 35 plays, mostly sentimentalist in style.

11. Playwrights: Richard Sheridan

12. “The Rivals” by Sheridan

16. Sheridan is the most famous of the sentimentalist playwrights
Sheridan is the most famous of the sentimentalist playwrights. Many of his plays are still performed today.

17. Melodrama By 1800, Sentimentalism gave way to Melodrama
Melodramas were still sentimental but they developed a distinct style of their own
Melodramas used the same plots as Sentimental plays
They were filled with suspense

18. Melodramas were very emotional
Again good characters were rewarded and the bad were punished

20. Stagecraft Special FX Big, colourful scenes
Excited the audiences as they were new and unusual
Music: songs, musical background
Orchestra was essential in Melodrama

21. Action on stage was gripping and exciting
Large audiences of middle class and lower class
Audiences were often rough and loud, interrupting during the play

22. Characteristics of Melodramas
Musical score
Sound FX
Spectacular effects and scenery
An evil villain
An innocent, good, victim heroine
The good guy/hero

23. The Villain and Heroine

24. More Characteristics A narrator Disguises Deception Humour
Scenes that build up suspense
Last minute rescues

25. Melodramas were so popular they were churned out in large numbers
Few were considered to be high quality
Audiences wanted spectacle and action
‘Incredible’ feats were performed on stage, including erupting volcanoes and horse races! (These were possible due to the invention of electrical motors)
Scenery could be painted on cloth and electronically moved behind the actors to suggest movement

26. The Stories Popular stories and novels were adapted for the stage
These included such stories as:
Count of Monte Cristo
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The works of Charles Dickens

28. Count of Monte Cristo

29. Great Expectations

30. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

31. Lighting Lighting played a major role in the success of melodrama
The invention of gas allowed for much more efficent and safer lighting
Candles and oil lighting were dangerous and now a thing of the past
Lighting could now be easily controlled
Lighting could be dimmed and brightened for special FX

32. Romanticism Romantic theatre started in Germany
The playwright Goethe combined Greek Tragedy with Shakespearean theatre

33. Johann Wolfgang Goethe

34. Most Famous Plays “Faust”
Tale of the bored and rebellious academic who sells his soul to the devil in return for a life of extreme human experience.
“Stella”
Love and the Countess causing two suicides as lovers are spurned

35. Faust

36. “Stella”
Love and the Countess causing two suicides as lovers are spurned

37. A Modern Version of Goethe’s “Stella”

38. Romantic theatre had nothing to do with love and romance in particular
It was a description for a movement, or style of art, music or drama
Romantics lived deeply
They were influenced by ancient classics
They often combined all the arts

39. Romantic artists would paint popular poems
Musicians would write a musical score based a play
Romantics valued:
Emotions
Ideals
Freedom
They emphasised the role of the arts to inspire people

40. “The Lady of Shallot” poem by Wordsworth painting by Waterhouse

41. Romantic poets were adored
Wordsworth
Byron
Shelley
Keats
Tennyson
They lived with heart and passion. The Romantics valued imagination and spirituality

42. Wordsworth

43. Byron

44. Shelley

45. Mary Shelley, his wife
Author of “Frankenstein”

46. Keats

47. Tennyson

48. Acting in romantic plays was: poetic, flowing, very emotional and dramatic
Today’s audiences would probably find Sentimental, Melodramatic and Romantic plays too exaggerated and emotional to take seriously