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1.2. English theater is beginning to be influenced by classical comedy and tragedy
The formation of English theater is beginning to be influenced by classical comedy and tragedy. This influence penetrates schools and universities, where teachers and students write and perform plays in classical forms, especially in imitation of Plautus and Seneca. The first original classic tragedy was published by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton in 1562 (Gorboduk, or Ferrex and Porrex).
Thus, the English national theater has absorbed the most diverse forms, from the mysteries to the classical theater and the forms developed in Italy and France. In England, theater was truly a folk art form, open to everyone, it was both a newspaper and a club at the same time.
At the same time, professional troupes of actors appeared. These troupes were persecuted by the city authorities, who viewed the actors as homeless vagabonds, fearing disturbance of order and crowds. The persecution was especially intensified under the influence of Puritan preachers who campaigned against "sinful" entertainment. Actors who played in taverns sought protection from noble nobles and were attributed to one or another aristocrat. The courtyard and taverns, where the lower strata of the people gathered, were the main consumers of the theater.
The first royal patent was granted to the company of the Earl of Leicester in 1574, the first theater was built in London in 1576.
Elizabethan era
In the era of Elizabeth, the theater reaches such a flourishing, which history does not know, meets the tastes of all classes of society, depicting the tragic moments of English history, the tragedies of kings and the aristocracy, and the family dramas of the bourgeoisie, and the rude customs of the urban lower class, introducing jokes and humor, and the aristocracy and the urban crowd. Most playwrights of the Elizabethan time are marked with the stamp of originality and talent, reflect the prevailing tastes of one or another group of the population:
• Lily [1554-1606]
• Robert Greene [1560-1592]
• Christopher Marlowe [1563-1593]
• Ben Johnson [1574-1637]
• Webster [1575-1624]
All of these names have been obscured by the name of Shakespeare. Shakespeare was the deepest exponent of the main tendency of the Renaissance, his interests in earthly human nature, in the human personality, in its passions and feelings, in an enterprising, enterprising person fighting for a better place in life. Shakespeare is a poet of the aristocracy during the period of the beginning of the shaking of its power, its psyche, at a time when it is under pressure from the aggressive trading bourgeoisie ("The Merchant of Venice"). Human passions -
• love ("Romeo and Juliet"),
• jealousy ("Othello", "Winter's Tale"),
• lust for power ("Macbeth"),
• vindictiveness and greed ("The Merchant of Venice"),
• tyranny,
• ingratitude,
• remorse ("King Lear"),
• melancholy,
• thirst for justice ("Hamlet")
- are illuminated by the genius playwright so deeply that until recently Shakespeare's theater remains an unsurpassed material for acting.
Shakespeare's rival, Ben Johnson paid tribute to classical theater, which arose under the influence of the humanist movement, an interest in ancient antiquity. Classical theater was widespread among educated and learned circles, but it could not satisfy the mass audience, which Shakespeare carried away with the diversity of his theater, which came from folk drama, although it did not escape the influence of classicism; "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra", "Coriolanus" are
Stern writes his Sentimental Journey and Tristram Shandy. Fielding [1707-1754] is the author of Sir Joseph Adrus and Tom Jones, less sentimental than Richardson, but just as moralizing, just as attentive to family relations, an observant realist, embracing the mores of both cities and villages. Goldsmith [1728-1774], author of The Priest of Wickfield, and a number of other writers create a real sensitive epic of the labors and days of bourgeois society. The expression of these sentiments in the lyrics is Thomson [1700-1748], author of The Seasons. And in drama, England is a pioneer and creates not only sentimental theater, but also its theory. New playwrights - George Lillo [1693-1739], author of The London Merchant, depicting the touching story of a reformed young merchant, Comberland, Edward Moore destroyed three unities, abolished the poetic form and solemn language of classical tragedy and argued that not only sovereigns and nobles are subjected to misery and suffering, - the ideas that formed the basis of Diderot's thoughts about the drama.
Daniel Defoe with his famous novel "Robinson Crusoe" is the most complete ideologue of the middle bourgeoisie, expresses its desires and the idea that it has about itself and its place in the state. Jonathan Swift [1667-1745], in Gulliver's famous Travels, scoffs at modern English society.
Second half of the 18th century in general, it is rich in various talents, illuminating from different angles the psychological shifts that accompanied the growth of the bourgeoisie, which gradually took dominant positions. Among others it should be noted T. Smollett [1721-1771], the author of adventure novels - "The Adventures of Roderick Random", "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle", which combine elements of classicism with the artistic techniques of the Spanish picaresque, with romantic invention and at the same time with real images, - novels in which there is a lot of humor, satire and even bitterness of a person who is not spoiled by good luck. Further, - Sheridan [1751-1816], the author of the famous comedy "School of Scandal", a witty and evil satire on social vices. Among the poets of this era, two are major predecessors of romanticism: Collins [1721-1759], in whose Odes romantic fiction, rich and varied content, tenderness of feeling and elegiac moods do not quite get along with Pindar's classical tradition, which restrains his free inspiration; Thomas Gray [1716-1771], the author of elegies, whose classical sense of proportion without prejudice regulates the impulse of free inspiration. Even more features of the approaching romanticism are reflected in the novels of Mackenzie [1745-1831] (The Man of Feeling, Julia de Rubinier). Mackenzie imitated Stern, Richardson and Rousseau, but introduced into his work that confusion of opposing feelings, that complexity of experiences that would later become characteristic of romanticism. Walpole's "Castle of Otranto" [1717-1797] is already a real "Gothic romance" with medieval castles, their secrets and eerie moods. Clara Reeve [1729-1807] left the Walpole school. In her novel ("The Old English Baron") there is more natural feeling, there are also elements of Richardson's moralizing. Following her is Anna Radcliffe, who can be considered the first representative of romanticism. Novels: "Castles Altin and Denbane", "Secrets of Udolfo", "The Italian", etc. - a typical genre of romantic romance with dungeons, daggers, secret doors, sensitive flawless girls who are pursued by bandits, noble loyal servants, etc. The Italians anticipate the type of Byron's hero.
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