The story of theatre

The 5&A's Theatre and Operation collections nautical chart the fascinating history of theatre in Uk from the eye ages to today. From early dramatic forms, such as mystery plays and courtroom masques, to the culling and 'in yer face' drama of the tardily 20th century, via the patriotic wartime entertainment of the 1940s, and the foundation of institutions such equally the Arts Council and the National Theatre.

Almost early on theatre in England evolved out of church building services of the tenth and 11th centuries. It became a truly popular 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 language of ordinary people rather than latin in guild to teach the mainly illiterate masses about Christianity and the bible.

William Poel as Adonai in 'Lowest', 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 terminate of medieval times, many towns had specific spaces defended to public theatre.

The ascension of secular drama

Post-obit the Reformation in the 16th century – a motion 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 blessing and patronage of a nobleman.

U.k.'s start playhouse 'The Theatre' was built in Finsbury Fields, London in 1576. It was constructed by Leicester'due south Menan acting company formed in 1559 from members of the Earl of Leicester's household. Over the next xvi years, 17 new open-air, public theatres were constructed. Most of these theatres were circular, surrounding an open courtyard where members of the audition would stand around the three sides of the phase. New companies flourished and writers were expected to produce a number of new plays every year to satisfy need. 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.

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

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

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

Book, Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories & tragedies: published according to the true 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 role player and their chief playwright. He wrote on average two new plays a year for the visitor. His earliest plays included The One-act of Errors (outset performed in 1594) and his get-go published work was the poem Venus and Adonis (1593). Shakespeare wrote many of his most famous plays for the Earth Theatre, which was erected in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. When the lease on the land 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 World.

The courtroom masque

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early on 17th-century Europe. The English language 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). Ane production, The Masque of Oberon (1611) cost over £2,000 to stage, with costumes lone costing over £i,000.

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

Inigo Jones is credited with introducing into British theatre the proscenium arch – the space which framed the actors on phase – and moveable scenery arranged in perspective. Inspired past stage machinery he had seen whilst travelling in France and Italian republic, Jones' scenery used a series of shutters that slid in and out using grooves in the floor. He fifty-fifty flew in scenery from above and introduced coloured lighting past placing candles backside tinted drinking glass.

The closure of the theatres

In 1642 civil war broke out in England between supporters of King Charles I and the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. Theatres were closed to prevent public disorder and remained closed for xviii years, causing considerable hardship to professional theatre performers, managers and writers. Illegal performances were only desultory 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 starting time English opera. Subsequently Charles Ii 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 stage mechanism to the English public stage in the 1660s gave rising to blockbuster semi-operas. Many of these were adaptations of other plays, often by Shakespeare. These had episodes of music, singing, dancing and special effects. The grandest theatre at this time, which included one of the start proscenium arches, was The Duke's Theatre in Dorset Gardens. Planned by William Davenant and designed past Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul's Cathedral), it toll £ix,000 (about £600,000 today). It stood by the River Thames and steps led upwards from the river for those patrons arriving by boat.

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

For the first time women were recognised every bit professional actresses and playwrights. The most famous playwright was Aphra Behn (1640 – 89), who had previously been employed as a spy for Charles 2 and spent a brief stay in a debtors' prison. A group of women writers known equally 'The Female Wits' produced many works for the stage. They included Mary Pix (1666 – 1709), Catherine Trotter (1679 – 1749) and the prolific Susannah Centlivre (near 1670 – 1723), who wrote nineteen plays, including the satirical A Assuming Stroke for a Wife, first performed in 1718.

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

The first woman to appear on the professional phase in England is more often than not considered to be Margaret Hughes (1645 – 1719), who performed in a product of Othello at the Vere Street Theatre, London in 1660. Other notable actresses at this time included Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 1713) , also known equally the "queen of tragedy", and Nell Gwyn (1650 – 87), who was reputed to have been painted nude for Charles II and bore him 2 children.

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

18th-century theatre

The 18th century saw the flourishing of theatre as a popular pastime and many theatres were enlarged and new playhouses built in London and throughout the country. 1 of the most successful shows on the London phase in the early office of the 18th century was John Gay's ballad opera The Beggar'due south Opera. Gay recycled pop songs of the solar day and wrote new lyrics that were humorous and satirical.

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

Shakespeare'due south plays became increasingly popular during the 18th century but were reworked to accommodate the tastes of the mean solar day. His style was still felt to exist also erratic and poets such as Alexander Pope carefully tidied up any uneven verse lines. Shakespeare's ending to King Lear was felt to be too lamentable and Nahum Tate's revised version (where Cordelia and the King survive) was preferred to the original. David Garrick rewrote the end of Romeo and Juliet and 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 Deed V Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play Richard III, Philip James de Loutherbourg, maybe 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 Great Berth at the Fireworks' during the Shakespeare's Jubilee celebrations at Stratford-upon-Avon, 6 & 7 September 1769. Museum no. Southward.1055-2010. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

David Garrick

Garrick was one of Britain'south greatest actors and the commencement to exist called a star. From 1741 until his retirement in 1776, he was a highly successful thespian, producer and theatre manager. He wrote more than xx plays and adjusted many more, including plays by Shakespeare. In 1742, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane hired him and he began a triumphant career that would last for over 30 years. Within five years, he was also managing the theatre.

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

Garrick changed the whole style of acting. He rejected the style for declamation, where actors would strike a pose and speak their lines formally, and instead preferred a more easy, natural way of speech and movement. The effect was a more subtle, less mannered style of interim and a move towards realism.

Stage censorship

The Licensing Act of 1737 had a huge impact on the development of theatre in Britain. It restricted the production of plays to the 2 patent theatres at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London and tightened up the censorship of drama, stating that the Lord Chamberlain with his Examiners of Plays must vet whatsoever script before a performance was allowed.

The deed was put in place by the then Prime Government 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 Gold Rump, a farcical play of unknown authorship, was the master trigger for Walpole pushing the case for banning obscene drama from the public loonshit. 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 past 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 past the Lord Chamberlain's Role, P.27, Human action I of the play Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, 1950s, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Early Victorian drama

To get around the restrictions of the 1737 Licensing Human action, not-patent theatres interspersed dramatic scenes with musical interludes. Melodrama and caricatural, with their short scenes and musical accessory, became extremely pop at this fourth dimension. Eventually, the huge growth in demand for theatrical entertainment in the early 19th century made the patent theatres' system unworkable. Theatres had sprung up beyond London and the boundaries between what was allowed in the patent theatres (legitimate drama) and what was presented in other theatres (illegitimate theatre) had become blurred. In 1843 the Licensing Human action was dropped, enabling other theatres to present drama, although Lord Chamberlain'due south censorship of plays remained in identify until 1968.

The One-time Price Riots

Afterward the Covent Garden theatre burnt down in 1808, the management decided to enhance prices to cover the cost of rebuilding. To increase revenue, the management reconfigured the upper gallery to squeeze in more than of the i shilling seats, creating what angry patrons described every bit 'pigeon holes'. The toll for a seat in the pit was raised from iii shilling and 6 pence to four shillings, and the admission to the public boxes went up from vi to seven shillings. A whole tier of boxes became 'private' and could only be hired for an entire flavor. Audiences were furious and turned their anger on the theatre's manager, the actor John Philip Kemble.

On xviii September 1809 Kemble stepped on stage in the costume of Macbeth to welcome the audition to the starting time production in the new theatre, and was met with a barrage of shouting, hissing and hooting which continued throughout the performance. Although magistrates were summoned, and some protesters arrested, the disturbance did non end until two in the morning. This was the start of what were known every bit the Old Price (or O.P.) Riots. For the side by side ten weeks every performance at Covent Garden was disrupted. The master objective of the protesters was to force 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 "North.P." ( 'New prices') meant that the theatre was losing £300 per night. Kemble accepted the demands of the rioters and made a public amends from the stage.

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

The Kemble family

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

Edmund Kean

The popular player Edmund Kean (1787 – 1833) replaced Kemble as the darling of the London stage later making his Drury Lane debut as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1814. Kean was one of the few actors who could fill the vast Drury Lane theatre to its capacity of iii,000. His natural passion and fiery spirit suited a melodramatic fashion of acting. He was said to be at his all-time in expiry scenes and those that required intensity of feeling or tearing transitions from i mood to another.

(Left to right) John Philip Kemble as Richard III past William Shakespeare, painting by William Hamilton RA, later 1788, England. Museum no. DYCE.75. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Portrait of Edmund Kean in the role 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 popular from the 1780s and lasted until the early 20th century. The first drama in Great britain to exist labelled a melodrama was Thomas Holcroft'due south A Tale of Mystery (1802). Melodrama consisted of brusque scenes interspersed with musical accompaniment and was characterised by simple moral stories with stereotypical characters – there was always a villain, a wronged maiden and a hero acting in an overblown way.

Pictorial drama

From the eye of the 19th century theatre began to take on a new respectability and describe in more than middle-grade audiences. They were enthralled past the historical accuracy and attention to detail that was becoming increasingly influential in stage design. Pictorial drama placed smashing emphasis on costume and reflected a fashionable involvement in archaeology and history. The inevitable long and complex scene changes meant that plays, especially those by Shakespeare had to exist cutting. One of the primary exponents of pictorial drama was Charles Kean (1811 – 68), son of Edmund Kean. Charles Kean was known for his painstaking research into historic dress and settings for his productions at the Princess'southward Theatre in London's Oxford Street during the 1850s.

Portrait of Charles Kean as Richard Ii in Richard Two at Princess'southward Theatre, London, 1857. Museum no. Southward.139:831-2007. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Thespian-managers

19th century theatre was dominated by actor-managers who ran the theatres and played the lead 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 Seven and the President of the United States sent their condolences.

Shakespeare was the most popular writer for these actor-managers. It became fashionable to requite Shakespeare's plays detailed and historically realistic sets and costumes. The stage spectacle was oftentimes more of import than the play itself and texts were cut to allow fourth dimension to change the massive sets and requite maximum exposure to the leading role.

Boots worn past Henry Irving every bit Richard III, at the Lyceum Theatre, 1877. Museum no. S.2754:1 to seven-2010. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The first woman player-manager in London was Eliza Vestris (1797 – 1856), a singer and dancer who also managed the Olympic Theatre from 1830. There she presented a programme of Burlesques, many starring herself. Other women managers in the 19th century included Madge Kendal (1848 – 1935) and Sarah Lane (almost 1822 – 99) at the Brittania Theatre, Hoxton.

Ellen Terry

The greatest English actress of the late 19th and early 20th century was Ellen Terry (1847 – 1928). She joined the legendary histrion-director Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre from 1878 to 190 as his leading lady, and for more than than the adjacent 2 decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her almost famous roles were Portia in The Merchant of Venice (1875) and Beatrice in Much Ado Nearly Aught (1882). In 1903 Terry took over direction of London's Purple Theatre where she focused on the plays of Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen. However fiscal failure meant she returned to interim there years after.

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

The V&A holds The Ellen Terry Collection, which contains a vast quantity of correspondence, including letters written past Terry to her girl, costume designer Edith Craig, and letters written from her phase co-star Henry Irving. The annal also contains a notebook of Terry'due south thoughts on Irving.

19th century spectacle

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

Photographic print of Act iii, 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 acknowledged dwelling house of such drama post-obit 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 'problem plays' dealt with serious and sensitive bug of the twenty-four hour period. Robertson's piece of work was considered and then revolutionary in style and subject field that no established management would produce his plays. "Danger", said Effie Bancroft, "is better than dullness" and she went on to produce a string of successful and assisting hits past Robertson, such as Ours (1866), Caste (1867), Play (1868) and School (1869). Caste was about marriage across the form bulwark and explored prejudices towards social mobility. People talked in normal language and dealt with 'ordinary' situations and the performers didn't 'act' only 'behaved' similar their audience – they spoke, they didn't declaim.

Photo of Marie Wilton every bit Nan in 'Good for Cypher' at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, 1879. Museum no. S.142:165-2007. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

New drama in the early 20th century

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

Political theatre

Harley Granville-Barker's management of the Royal Court betwixt 1903 and 1907 saw the popularisation of the piece of work of George Bernard Shaw. Bernard Shaw was one of the most successful writers of the early 20th century and an outspoken member of the Fabian Lodge, an organisation committed to social reform and considered by many at the time to exist subversive. He challenged the morality of his bourgeois audiences with his satirical and often humorous writing that included uncomfortable topics such every bit organized religion and prostitution. Many of his plays were censored past the Lord Chamberlain, including Mrs Warren's Profession (1893, showtime public operation in England 1925), which centred on a former prostitute and her try to come to terms with her disapproving daughter.

Scene from George Bernard Shaw'due south production of 'Mrs Warren's Profession', 1985, Imperial 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 up across the country.

Between 1926 and 1935 the Workers' Theatre Movement (WTM), which was allied with the Communists, used theatre to agitate for social alter. 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. It's aim was 'to foster and further the art of drama in accordance with the principle that true art, by finer presenting and truthfully interpreting life equally experienced past the majority of people, can motility the people to work for the betterment of society'. Unity pioneered new forms of theatre, presenting factual information on current events to audiences, every bit well equally satirical pantomimes that challenged the Lord Chamberlain'southward censorship.

Printed plan, 'Plant in the Sunday', Unity Theatre, virtually 1930 – forty, 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 physical theatre that reflected the car age. Popular plays were Ernst Toller's Masses and Men (1923)and The Machine Wreckers (1922) and Karel Capek's futuristic nightmare RUR (1920) where machines and robots are used to supplant the working class.

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

The Pioneer Players was founded by Edith Craig, daughter of Ellen Terry, the renowned English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company aimed to present plays of 'interest and ideas' and specially those which dealt with current social, political and moral issues, including suffrage. The Pioneer Players performed at the Niggling Theatre which operated every bit a social 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 Extra (1911).

(Left to correct) Photograph of Ellen Terry and Edith Craig, tardily 19th century, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Museum no. South.133:511-2007. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Pioneer Players production of 'The Get-go Actress', Kingsway Theatre, London, 1911. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The repertory motion

The repertory theatre movement was forged out of the passion and conviction of Barry Jackson and Annie Horniman, who believed that a wide variety of theatrical experience should be made available to people at a price they could afford. Horniman believed that past subsidising theatres you lot could both heighten the standards of performance and broaden the programme a theatre could offer 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 upward the money to open up the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester in 1907. In just ten years they produced over 200 plays at the Gaiety only were forced to close in 1917 considering of financial difficulties.

Birmingham Repertory Theatre opened on fifteen February 1913 with a production of Shakespeare'due south 12th Nighttime. Its founder Barry Jackson, like Horniman, was passionate virtually the need to offer the people of Birmingham a wide multifariousness of theatrical feel, and personally subsidised the building of the Rep Theatre every bit a base for his visitor.

Club Theatres in the early 20th century

In 1899 the Stage Gild was founded with the aim of supporting a theatre of ideas. Frustrated with the conservative nature of more than commercial theatres, it presented private Lord's day performances of experimental plays that had not been granted licences by the Lord Chamberlain. After a police raid on their first product (Bernard Shaw's You Never Tin can Tell) information technology was argued that considering these were private performances, the Lord Chamberlain'due south restrictions on Sunday performances and licensed plays were not applicable. The Stage Guild won the instance and other 'club' theatres opened with members paying a pocket-size subscription rather than an archway 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 right) Program for the British premiere of Samuel Becket`s 'Waiting for Godot', directed by Peter Hall, tertiary August 1955, The Arts Theatre Order, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photo of original cast of 'Waiting for Godot', 1955, The Arts Theatre Club, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Arts Theatre opened as a social club theatre in 1927 and quickly developed a reputation for innovative and heady piece of work. Plays by French and High german writers such every bit Racine and Goethe were staged there, besides as new writing from British playwrights. Actors such equally 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 End theatre between the wars

West End theatre between the wars was a strange mixture. For the most role theatres were impoverished by the Low 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-fly agenda, the plays were substantially bourgeois in grade. Shakespeare'due south plays almost vanished from the West End. His home now was the Quondam Vic Theatre and the regional repertory theatres which experimented with gimmicky dress productions. Information technology was John Gielgud who brought Shakespeare back to the West Stop 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 Dark's Dream, Old Vic, London, 1937. Museum no. S.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, extravagant costumes and big casts to create spectacular productions. Coward's Cavalcade (kickoff production in 1931) was an epic play which traced the history of the early on years of the 20th century through the lives of one family. Coward remained one of the popular writers of this menses with comedies such as The Vortex (1924), Fallen Angels (1925) and Present Laughter (1942).

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

The Second World War saw a surge of interest in the arts with many civilian and armed services audiences experiencing drama, opera and ballet for the showtime time. This involvement led to the establishment of the Arts Council by the government in 1946 with an annual grant to distribute among the arts. This grant ensured the survival of companies like the Sadler's Wells Ballet and Opera and the eventual establishment of the Royal Opera, the Royal Shakespeare Visitor and the National Theatre, as well every bit supporting theatre in the regions and the piece of work of individual artists and companies. Past 1956 the Arts Council was subsidising 40 companies across the country and betwixt 1958 and 1970 15 new theatres had been synthetic with public money.

Postal service-war West End theatre

After the end of the Second World State of war, the West Terminate was dominated past the commercial sector. Farces and 'who-dunnits' became popular, the most famous beingness The Mousetrap, an adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel that opened in 1952 and is still going today. The glamorous productions of the 1950s, produced by Binkie Beaumont and H Grand Tennent, presently became economically unviable. Actors moved into TV to make more coin and West End 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 Bond and Harold Pinter. Small venues continued to promote and support new writing as more experimental productions moved into the mainstream theatres, including George Devine's Royal Court. The phrase 'In yer face up theatre' has been applied to many of the immature writers who were produced by the Royal Court in the 1990s. This aggressive and confrontational style was designed to assault the audience'south sensibilities. It explored the gut-wrenching extremes of the human condition and rammed the excesses of contemporary social club downwardly its pharynx. Ane of the almost successful 'In yer face' productions was Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking, which opened at the Royal Court in 1996. "A shocker in every sense of the word", alleged The Daily Mail.

(Left to right) Programme affiche advertizement the opening repertory flavour of The English language Stage Visitor at the Royal Courtroom Theatre, London, April to June 1956, including the world premiere of John Osborne's 'Look Back in Anger'. Museum no. Due south.876-1997. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Photograph of scene from performance of 'Expect Dorsum in Anger', 1956, Royal Court Theatre‎, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The National Theatre Visitor was formed in 1963 at the One-time Vic nether Laurence Olivier and moved to its new dwelling on London'southward Southward Bank in 1976, directed by Peter Hall. Peter Hall had likewise directed the first years of the Royal Shakespeare Visitor at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Political theatre also flourished at this time – notably the work of Joan Littlewood and the Portable Theatre Company, who produced immature 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's early plays.

Culling Theatre

The cease of theatre censorship in 1968 saw a surge in the alternative theatre motion in Britain. No longer restricted by the Lord Chamberlain's censorious eye, companies were free to express any agenda they chose. Feminist theatre companies like Red Ladder and the Women'south Theatre Group (now the Sphinx) began to put on plays that expressed the political agenda of the feminist movement and questioned the male person say-so of writers and directors in British theatre. Women writers like Caryl Churchill and Pam Gems wrote for companies similar Articulation Stock earlier 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 also explored new means of creating theatre, devising work which aimed to exist more than democratic by involving the whole company in all aspects of the creative process from initial concept to final performances.

In the funding crunch of the 1980s many 'alternative' companies had their (meagre) subsidy cut and could no longer afford to continue. However, others successfully developed into the mainstream like Hull Truck and Mike Leigh who later moved successfully into film and television.

Physical and visual theatre

Throughout the 1980s and 90s companies began to experiment with a more physical type of theatre. They wanted to become away from the restraints of realistic and naturalistic drama and create an energetic visual theatre that combined strong design with choreography and concrete imagery. Influenced by the work of Philippe Gaulier and Jacques Lecoq, companies such every bit Theatre de Complicite applied their style to the reworking of classic texts and created new work in collaboration with writers.

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

This divergence was not completely new – in the 1960s Peter Brook had get interested in a more than physical and visual theatre. He had been inspired past Japanese Noh theatre and influenced by the work of Adrienne Mnouchkine's Theatre du Soleil in Paris. Earlier 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 than experimental works that explore social and political questions and challenge conventions of what a functioning is and how it should be presented.

Blast Theory describe their work every bit collaborative and interdisciplinary. Works such as Tin You See Me Now? (2001) – a hunt game played online and on the streets mixed video games and operation, whilst I'd Hide You lot (2012), My Neck Of The Forest (2013) and Too Much Data (2015) engaged diverse audiences through different media. Similarily, Punchdrunk, a British theatre visitor, produces piece of work that eliminates the boundaries between stage and audience by creating immersive presentations in which the audition is complimentary to choose what to watch and where to go.

The National Video Archive of Performance

The Five&A holds the National Video Archive of Functioning (NVAP), archive of over 300 high quality live theatre functioning recordings made since 1992. This unique collection is available for gratuitous to all whether you are a researcher, an actor preparing for an audition, a phase designer reviewing by interpretations, or someone who missed the opportunity to attend a production during its run.

Theatre & Performance

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