Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/509

* DRAMA. 441 DRAMA. and thus in a phrase hits olV the main feature of his iliaracter as a dramatist. Yet lie was fa- tuous in the composition of suoli light and grace- ful pieces as the masques in which the Court found entertainment. (See Masque.) Beau- mont and Fletcher, who were joint workers, have the honor of standing ne.xt to ShakesjK'are in the romantic drama of England: but, like Lope de Vega, they wrote too nnicli for the success of the moment to he ranked in the foremost tile of England's dramatic writers. With Dekker, Mas- singer, Ford, ebstcr. Chapman, and Shirley, the older English drama is dosed, sharply ter- minated by the Puritan Revolution. With the Restoration came a drama represent- ing much more the social life of the Court, and in its form largely reflecting French influence. Under the direction of such managers as Dave- nant and Killigrew. plays were uuich more elab- orately staged than before, and the drama was verj" much better jiatronized. On the stsge were Betterlon and ilrs. Barry. The chief literary figure of the time was Dryden, who wrote suc- cessfully both tragedy and comedy. The trage- dies of Lee and the unfortunate Otway. with such comedies as those of Shadwell and Wycherley, bring down the drama to 'anbnigh. Congreve, and Farquhar, writers whose brilliant depiction of the externals of society is clouded by an im- morality and an indecency even more marked than that of some of Shakespeare's imme- diate successors. Gay and Mrs. Centlivre, and the actor-playwright Colley Cibber. displayed in their comedies considerable dramatic spirit and in%'ention. Of quite another sort was Addison's tragedy of Cato, famous in the annals of litera- ture and successful on the stage for the old- fashioned political virtues which it solemnly set forth. Lillo. Moore. Garrick the actor. Gold- smith, the Colmans, and Cumberland nearly all took to prose instead of verse. They produced agreeable comedies; but, except Goldsmith's She Stoops to Coni/iicr and one or two other pieces, nothing very important appears in the history of the drama till the time of Sheridan, who gave an impulse to 'genteel' comedy such as has placed him ever since at the head of the writers of that species of composition. Famous among the favorites of the stage meanwhile had been 'Peg' Woflington and Katharine Clive. Sheridan's immediate successors. Holcroft, 'Monk' Lewis, Maturin, Mrs. Inchbald. and others, have left little that is remembered : but .such interpreters of the drama as .John Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, and later Ednuuid Kean. save the period from unimportance in dramatic history. Joanna Baillie. the poets Byron and Coleridge, and Henry Tayler wrote fine meditative dramas, little suited, however, for actual presentation upon the stage; and the same may be said of much of the more recent (lram;itic poetry of Tennyson. Browning, and Swinburne. The list of writers for the English theatre in the nine- teenth century is long. .Among the earlier ones, Sheridan Knowles and Bulwer-Lytton wrote plays which are still known on the boards. Later came Talfourd, .Icrrold. Shirley Brooks, Tom Taylor — who wrote over a hundred pieces, many of them very popular — ^larston. Will-i. Charles Eeade — who. with Boucicault or alone, drama- tized several of his own works — T. W. Robert- son, H. .1. Byron. Sydney Grundy, W. S. fJil- bert — who is liest known, however, for the comic operas in which lie collaborated with .Arlhiir Sullivan — 11. A. Jones, A. W. Pinero, lladdon Clianiliers, ,1. M. Barrie, 11. '.. Esmond, and Stephen Phillips. Not to be neglected also in our account is the important inlluence of such actor- nianagers as Macready, Buckstone, the Bancrofts, Sir Henry Irving (to whose comjiany belongs Ellen Terry), and Sir Charles Wyndham, in giv- ing direction to dramatic iiroduction. American Drama. The .American stage was naturally in its origin a mere dependent upon that of England ; and the sameness of language, the similarity of dramatic themes, and the con- stant interchange of Englisli and .American actors still make it difficult to sejiaratc the drama of the United States from that of Great Britain. At the present day .American successes are reproduced in England hardly less than sue- cessful Englisli plays on this side. Independent dramatic production in tliis country, liowever, as an infant industry laboretl under one par- ticular disadvantage, owing to the absence till 1891 of an international copyright. A manager could always adapt, translate, or reproduce out- right, at no expense and litle risk, a play that had met siccess abroad; whereas, to purchase one from a native writer involved at the outset a definite outlay and the subsequent risk of fail- ure. Partly in consequence of this, dramatic history in America has had to do more with players than with playwrights. Yet the litera- ture of the drama in the United States is exten- sive, though, as in England, much of it is of little value. Not a little of that belonging to the years which followed the Revolutionary War con- sisted of trasliy pieces for the exploitation of crude patriotism, setting forth the yet unsea- soned glories of our military achievements. It had been only a few years before the Revolution that the first permanent ]dayhouse was built — the Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia (1700) — followed the next year by the opening of the John Street Theatre in New Y'ork. Here in 1787 was presented what is considered the first play by an American author regularly produced upon the stage — Tlic Contrast, written by Royall Tyler, aftenvards Chief .Tustice of A'ermont. It has been asserted, however, that Godfrey's Prince of Par- thin was acted in Pliiladeljihia some twenty years before. The dramatic qualities of The Contrast were of the slightest, but it served to introduce to the boards the personage known as the exag- gerated 'Y'ankee,' who could not be banished for three-quarters of a century. The fii;st prolific American dramatist was William Diinlap. some of whose work was fair for the period. He pro- duced iibout fifty plays, a few of them translated from the German. The opening of the Park Theatre. New York (1708), gave a new impulse to the drama, although the chief players wore from the old country and the oi>ening play was .is Foil Lil-r It. Here, in ISOrt. 'the American Roscius' made his debut as Young Norval. This lad was .John Howard Payne. He not only ap- peared with great success in this country and in England, but he wrote and translated a number of plays, of which his ow^l Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin, still keeps the stage. It is a well-con- structed tragedy, and is the first drama of im- jKirtance written by an .American author. It was not until about 1820 that literary and cultured people began to look with favor upon the drama. In that year the great tragedian