Restoration Drama commonly refers to plays performed in England in the late 17th century. Charles II restored the English throne in 1660, reigning until his death in 1685. Theatre historians usually extend the Restoration period to about 1700 or 1710. Works during this period were largely satirical (often bawdy) comedy of manners plays, mocking the social customs of the upper class.
By the close of the sixteenth century the term ‘jig’ (variously spelt ‘jigg’, ‘jigge’, ‘gig’, ‘gigg’, ‘gigge’, ‘gigue’, ‘jigue’, ‘jeg’, ‘jegg’) had come to refer simultaneously to ‘a song’, ‘a dance’ and ‘a piece of music’, as well as taking on a specialist meaning in the early modern playhouse to refer to a relatively short drama sung…
Heroic drama is a type of play popular during the Restoration era in England, distinguished by both its verse structure and its subject matter. The sub-genre of heroic drama evolved through several works of the middle to later 1660s; John Dryden’s The Indian Emperor (1665) and Roger Boyle’s The Black Prince (1667) were key developments….
Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose ‘heroes’ usually could be described as angry young men. It used a style of social realism, which often depicted the…
Mummers Plays (also known as mummering) are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers (or by local names such as rhymers, pace-eggers, soulers, tipteerers, galoshins, guysers, and so on), originally from the British Isles (see wrenboys), but later in other parts of the world. They are sometimes performed in…
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment popular between 1850 and 1960. It involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. British music hall was similar to American vaudeville, featuring rousing songs…