American Drama 1750-1900

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American Drama 1750-1900

• Farce, Melodrama, and other Trends

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• During this time period, dramatists
• struggled to find a dramatic form that would not
  be borrowed from overseas

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• During this time period, dramatists
• struggled to find a dramatic form that would not
  be borrowed from overseas
• showed their increasing concern about British
  rule (pre-Revolution) and their literary and
  political ties to Europe (post-Revolution)

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• Just as Washington Irving tried to
  persuade his readers that his Sketchbook of Life
  in New York proved there was enough material for
  a native prose, playwrights like Royall Tyler
  tried to do the same thing for drama.

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• Generally considered the first comedy in
  America, Tylers The Contrast (1787) features
  the rivalry between Billy Dimple and Col. Manly
  for the hand of Maria Van Rough

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• In this predictable plot, the humble and
  straightforward Col. Manly triumphs over the
  foppish and fashionable Billy Dimple.
• Manly the prototypical American man
• Dimple the man too tied to European
• heritage

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American Drama of thelate 18th Century
(1750-1799)

• Likewise, Manlys servant, Jonathan, triumphs
  over Dimples servant, Jessamy for the heart of
  Marias maid, Jenny.
• What is important here is that most literary
  critics see Jonathan as the first typical
  Yankee, the first truly American character in
  drama.

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19th Century American Drama
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19th Century American Drama

• By the beginning of the
• 1800s, technological
• advances in lighting and
• scenery ushered in a
• new era in stage design.

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19th Century American Drama

• Gas jets meant that light could fade in and out
  as neededand the house could be completely
  darkened

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19th Century American Drama

• Gas jets meant that light could fade in and out
  as neededand the house could be completely
  darkened
• Machinery could lift actors onto stage from below

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19th Century American Drama

• Gas jets meant that light could fade in and out
  as neededand the house could be completely
  darkened
• Machinery could lift actors onto stage from below
• More mechanization meant that scenery could get
  more and more elaborate and realistic.

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19th Century American Drama
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19th Century American Drama

• During this period, audiences could see
  several main genres of drama
• The farce

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19th Century American Drama

• During this period, audiences could see
  several main genres of drama
• The farce
• The melodrama

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19th Century American Drama

• During this period, audiences could see
  several main genres of drama
• The farce
• The melodrama
• The well-made play

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19th Century American Drama

• In America, the farce hit its pinnacle with
  Anna Cora Mowatts Fashion (1850), which features
  disguises, false accents, and hiding behind
  screens.
• Arguably the first true farce composed by an
  American author, Fashion is considered by most
  critics to be the best American play before the
  civil war.

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19th Century American Drama

• The melodrama takes its name from the original
  use of the form, which included
• background music that varied according to the
  mood of the play.
• Melodramaa drama performed against the
  backdrop of a melody

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19th Century American Drama

• 19th century melodramas featured
• Well-defined heroes, heroines, and villains
• Explicitly sentimental and very emotional plots,
  usually with clear-cut (although not necessarily
  happy) endings.

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19th Century American Drama

• Immediately before and following the civil
  war, the melodrama often addressed racial themes
• Uncle Toms Cabin (1853, 1858)
• The Octoroon (1859)

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19th Century American Drama

• The well-made play emerges alongside the
  melodrama and the farce. Based on a formula by
  Eugene Scribe, a French dramatist, well-made
  plays were incredibly popular in Europe and
  somewhat in America.

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Scribes formula

• Act I Mainly expository and lighthearted, but
  by the end, we know what the conflict is and who
  its with.
• Acts II III The tension mounts, oscillating
  from good fortune to bad, etc.
• Act IV The Act of the Ball. The stage is
  generally filled with people and there is an
  outburst of some kind. The climax is in this
  act.
• Act V In the final scene, reconciliations take
  place, loose ends are tied up, usually
  reinforcing the morals of the day. Everyone
  leaves the theatre bien content.

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American Drama moves on

• Our 20th century American drama does not
  emulate the well-made play, but it is informed by
  it and often acts against it.
• Realism in general reacts against the idea
  that life can be that easily represented and all
  loose ends neatly tied. It is the inheritance of
  realism that marks both European and American
  drama as we move into the 20th century, when
  other forms will emerge.