Restoration Theatre

 Restoration Theatre

The English theatres were closed in 1642 by the Puritan-led Long Parliament and remained shut until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. During this period, secret performances of short comic plays called drolls were held, and scenes from popular plays were sometimes enacted. Despite Puritan opposition, theatre remained popular among the public and was even performed in villages and private halls.

After Charles II's return, two official theatre companies were formed by royal patent in 1660: the King’s Players (Drury Lane) and the Duke of York’s Players (Lincoln’s Inn Fields). Theatre catered to the tastes of the pleasure-loving Royal Court, reflecting its moral laxity and fondness for wit and sensuality. This marked a break from Puritan values of restraint and sobriety.

Old Elizabethan plays were revived but didn’t appeal to Restoration audiences. John Evelyn and Samuel Pepys noted their disinterest in Shakespeare, preferring plays by Beaumont and Fletcher and Ben Jonson. New plays mocking Puritans (like The Committee) gained popularity, though they were often of low literary merit.

By 1663, Restoration Comedy emerged: witty, lively, and often morally loose. These plays focused on the fashionable elite, with clever dialogue and scandalous themes. Actors like Thomas Betterton gained fame for their versatility and skill. Betterton, known for his serious offstage demeanor, excelled in both comic and tragic roles, especially as Hamlet. Edward Kynaston, who began playing women’s roles, was praised for his performances in multiple disguises. Eventually, women began acting on stage, with performers like Mary Davis, Mrs. Knipp, and Nell Gwynn (famous for her beauty and wit) becoming popular.

The Restoration theatre closely reflected the tastes and manners of its fashionable upper-class audience, who attended not only to watch plays but to socialize, display fashion, and gossip. The theatre became a hub for the elite, while the middle classes withdrew. The plays mirrored this audience—elegant, witty, and morally lax.

This contrast is illustrated through the fictional experience of Master Nocker, an Elizabethan-era merchant shocked by the changes. He is disturbed by the loud, immodest behaviour of women in the audience, the presence of real actresses on stage, and the trivial, morally loose nature of the comedy he watches (She Would If She Could). The witty but shallow plot, the lack of moral seriousness, and the idea of rewriting Shakespeare appall him.

Restoration Drama – Heroic Tragedy

Restoration drama includes both comedy and tragedy, though tragedy played a secondary role. The dominant tragic form was Heroic Tragedy, influenced by French heroic romances (e.g., those of Madeleine de Scudéry). These plays featured:

• Larger-than-life heroes and heroines with superhuman ideals.

• A central conflict between love and honour.

• Dramatic plots with war, passion, and intense emotional expression.

John Dryden was a key figure, whose heroic tragedies (like The Indian Queen, The Indian Emperor, The Conquest of Granada) displayed exaggerated sentiments, grand rhetoric, and a detached sense from real life—possibly reflecting the extreme loyalty shown to Charles II after the monarchy was restored.

However, these plays often lacked realism and depth, leading to criticism and mockery—most notably in Buckingham’s satirical play The Rehearsal (1672), which ridiculed the excesses of Heroic Tragedy.

A shift occurred with Thomas Otway, who reintroduced Shakespearean influence and moved toward more genuine emotion and credible tragedy. His plays (The Orphan and Venice Preserved) retained some flaws but brought back pathos and realism, helping phase out the artificial rimed drama by the late 1670s.

Restoration Comedy

Restoration Comedy, also called the comedy of manners, flourished in an age when poetry was in decline and prose had become the preferred medium of expression. Unlike Elizabethan drama, which drew strength from poetry, Restoration drama reflected the rational, witty, and polished spirit of the eighteenth century, making comedy the dominant form. This type of comedy focused on the superficial aspects of upper-class life—its fashions, manners, speech, and flirtations—set in parlours, coffee-houses, gardens, and streets of London. The characters were mostly fashionable aristocrats engaged in love intrigues, expressed through clever, often indecent, but sparkling dialogue. The tone was cynical and playful, shaped by a reaction against earlier Puritan rigidity. While often criticized for its immorality, the intent of these comedies was not moral instruction but light entertainment. They are significant both socially, for their depiction of contemporary elite life, and literarily, for their mastery of refined English prose and witty conversation.

Restoration Comedy of Manners

The Restoration Comedy of Manners may have evolved from Ben Jonson’s Humour Comedy, as many early Restoration playwrights, like Thomas Shadwell, were influenced by him. Shadwell portrayed a range of eccentric characters reflecting contemporary life and, though lacking Jonson’s refinement, showed blunt honesty. Some critics even call him the 'Father of the Comedy of Manners'. Dryden’s early plays, especially The Wild Gallant, also bore Jonsonian satire, but lacked the wit later perfected by playwrights like Congreve. The Comedy of Manners was marked by intellectual wit, a focus on aristocratic life, and a satirical tone that mocked social affectation. Though often criticized for indecency, the wit often masked the vulgarity, making it seem polished. These comedies reflected the carefree, cynical spirit of Charles II’s court, reacting against Puritan repression. As Allardyce Nicoll points out, they served as a mirror of their age, not moral guides. Sir George Etherege and William Wycherley were key figures. Etherege offered witty, realistic portrayals of upper-class society in plays like She Would if She Could and The Man of Mode. Though not as refined as Congreve, he was more varied and realistic. Wycherley’s comedies like The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer were coarser and more direct. While his earlier plays reflect Restoration frivolity, The Plain Dealer takes a moralistic turn, criticizing the vices he earlier depicted, and represents a departure from typical Comedy of Manners. Congreve would later restore its original wit and elegance.