The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment 1600-1800: Theater
chapter eight
THEATER
PhilipM.Soergel
IMPORTANT EVENTS … 394OVERVIEW … 398
TOPICS
The Commercial Theater in Early Seventeenth-Century England … 401
Court Spectacle in Stuart England … 410
Theater in Golden-Age Spain … 411
The French Stage at the Beginning of the Baroque … 414
Neoclassicism in Seventeenth-Century Paris … 416
The Legacy of Corneille, Racine, and Molière … 418
Theater and Stagecraft in Italy … 422
Restoration Drama in England … 425
The Hanoverian Theater … 431
Central Europe Comes of Age … 436
The French Enlightenment and Drama … 439
The Rise of Revolutionary Sentiment in France and Its Impact on the Theater … 444
Aphra Behn … 448
Pedro Calderón de la Barca … 449
Pierre Corneille … 451
Nell Gwyn … 452
SIDEBARS AND PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Primary sources are listed in italics
A Royal Investigation (report to King James I regarding an offensive play) … 408
Parliament Closes the Theaters (ordinance issued by a Puritan Parliament that all theaters in London be closed) … 409
An Offensive Comedy (excerpt from Molière's play, Tartuffe, which offended clergy) … 421
Tense Moments at the Theater (entry in the diary of Pepys concerning a play that may have been offensive) … 427
Observations on Mrs. Siddons (a review by Hunt of the acting of Sarah Siddons) … 435
English Drama and German Tastes (excerpt from a letter by Lessing commenting on German theater) … 438
Voltaire on Comedy (excerpt from Voltaire's Philosophical Letters) … 442