British drama

A Taste of Honey is a play by British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, first produced in 1958. It confronts a range of social issues — single motherhood, race, sexuality — with a frankness unusual for 1950s Britain. The play and its film adaptation were influential, and indicated changing British attitudes to art and society. ...more on Wikipedia about "A Taste of Honey"

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedy by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honor. The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place within a single day. ...more on Wikipedia about "An Ideal Husband"

This is a list of British dramatists who wrote their plays in the 1950s or later: ...more on Wikipedia about "British playwrights since 1950"

Elizabethan theatre is a general term covering the plays written and performed publicly in England during the reign ( 1558 - 1603) of Queen Elizabeth I. The term can be used more broadly to also include theatre of Elizabeth's immediate successors, James I and Charles I, until the closure of public theaters in 1642, with the onset of the Civil War. ...more on Wikipedia about "Elizabethan theatre"

Drama was introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. By the medieval period, the mummers' plays had developed, a form of early street theatre associated with the Morris dance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George and the Dragon and Robin Hood. These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The medieval mystery plays and morality plays, which dealt with Christian themes, were performed at religious festivals. ...more on Wikipedia about "English drama"

Entertaining Mr Sloane is a play by Joe Orton. It was first presented in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 by Michael Codron Ltd and at Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964 by Michael Codron and Albery, with the following cast: ...more on Wikipedia about "Entertaining Mr Sloane"

Essay of Dramatick Poesie is a work of dramaturgy by John Dryden published in 1668. It was probably written during the plague year of 1666. Dryden takes up the subject that Philip Sidney had set forth in his Defence of Poesie ( 1580) and attempts to justify drama as a legitimate artform. ...more on Wikipedia about "Essay of Dramatick Poesie"

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Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a stage play by Tom Stoppard. It was first performed in 1977. ...more on Wikipedia about "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour"

The Histriomastix by William Prynne was published in 1632, although it had been in preparation by its author for almost ten years prior to its final printing. It represents the culmination of the Puritan attack on the Elizabethan theatre. Running to over a thousand pages, it marshals a multitude of ancient and medieval authorities against the "sin" of dramatic performance. ...more on Wikipedia about "Histriomastix"

In-yer-face theatre is a form of drama that sprang up in Great Britain in the 1990s. Created by young playwrights, it intends to involve and affect the audience by presenting vulgar, shocking, and confrontational material on the stage. The term was coined by theatre critic and teacher at Boston University's London programme ** , Aleks Sierz, and popularized in his 2001 book. ...more on Wikipedia about "In-yer-face theatre"

Parnassus Plays, a series of three scholastic entertainments performed at St. John's College, Cambridge, between 1597 and 1603. They are satirical in character and aim at setting forth the wretched state of scholars and the small respect paid to learning by the world at large, as exemplified in the adventures of two university men, Philomusus and Studioso. The first part, The Pilgrimage to Parnassus, describes allegorically their four year journey to Parnassus, i.e. their progress, through the university course of logic, rhetoric, etc., and the temptations set before them by their meeting with Madido, a drunkard, Stupido, a puritan who hates learning, Amoretto, a lover, and Ingenioso, a disappointed student. The play was doubtless originally intended to stand alone, but the favor with which it was received led to the writing of a sequel, The Return from Parnassus, which deals with the adventures of the two students after the completion of their studies at the university, and shows them discovering by bitter experience of how little pecuniary value their learning is. They again meet Ingenioso, who is making a scanty living by the press, but is on the search for a patron, as well as a new character, Luxurioso. All four now leave the university for London, while a draper, a tailor and a tapster lament their unpaid bills. Philomusus and Studioso find work respectively as a sexton and a tutor in a merchant's family, while Luxurioso becomes a writer and singer of ballads. In the meanwhile Ingenioso has met with a patron, a coxcombical fellow named Gullio, for whom he composes amorous verses in the style of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare, the last alone being to the patron's satisfaction. Gullio is indeed a great admirer of Shakespeare, and in his conversations with Ingenioso we have some of the most interesting of the early allusions to him. ...more on Wikipedia about "Parnassus Plays"

Philip Henslowe (c 1550 - January 6, 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur. ...more on Wikipedia about "Philip Henslowe"

Restoration comedy is the name given to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1700. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a rebirth of English drama. Restoration comedy is famous or notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II ( 1660– 1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court. The socially diverse audiences included both aristocrats, their servants and hangers-on, and a substantial middle-class segment. These playgoers were attracted to the comedies by up-to-the-minute topical writing, by crowded and bustling plots, by the introduction of the first professional actresses, and by the rise of the first celebrity actors. This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn. ...more on Wikipedia about "Restoration comedy"

The Restoration spectacular, or elaborately staged "machine play", hit the London public stage in the late 17th-century Restoration period, enthralling audiences with action, music, dance, moveable scenery, baroque illusionistic painting, gorgeous costumes, and special effects such as trapdoor tricks, "flying" actors, and fireworks. These shows have always had a bad reputation as a vulgar and commercial threat to the witty, "legitimate" Restoration drama; however, they drew Londoners in unprecedented numbers and left them dazzled and delighted. ...more on Wikipedia about "Restoration spectacular"

Rigdum Funnidos is a character in Henry Carey's Chrononhotonthologos ( 1734). Rigdum Funnidos is the comically plain-spoken contrast to the bombastic Aldiboronti. Both are courtiers, but whereas Aldiboronti might explain, when asked who Somnus is, ...more on Wikipedia about "Rigdum Funnidos"

Terence Rattigan's play, The Browning Version, was first performed on September 8, 1948 at the Phoenix Theatre, London, in a joint performance with Harlequinade. ...more on Wikipedia about "The Browning Version"

The Deep Blue Sea ( 1952) is a play by Terence Rattigan. In creating the play, Rattigan was inspired by the suicide of a young (male) actor with whom he had some time previously had a relationship. This has encouraged some commentators to speculate that the play is secretly about gay men. ...more on Wikipedia about "The Deep Blue Sea"

The Winslow Boy is an English play by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne House. The play was later made into a famous film in 1948 which was directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donat as Sir Robert Morton, Cedric Hardwicke as Arthur Winslow, and Margaret Leighton as Catherine Winslow. The film was remade in 1999, this time directed by David Mamet, starring Nigel Hawthorne and Jeremy Northam as Arthur Winslow and Sir Robert Morton KC, respectively. ...more on Wikipedia about "The Winslow Boy"

The War of the Theatres is the name commonly applied to a controversy from the later Elizabethan theatre. The controversy, taking place around the year 1600, involved the playwright Ben Jonson on one side, and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker on the other. In his play Histriomastix, Marston had satirised Jonson’s pride through the character Chrisoganus. Jonson replied with his Poetaster, where the character representing Marston is portrayed vomiting the bombastic and ridiculous words he has ingested. Dekker in turn wrote Satiromastix, which mocks Jonson as an arrogant and overbearing hypocrite. ...more on Wikipedia about "War of the Theatres"

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