The Origins of Victorian Theatrical Spectacle

The Role of the Restoration in Shaping Victorian Theatre Aesthetics

Jan 28, 2009

The English theatre of the Victorian age remains notorious in the annals of theatre history for its excesses in production, but this extravagance has historical roots.

The path taken by the theatre in the years following the Restoration of Charles II (1630-85) to the English throne proved to be one aimed ever increasingly at spectacle. When the monarchy returned to England after the English Civil War and the Interregnum, the government significantly restricted the theatre by imposing royal patents which gave permission for the performance of proper drama only to certain upper-class theatres.

"Protecting the Middle Classes"

The Covent Garden and Drury Lane theatres held the London patents, and their high cost of admission and position in the West End made them inaccessible to the middle and lower classes. This restriction was meant to “protect” the poor and uneducated from possible bad influences found in the theatre (Allen xii). The Theatres Act of 1843 repealed the restrictions placed on minor London theatres and allowed them to present ‘legitimate’ classics of the English drama. Prior to this change in legislation, minor theatres catered to the lower classes with non-verbal entertainments, such as acrobats, dancing, animal shows, music, and pantomime, and gradually developed melodrama, which was tolerated by authorities because it posed no threat to the business generated by the patent theatres (Allen xii).

Theatre as Propaganda

This popular emphasis on spectacle among the unpatented theatres instilled in their patrons a desire for flair and entertainment. Charles II saw in restricting the theatre an opportunity to re-establish a royalist culture in England, in which the theatre could be a tool, not only to signal the end of the Puritan administration, but also to demonstrate the power of the monarchy (Dobson 46). The spectacle and grandeur of the private and patented theatres demonstrated that the restored aristocracy found such facets a direct contrast to the restrictions previously placed upon them by the Puritan rule, and through that contrast emerged the ability to offer a further snub to the former government.

"Virtual Reality"

Charles found inspiration in his love of court masques, ensuring that the patented theatres used the special effects popular in the entertainments, “a ‘virtual reality’ technology purposely designed to celebrate the monarchy’s power over the physical universe” and utilize them as “public expressions of royal magnificence” (Dobson 46). The proscenium arch became the normal architectural style of London theatres, and the mark of a good production was its ability to ‘illustrate’ the poetry as realistically as possible (Jackson 112).

By the end of the 19th Century, audiences had not only come to prefer spectacular and "over-the-top" productions, they had come to expect such extravagance. It would take almost another century of work by visionary theatre practitioners to create an environment in which the focus of the theatre could be the text, rather than the special effects.

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