Performing the Restoration Playhouse:
Four Restoration Comedies
- Course Number: ENGL 169
- Prerequisites:
Check on GOLD.
- Catalog Course Entry: ENGL 169
- Quarter: Spring 2019
When London theaters re-opened in 1660 after being closed for two decades, there were some big changes in the playhouses, plays, personnel, and audiences. Charles II and his courtiers were enthusiastic patrons of the theater, especially its comedies, which drew on traditional roles including fops and fallen women, cuckolds and witty couples, curious virgins, and male and female rakes. In this hybrid class, we will read, discuss, and write about four Restoration comedies and their contexts, with some recent scholarship. Along the way we will study theater history and period performance styles (asides, bowing, how to use a fan). Along with formal writing, our ambitious final project will be to recreate the atmosphere of a Restoration playhouse during an afternoon performance.