She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer (1773)
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774)
Oliver Goldsmith was born into a lower middle class Anglo-Irish family. He worked his way through Trinity College, Dublin, studied medicine in Edinburgh, and toured parts of Europe before taking up a life of writing in London. In 1761, he met Samuel Johnson, become an important member of his literary circle. He is best known for a comic novel, The Vicar of Wakefield, a poem about urbanization, The Deserted Village, and a stage comedy, She Stoops to Conquer.
Goldsmith, by Joshua Reynolds, ca. 1773
By reputation, Goldsmith was brilliant but insecure, and well-meaning and good-natured, but often foolish or gauche in social situations.
The Play’s the Thing . . .
In many regards, a play is a very different beast than most other forms of literature. What are the primary differences between drama, and (say) novels and poems?
Drama is PERFORMANCE!!!!
As a performance, Drama occurs in three dimensions, and unfolds in real time. The presence of the “author” is usually almost entirely effaced. How did your experience of this play differ from your reading of the play?
Theatre and Society
Westminster, site of the Court The “City,” financial and business hub of London
The 18th-century theatre district, in the fashionable “Town”
Southwark, site of the Elizabethan theatres.
Theatre Audiences
The shift in the locale of the London theatres after 1660 signals a change in the composition of the audience, which in turn had important effects on drama in performance. Given the new proximity to the fashionable “Town” and the Court, what changes might we expect to see?
Covent Garden Theatre, ca. 1808
What might part of the attraction of the theatre for the “fashionable” world of the beau monde be?
New Theatre Designs
The most important innovation was the introduction of a new design for playhouses. Elizabethan theatres had been • Circular • Open air • With all action
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774)
Oliver Goldsmith was born into a lower middle class Anglo-Irish family. He worked his way through Trinity College, Dublin, studied medicine in Edinburgh, and toured parts of Europe before taking up a life of writing in London. In 1761, he met Samuel Johnson, become an important member of his literary circle. He is best known for a comic novel, The Vicar of Wakefield, a poem about urbanization, The Deserted Village, and a stage comedy, She Stoops to Conquer.
Goldsmith, by Joshua Reynolds, ca. 1773
By reputation, Goldsmith was brilliant but insecure, and well-meaning and good-natured, but often foolish or gauche in social situations.
The Play’s the Thing . . .
In many regards, a play is a very different beast than most other forms of literature. What are the primary differences between drama, and (say) novels and poems?
Drama is PERFORMANCE!!!!
As a performance, Drama occurs in three dimensions, and unfolds in real time. The presence of the “author” is usually almost entirely effaced. How did your experience of this play differ from your reading of the play?
Theatre and Society
Westminster, site of the Court The “City,” financial and business hub of London
The 18th-century theatre district, in the fashionable “Town”
Southwark, site of the Elizabethan theatres.
Theatre Audiences
The shift in the locale of the London theatres after 1660 signals a change in the composition of the audience, which in turn had important effects on drama in performance. Given the new proximity to the fashionable “Town” and the Court, what changes might we expect to see?
Covent Garden Theatre, ca. 1808
What might part of the attraction of the theatre for the “fashionable” world of the beau monde be?
New Theatre Designs
The most important innovation was the introduction of a new design for playhouses. Elizabethan theatres had been • Circular • Open air • With all action