Behn's The Rover (1677)

Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

Aphra Behn is the first professional female playwright, as far as we know, in the world. She wrote 17 plays, of which The Rover is the most famous, now and in her own lifetime (it was so popular that she wrote a sequel), as well as poetry and novellas, the best known of which is Oroonoko, a sympathetic portrayal of an African slave in Surinam. She became quite favored in the court of Charles II, and participated in the most elite literary and societal circles until her death in 1689.

Behn specifically sets The Rovers in the Italian city of Naples at a time when it was controlled by Spain during the Puritan interregnum. The “Banished Cavaliers” or Rovers are specifically the English aristocracy who were banished from England at this time. Behn uses this context to denounce the Puritans, poke jabs at the Spanish, and extol an Italian carnival atmosphere that is analogous to Restoration London.

At the same time, she is aware of current political disputes brewing between the Whigs (mostly middle class and higher aristocracy who distrusted the King and advocated greater alliance with European Catholicism) and the Tories (mostly lesser aristocracy who allied themselves with the King and the Church of England.) In 1688, this dispute would erupt into the Glorious Revolution in which the Dutch monarch, William of Orange, took control of England and James II fled to France. In 1677, however, Behn sided firmly against the Whigs.


A note on acting in the Restoration

Despite the construction of increasingly lavish proscenium theatres like Dorset Garden, restoration comedy was still very much an actor’s theatre. The projection of the forestage into the auditorium allowed the actors a great deal of interaction with the audience, who they would often know personally. And the modern etiquette of everybody being quiet, still and attentive during a performance was not the norm (David Garrick actually enforced this kind of behavior for the first time in the mid-18th century) So actors had to not only compete with audience members for attention, but sometimes be ready to parry comments from them. For this reason, repartee (the ability to speak extemporaneously with grace and wit, particularly in exchanging insults and ridicule) was a primary skill for actors.


Fops and Rakes

These stock characters were part of the typical structure of Restoration comedy. They are versions of the typical protagonist and antagonist roles from Greek and Roman Comedy. The Fop is an Imposter character, a prating fool who doesn’t measure up to societal standards, and the Rake is the Ironist who calls his bluff. In The Rover, these characters are Blunt and Wilmore. However, one of the most striking questions for the play is just how much the female characters (particularly Florinda and Hellena) get the better of even the Rake.

This connects to another question: Does it make a noticeable difference that The Rover is the work of a female playwright? What kind of powers and constraints does Behn imagine for Florinda and Hellena? Is she critiquing the patriarchal society of the day, or does the play ultimately support the status quo?

Drury Lane & Dorset Garden

Wealthy patrons of the Dorset Garden theatre would arrive at the theatre along the Thames by boat


When King Charles II gave Davenant and Killigrew warrants to form their two companies of players in 1660, he likewise gave them leave 'to purchase, build and erect or hire at their charge... two houses or theatres'. After the Puritan interregnum, the options for venues were initially limited. Killigrew's King's Company occupied a converted tennis-court (following a common French practice) whereas Davenant's Duke's Company occupied an old playhouse at Salisbury Court. However, Davenant immediately began planning a playhouse that would enable him to make use of the Italian innovations in scenery already so popular in France. The converted tennis court theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which opened in 1661, was the first such attempt and marks the beginning of a distinctive Restoration style of playhouse. The stage was extremely deep to allow both mid-level scenic spectacle as well as more distant 'vistas'. A deep forestage under and beyond the proscenium arch was where most of the acting took place. Everything was lit by candles and chandeliers. With boxes up both sides of the stage, the actors and audience are fairly intimate. There is no gulf between actors and audience as in later proscenium theatres. This basic approach is also evident in the Drury Lane theatre, which Killigrew opened in 1663.



As was true throughout Europe at the time, lighting by candles combined with extensive scenery of fabric and wood contributed to frequent fires. Drury Lane burned down in 1672, and a second theatre was built there in 1674. This second theatre was demolished in 1791 by Sheridan so that he could build a grander one in 1794. This theatre burned down in 1809. The fourth Theatre Royal at Drury Lane, which is still a fixture of the London theatre scene, was erected in 1812.


A performance at the Covent Garden theatre in 1674.






Elevation of second Drury Lane by Thomas Leacroft and a scene of a 1674 performance

Davenant, however, like many a modern producer, had his sights set on making theatre ever more extravagant. He died in 1668, but the Duke's Company was carried on in the same style under the leadership of Betterton. With the opening of his new playhouse at Dorset Garden in 1671, he set a new standard for scenic spectacle. The theatre was demolished in 1709, but we get some sense of its cavernous depth and height from a few surviving engravings of scenes from Elkanah Settle's The Empress of Morocco (1673). It is designed for a level of spectacle that would surely overwhelm most drama, and makes Drury Lane look quite cozy in comparison. Nevertheless, many of the most famous plays of the era, including Aphra Behn's The Rover, premiered there. We can only guess at what the production must have looked like!





Engravings of The Empress of Morocco (1673) at Dorset Garden

John Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)

Portrait of John Dryden (1631-1700). Despite the prominence the painter gives a volume of Shakespeare, Dryden himself did not praise the Bard as unreservedly as many later critics would.

Here are a few highlight's from Kristy's presentation on Dryden's Essay:

The first significant part of the essay comes in the form of the definition of a play: “A just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, to the delight and instruction of mankind.” By using the term “image of human nature,” it appears that Dryden is using the word “image” to highlight the fact that the focus of theater is becoming more visually and spectacle based. Also, Dryden refers to “human nature” throughout this essay and it can be said that he is using it as a way to make the experience of theater more universal for all types of audiences.

The third argument centers on the concept of nationalism: Which country’s drama is superior – France or England’s? Lisideius defends the French and Neander defends the superiority of the English stage.

Lisideius’s arguments for the French include: Strict regard for the unities; refusal to mix comic and serious elements; economic plotting; expert narration that permits the avoidance of duels and battles on stage; well-motivated characters and skill in verse.

Neander’s arguments for the English include: that the French follow not nature, but artistic rules and achieve only an artificial beauty; that French plots are bare, passions cold, variety stifled by the strict separation of genres and believability sacrificed to a rigid adherence to the unities. Neander also defends the use of action on the English stage: “If we are to be blam’d for showing too much of the action, the French are as faulty for discovering too little of it.”

That said, Dryden struggled with the argument between classic principles and traditional English practice. He wavered between a traditional Aristotelian understanding of tragedy and a recognition that successful English works by Shakespeare and others involve subplots and some kind of mixture of comedy and tragedy that cannot be reconciled with neoclassicism. For example, in 1681 he admits to mixing serious and comic elements for “the pleasure of variety” since audiences “are grown weary of continu’d melancholy scenes.” He even argues that tragicomedy should be respected as a distinct form, as difficult to create as tragedy, “for ‘tis more difficult to save than ‘tis to kill.”

Dryden seems to be arguing for a movement towards more naturalistic dialogue. However, he stops short of advocating for truly realistic dialogue (prose) on the stage. Keep paying attention to this as we read plays that are closer and closer to our own time. It is very seductive to take the "presentist" perspective that all past practices are steps in a progression culminating in our own culture, which is the best. Obviously, we don't really believe that or we wouldn't keep performing plays written hundreds of years ago. So how do plays like Tartuffe and The Rover work even though they are not yet "realistic" in our modern sense?

The English Restoration between Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Hobbes (1588-1679) & Locke (1632-1704)

Two major philosophical works can be seen to frame the socio-political context of English Restoration theatre: Hobbes' Leviathan (1651) and Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).

Hobbes, writing in the midst of the Puritan interregnum, argues that a just society is produced by a benevolent absolute monarch, who uses rational principles to defend the natural rights of the people. Locke, writing in the immediate aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, argues that the natural rights of humanity are best protected by representative constitutional government. Over the course of the 40 years that historians typically identify as the period of English Restoration theatre (1660-1700), England begins to undergo a fundamental shift from absolutist monarchy to a bourgeois capitalist society under parliamentary rule. This will have major and subtle effects on the plays written during this time and the theatrical institutions in which they are performed.

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A few key dates:

By 1600 Indoor playhouses were being built. Burbage’s Blackfriar’s theatre, where Shakespeare’s troupe performed in the Winter.

1603 James I empowered the master of revels to license play publication, making dramatic literature a state-regulated business too.

1625 James I dies. Charles I assumes the throne. He is a great patron of court masques, which are written by Ben Jonson and many of the leading playwrights. Making use of Inigo Jones’ designs based on perspective scenery and Italian design.

1632 William Prynne’s Histriomastix, a polemic against the stage and the wiles of women. He is sent to the Tower, becomes a martyr to the Puritan cause.

1642 Civil War breaks out between the Monarchy and the Puritans. The public theatres close.

1649 Puritans prevail under Oliver Cromwell. Charles I executed on the steps of Parliament, after being taken through his court theatre where masques had been staged. The English aristocracy flees to France, where they learn a bit about French neoclassical theatre.

1660 Chalres II returns to London and puts the Puritan regicides to death. Theatres re-opened. Actresses appear on the English stage for the first time. Charles gives grants to Thomas Killigrew to establish the King’s Company and to William Davenant to establish the Duke’s Company.

1665 The Great Plague

1666 The Great Fire of London

1685 Charles II dies. He converts from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicisim on his death-bed. King James II ascends the throne, openly practicing Roman Catholicism and promoting religious toleration. Opponents see this as the first step towards abolishing the Anglican Church and turning England Catholic, like Mary Queen of Scots had intended.

1686-7 James II starts appointing only Catholics to military, academic and government jobs.

1688 Glorious revolution. English nobles secretly invite William of Orange (Dutch leader) and Mary to take the throne. He is a militant protestant. James II flees England.

1690 James II is defeated in battle by William in the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. James dies in exile in France. Democratic reforms advanced giving increased power to Parliament. Increasing democratization of professional theatre, which becomes increasingly commercial and subject to market forces. Absolutist monopolies over theatre decline, clearing the way for the rise of bourgeois theatre.

1694 Bank of England established. Capitalism begins to replace aristocratic patronage.

1700 Congreve’s The Way of the World, usually cited as the end of the Restoration period theatre.