고급연극과 저급연극 그 이분의 무효성: 왕정복고 이후 영국 정부의 규제와 그 허상

Abstract

In reopening the theatres that had been closed by the Puritans, Charles II gave Killigrew and Davenant exclusive right to perform regular drama allowing actresses to perform for the first time. These companies began to compete exploiting female bodies in serious drama and offered pantomime as an afterpiece which was more popular than the main piece. In addition entertainments of singing and dancing were added between the acts of mainpiece violating neoclassical purism. The legality of the patents was confirmed by Parliament with the Licensing Act of 1737. This law further provided that, prior to production, each play had to be licensed by the Lord Chamberlain. Drury Lane and Covent Garden as the only legitimate theatres in England competed again with breeches parts and Shakespearean productions in main pieces and with pantomimes in afterpieces. However evasion of the law was common, with unlicensed theatres offering undefined entertainments and pantomimes. The monopolies on the performance of serious plays were eventually revoked by the Theatres Act 1843, encouraging the development of popular theatrical entertainments such as pantomimes, extravagazas and comic operas. Naturally most theatres enlarged the range of entertainment so as to appeal to the varied tastes of audiences. At the end of nineteenth century the bill became less complex as theatres began to specialize in a particular kind of entertainment. Though regular drama became a province of a more sophisticated group, a trend that was accelerated in the twentieth century by the development of motion pictures, high/low theatrical form dichotomy became unjustified as government regulations have long made it impossible to draw a clearly definable line between serious drama and minor forms.