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Uncle Toms Cabin
The play adaptation of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin became one of the most popular melodramas. Uncle Tom's Cabin is about how life of slavery is. Tom a slave that is sold and then being taken to the slave market by a boat. On the boat he meets Eva who falls into the river, and he jumps in to save her. Eva's dad then buys Tom and takes him home with him and his daughter. Eva grows ill and her dad dies as well. That is when Tom gets sold again to an owner who he disobeys. Tom dies in the end. -
On The Origin of Species Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species and publishes it in 1859. On the Origin of Species has created multiple controversies in past and present day. The main controversies that were created from this were that "all forms of life have developed gradually from a common ancestor and that this evolution of species involves the natural selection of those best adapted to specific environmental conditions" (Brockett, p. 151). -
Lincoln Assassination
In 1865, President Lincoln was at Ford's Theatre watching a production of Our American Cousin. While he was there watching the production, he was shot in the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth who was an actor that had been planning to go against Lincoln and try to make a plan to give the confederacy another chance but heard of Lincoln's plan to try to give African American men the right to vote and killed him that night. -
A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen writes A Doll's House in 1879. Ibsen was a playwright whose career began around 1850, most of his plays were denied production due to being considered immoral or corrupted. A Doll's House is about a woman Nora Helmer who faces consequences because of a choice she made for her husband. She gets blackmailed into helping a guy try to save his job and loses her family in the process. Overtime her husband is willing to reconcile but she still chooses to leave her family(Brockett, p.154). -
Electricity Impact
It was the 1880's when electricity was common in society and this helped directors and playwrights because the electric motors in treadmills coupled very well to portray horse or chariot races in productions (Brockett, p.143). -
Modernistic
The late 1880's is the time when artists started to realize that they did not have to try to perfectly recreate traditional looks for their productions or pieces. This is when artists started rejecting the traditional visions and added their own perspectives to their work. This meant that artists now could be accredited and recognized based off of their own creativity levels and not just how well they could recreate someone else's traditionalized views on art. -
The Independent Theatre Movement
Most theatre could not put on productions unless approved by a censor first. Independent theatres were the "loophole" to that rule. Independent theatres put on private performances for people who were subscribing members which meant the productions did not need to be censored. These theatres got to unite the new drama and the new staging techniques together. In 1887, the first independent theatre was founded in Paris by Andre Antoine (Brockett, 159). -
London Theatre
The Independent Theatre was founded in London in 1891. The first production it ever put on for people was Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. This did a lot to catch the attention of a new type of drama for subscribers to watch. The Independent Theatre induced George Bernard Shaw which was one of its best contributions. -
Arms and The Man
George Bernard Shaw wrote Arms and The Man in 1894. This production comedically shamed romantic feelings and gestures about love and war. Arms and The Man is a piece about two guys and a woman post war. Raina is engaged to one of the men and the other man is trying to seek refuge. By the end of the story Raina is torn between which guy she loves and wants to be with. -
Moscow Art Theatre
In 1898, the Moscow Art Theatre was founded. The theatre achieved its first success with Anton Chekhov who wrote The Seagull (1896) and Uncle Vanya (1897). Both pieces are set in rural Russia and all characters in these titles look and want a better life but do not know how to go about reaching that goal and surviving (Brockett, p.161).