Biographical Report on William Davenant
In looking back at theatre history we can see strong religious ideologies that helped shape the nature of theatrical productions. Before 1642 theater was widely celebrated by royalty with the backing and support of King Charles I, who was extremely supportive of theater as an art form. Around 1642 England began a bloody civil war that would last until 1648. In the early part of the war royalists defeated the parliamentarians. Later, military leader and protectorate Oliver Cromwell built his own army and was victorious in winning the Battle of Nasbey against the royalist forces. In 1648 the war had ended and Charles I was captured by the Scottish and taken to Cromwell. Charles was then beheaded Oliver Cromwell took over leadership power in England. This was the first time in history that England was governed by someone outside of the monarchy. Under Cromwell, theatre was outlawed because it was associated with the monarchy and considered immoral, possessing non-Puritan values. He saw an unequal balance of power in the parliament and in 1653 dissolved the parliament and designated himself as Lord Protectorate. When Cromwell summoned Parliament again in 1656, he found that they were not supportive. They instead, wanted to
The exclusive patents that were granted by Charles II were issued to Davenant and another prominent playwright, Thomas Kilgerew. The two men established two new theatre companies; the King's Players and the Duke's Players. The creation of the two theaters was based on the stylistic features of traditional French design. They decided to utilize two existing indoor tennis courts to serve as temporary theaters instead of using one of the surviving Elizabethan playhouses. In 1671 Sir Christopher Wren built the Duke's Theatre, Dorset Garden for Davenant which would prove to be a highly respected theater playhouse. The theatre combined new innovative features with some of the features of the Elizabethan stage. A half circled apron stage extended beyond the proscenium arch from which entrance doors opened. This brought the focus of the production toward the fore front of the stage with scenery serving simply as a background for the production. Production sets with changeable flats were used with candles serving as the sole source for lighting. Davenant created six new plays in the Dukes Theatre. The first was The Rivals in 1668 which was an adaptation on the earlier work, The Two Noble Kinsmen. Another work was The Mans the Master in 1969. Later he would produce a series of tragic comedies such as, News from Plymouth, The Distresses, The Siege, and The Fair Favorite which not printed until after his death. He is believed to have died in 1688 his home in Lincolns Inn Fields. He was buried in the high profile area in Westminster Abbey
Some topics in this essay:
Plot Parliament,
Garden Davenant,
Oliver Cromwell,
Drury Lane,
Duke's Players,
House Lords,
II Monarchy,
Charles II,
Restoration Theater,
Siege Rhodes,
charles ii,
exclusive patents,
rule charles,
theatrical productions,
1648 war,
rule charles ii,
oliver cromwell,
english theater,
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Approximate Word count = 1043
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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