based on the passage, what is hamlet’s opinion about theater? This is a topic that many people are looking for. amritsang.org is a channel providing useful information about learning, life, digital marketing and online courses …. it will help you have an overview and solid multi-faceted knowledge . Today, amritsang.org would like to introduce to you North America Gets a Theater…Riot: Crash Course Theater #29. Following along are instructions in the video below:
Hey there im mike rugnetta. This is crash course theater and today. Werere going to the land of the free and the home of the showboat that right its america.
Hes loving it well look at pre colonial performance post colonial performance. Some attempts to exotic eyes indigenous cultures and a theater related riot lights up music as you remember from our episode on sore wanna performance in the americas doesnt begin with colonizers in north america. Many of the indigenous communities practiced ritual performances including song and dance and varieties of storytelling these performances transmitted histories and reinforced beliefs before and after the american revolution governments often suppressed and outlawed these performances maybe because settlers didnt understand them or because they realized that suppressing them weakened indigenous communities or both but indigenous performance traditions do eventually meld with the theatrical traditions of colonists in sometimes surprising ways.
Surviving efforts to stamp them out or starve. Them of an audience later some versions of these performances resurfaced as popular entertainment for white audiences. Via nineteenth century spectacles like buffalo bill.
Codys wild west show. The first scripted play performed in north america. Is performed in canada or as colonists call it at the time new france.
The play is called the theater of neptune. And its performed in a harbor outside. The french settlement of port royal in 1606 the play is basically a bunch of speeches by mikmaq chiefs swearing allegiance to the king of france saying no its fine please colonize us and then neptune.
Who i guess is tight with the king of france is all like thanks lets get together with my tritons and have a banquet. We dont know what the actual micmacs of the time think about the play. But we can assume theyd have been surprised to see themselves depicted as subjugated people especially because port royal is barely hanging on at this point close to starvation and facing an uncertain future.
But the play also provides a record of early cultural exchanges micmac words appear alongside french ones suggesting that settlers were learning from the first peoples in the colonies to the south of canada theatre has some trouble catching on a lot of the first american colonists are puritans and if theres one thing. We know about puritans. Its that they hate themselves.
Some theater theater is sinful and america is going to be a city on a hill. Which means a city with no theaters. William penn.
Founder of pennsylvania. And a quaker told.
Lots of persecuted religious minorities to come and hang out. But even he is like how many plays did jesus christ and his apostles recreate themselves at what poets romances comedies and the like did the saints make use to pass their time with all these are presumably rhetorical questions. Another problem with the theater.
So british and america is trying really hard to not be like its parents during the stamp act riots new yorkers tear down a theater. When they learn a british troop is performing there during the revolutionary war. The continental congress issues in edict saying.
We will discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation especially all horse racing and all kinds of gaming cockfighting exhibition of shows plays and other expensive diversions and entertainments buzz kills. But heres a surprise theater sneaks in anyway okay. Thats not really a surprise.
I mean you know what jeff goldblum. Says theater finds a way for a long time people believed that the first play performed in america. Was a production of the merchant of venice in williamsburg.
Virginia. That the hallam company brought over from england remember. The hallams they got caught infringing on the licensing actinic had to leave london and who they were quick.
But first maybe not as early as 1665. Theres a record of an english language play called you bear and ye cub being performed at a tavern elsewhere in virginia. We know this because the writer gets accused of public wickedness and he and the cast have to perform the play in court in costume.
Theyre found not guilty huzzah before the revolutionary war purpose built. Theaters go up in williamsburg. New york and charleston.
Another professional company led by walter murray and thomas kean forms a few years ahead of the holloms and performs a bunch of plays in a philadelphia warehouse in 1749. The lineup includes richard the third the beggars opera and the london merchants. Because who doesnt need a friendly reminder that messing with rich people is bad news.
You bear. And you cub aside.
The pre revolution. Repertory is pretty much all english at this. A few americans are writing plays.
Including andrew boris. A really mean satire by the colonial governor of new york and new jersey. Making fun of his political rival.
But these are all closeted dramas during the revolution. Satirical closet drama. Really takes off a bunch of american writers pen anti british.
Plays a lot of them in blank verse. So take that tories how do you like your sinful theatre. Now but the edict from the continental congress means that these works arent staged so torys probably never saw them after the revolution.
New york is like hooray for america down with the british. But maybe we can keep theater and they do and so do other cities new york and philadelphia become the early capitals of american theater. Some troops are imported from london.
Some are made up of homegrown actors. Most troops tour and touring gets even easier when companies have the bright idea to make theaters out of boats and send those show boats up and down the mississippi. The repertory is still mostly english shakespeare and sentimental comedy.
But after the war plays by american writers become increasingly popular the first homegrown hit is royale tylers 1787 play the contrast. The play is basically a ripoff of the school for scandal by richard brinsley sheridan. But tyler has the smart idea to make the bad characters snooty wanna be english types and the good characters hardy american types american audiences love it they love duncan on the brits.
It also creates the stage yankee. A stock character known for his aw shucks. No nonsense attitude and hilarious new england dialect.
Some american plays even make it back to england. The first is probably.
James nelson barkers 1808 work. The indian princess or labelle salvage. Because you know exoticism.
This play is a version of the pocahontas story written as a ballad opera. It kicks off a trend of stories about but definitely not by or for native americans. Lets look at another one.
As we meet americas first american born. A stage star macho man edwin forrest he was so macho he supposedly used to wear prosthetic calf muscles on stage for a little extra manliness in the gam edwin forrest was born in 1806 in philadelphia. He was interested in theater from a young age and made his professional debut at 11 playing a girl he tried to become a printer or a cooper.
But while he was under the influence of nitrous oxide. He started reciting shakespeare and a lawyer. Who overheard him arranged a spot for him at philadelphias most prominent theatre.
What a break america is bananas forrest was an athletic uninhibited actor people called his school of acting physical or heroic basically. Forrest was a manly guy. And he took on manly roles and a lot of those roles were in blackface or red faced.
Well talk about blackface in the next episode. So lets take a moment for red faced a racist american phenomenon stretching back at least as far as the boston tea party. In which white people dress up as native americans.
After the success of the indian princess and james fenimore. Coopers novel. The last of the mohicans red face became a big deal on stage.
Though mostly in the northeast. Where the frontier wasnt a pressing issue forests. Most popular red faced role was in metamora.
A play he commissioned he played the title character. A noble indian chief betrayed by his treacherous white enemies is it daring to make a native american character the good guy maybe.
But not that daring metamora opened at the same time as the indian removal act. It made audiences cry. But it didnt make them oppose the persecution of indigenous peoples metamora isnt really about native americans.
Its about white americans wanting to believe in the dignity and naturalness and authenticity of the american character the play wants to help define america as a nation. But a nation by and for white people forests main rival was william charles mccready. A scottish actor who preferred a subtler and more intellectual style of acting in attribute the poet tennyson called him moral grave sublime on a visit to london in 1845 forrest decided to play macbeth which not a macho role and it did not go well.
Audiences hissed at him and forrest decided that mccreaney the most famous macbeth of the day had put them up to it actually maccready had been really supportive of forrest. But forrest was not the kind of guy to let logic stand in his way. So forrest went to edinburgh.
Where mccready was playing hamlet and he hissed at him during the performance rivalry on and in the thought bubble. Forrest had support among street toughs and the working class in america mccreadys fans were upper class anglo files. The animosity between the two groups reflected a common tension at the time between the rich and the poor between immigrants and nativists a few years after those hissing incidents mccready came to america for a tour and forests fans harassed him once throwing half a dead sheep carcass at mccready while he was performing.
Which is sort of worse than a whole sheep carcass in may of 18 49. Mccready was playing macbeth at the astor place theatre. Forrest.
Who still hadnt figured out that he was just plain bad at macbeth was also playing him only a block away forests fans bought lots of tickets to mccreadys performance and through so many lemons and potatoes and rotten eggs on stage that it stopped the show they also threw their own seats mccready tried to leave for england but a bunch of new yorkers. Including herman melville signed a petition encouraging him to stay 3 days later mccready played macbeth again and thats when things went really wrong. Forests supporters were prevented from entering the theater by mccreadys crew so they surrounded it throwing stones and trying to set it on fire mccreaney had to sneak out in disguise.
But the mob didnt disperse and the state militia called in by the police chief and the mayor opened fire more than 20 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured thank you thought bubble bananas clearly this is not a deadly riot about performance styles its about nativism anti immigrant sentiment spurred by economic inequality but the astor place riots also the anxieties that challenged theater in america worries about who was allowed to produce theater and who was allowed to enjoy it the astor place riots are upsetting. But the upset isnt over yet were staying in america for another episode exploring race melodrama abolitionist drama and minstrelsy were gonna keep talking about who gets to make theater and who gets to see it and were gonna see some pretty disturbing trends in stage makeup. Thanks for watching us strut and fret.
Well see you next time until then curtain crash square theatre is produced in association with pbs digital studios head over to their channel to check out some of their shows like origin of everything origin of everything hosted by daniele bainbridge phd explores the history behind the stuff in our everyday life from the words. We use the pop culture. We love the technology that gets us through the day or the identities.
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