I ARTHUR MILLER ructure i1 .0 Objectives his unit will examine the growth of American Drama front its beginning in the 700 Century till the 19403, the era when the modem America drama emerged. merican Drama achieved recognition with the realism of plays by Eugene O7 eill, Arthur Miller and Tennesse Williams. eatre season presented more British plays than American plays. The common to copy Br~tishmodel till the early 20thcentury. For this reason critics claini that American Drania was born only at die end of the World War I with Eugene 0' Niell in the 1920's. By the end of 19thcentury America11 Drama had moved towards realism. Realism dominated both comedies and tragedies even in the 20th century and as the century advanced, American Drama took up broader issues of race, gender, sexuality and death. 10.2 AMERICAN DRAMA AROUND ARTHUR Beginnings of American Drama: 1600s and 1700s Little theatrical activity took place before the mid-18th century because the early settlers of American colonies faced harsh living conditions after migrating to this alien land. Their belief in hard work, frugalit4 and piety also disallowed them from indulging in theatrical activity so much so, that the play Ye Bare and Ye Cubb produced ic 1665 and probably the first theatrical performance in America led to the trial of actors. In the 18th century many colonies in America enacted laws forbidding the performance of plays, because of the purita'n belief that the seventh of the ten commandments in the bible did not allow dancing and enacting plays. However, opposition to theatre did not last long. Aware of the new cultural beginnings, the colonies wanted to brush up their iiitellectual and oratorical skills by theatrical actikilies. The 17thcentury colleges in several colonies allowed tlieatr~calactivity after much hesitation which they thought could benefit students to utilize their Artlrur Miller speech skills in tlieir careers such as business and law. To meet this requirement, the first play Androboros (1774) written by Robert Hunter, an Englisli Governer, came as an attack on his political enemies, despite New York's Antitheatre Law. This play establislied the tradition of political satire charting out the course that American Drania was to follow for the next two centuries. Several popular plays of this period were The Paxtor~Boys (1 732), The Trial c!f'Atticus (1 77 1) whose authorship is not known and Robert Munford's The Candiates of the Hunzours of' Before more plays appeared, a group of British professional actors fornied a touring circuit in the 1750s and this group in tlie early 1760s was known as The American Company. In 1767 they staged a play The Prince oJ'Parllzia, a tragedy by Thomas Godfrey, the first professional production of a play written in America. During the American Revolution, many professional actors moved to Jamaica. During the period of American Revolution (1 775-1783) satirical plays were written either supporting British control of the colonies or attacking it. The Battle of Brooklyrl wliich was pro-British and written anonymously, satirized leaders like George \lashington. Mercy Otis Warren, tlie strongest American dramatic voice of tlie revolution presented the revolutionary cause in her plays The Adulateur (1 772) Tlze Defeat (1 773), The Group (1 776) and The Blackheads (1 776). A play by Robert Munford Tlze Putr*iots (1779) attained true dramatic character by taking a neutral stance and attacking both sides for their intolerance. The professional actors who had moved to Jamaica during the American Revolution were touring America again in mid 1780s. America became a nation in 1783 tlirough a victory against tlie British colonial power. Robert Taylor was the first playwright of the nation to write the finest American play of the 1 SthCentury, Tl~e Contrast (1787). This five-act comedy that satirises the customs of tlie upper classes is written in the format of British Coniedy owing much to Sheridan's The Scl?ool .for Sandal (1 777). American Drama: 1800s William Dunlop introduced melodrama in his plays, the most prevalent dramatic form in the 191h century. The credit for giving drama its most important characteristic, dramatic conflict also goes to him. Most of his plays were adaptations or translations from tlie French and German. The Protagonist Major John Andre in Dunlop's play A~~dre(1 798) sliows admirable qualities by saving a young American Captain despite George Washington's unqualified antilgonism towards him for conspiring to destroy an American garrison. Majority of the plays written in America in tlie 19Ih century were largely produced for co~n~nercialpurposes to benefit the heterogeneous public residing all over A~nerica whose prima~yinterest was seeing the shows and tlieir favourite actors performing in these plays. Most of tlie plays were not published but were meant only to be seen and not to be read; as a result they are now irrevocably lost. One of Dunlop's contemporaries James Nelson Barker produced some of the best- known works Mat-r~~ion(1 812) and Superstition (1 824). The latter a romantic tragedy based on specific American situations, was set in New England and explored the themes of isolationism, bigotry and intolerance. The Indian Princess (1808) written by him was the first play to explore native American tliemes and characters. It told the story of Pocahontas, a native American woman wllo married in English man. The no st well-known of such drama was Metar~~oru(1828) by John ely popular actor encouraged tlie \\riti~igof .4nierican romantic playb. The American Drama around Arthur Miller nicrican play of the time was I;'I'UIIC.O.SL:U Rilrlii~i(!855), a romantic ragedy by George Hen~yBoker. Br.tr,ic.r: 771e Fill/ (!f' Turirclrtiil ( 1 8 19) by oward Payne and Tile Gltrciitrfar (I 8-3 I) by Robert Montogon~erq.Bird were merical-: Romantic tragedies tliat merely promoted the aesthetic values ol' cis~n\vithoi~t fu~tlierinp the cause of the American Drarna. rrest began to offer annual awards fhr new pl:q s with American o receive the award was A/fc/u~rlor.cl.?do orie kind of drama going masses of Anierica: play-goers were ready to welcome lay tliat the actors could perfonii well. The larnyooning of tlie ed their waning interests and by inid-century tliey started fading. eonomic te~isionsin Anierica tliat brought about the civil war in Harriet Beeclier Stone's novel I:itcle Rm~:sC'ubin. The el for tlie stage by G. L. Aikeli was a prcat success that was a and survived well illto the twentieth century. the Nineteenth Century ong hero in tlie nick of time after fighting insur!nountable esses to issues of family, social position and wealth. a z individual. 'Its appeal to tlie genel.al public lay in its tifiable character types and in si~~iple,fb~.~iiulaic plots tliat to any setting, character or ebe~~tdesired.' (At?~ericnrz lie great tlexibility of these plays made tlienl easily adaptable to any type of udience, allowi~igactors to use tlieir talents freely. taki~~gadvantage to present a .ide range of materials. Tlie popular plays in tliis genre are Boucicault's Tile our of tlic Nc.~r'York (1 857), Daly's Ut~dcrthe (iusligiit (1857): and Belasco's e Girl qj /he Golu'c.rr L6bst and The I9c.ur.t of ,44~iryl~i1rd( 1 85 7 j. Tlie popi~larity melodraniatic for~l-Itliat had begun in tlie 1 St'? Century cotitinued through tlie 19"' ealism in American Drama raliia aftel. tlie Civil war was marked by a steady shift tou,ards realisni illu~i~inating the scene of humble life. criticizi~igsocial co~iditiorisand creating believable characters. Concerued with a faithful representation of lit2 the playwriglit concentrated on middle-class life and preoccnpations, avoiding larger and more dramatic issues. The scenes had three dimensional settings and tlie actors spoke authentic soi~~ldi~ig dialogue. While tlie melodramatic plots prevailed, the playwrights gradually movcd towards psychological realism, i~ifluericedby He~irikIbsen, a Norwegian playwright. Tlie late 1 9'h Century works, Bro~isoti Howard's Slrenuri~loah (1 874). Steele Mackaye's Hazel Kirke (1 880) and Willia~iiDean Howell's A4ou,se Pcry (1 889) are ~iotablerealistic plays. Bro~iso~iHoward was niore concerned with ~noralsthan morality. Kealistn reached new levels in tlie last decades of the 19'"'century and the first decades of tlie 20th centurq; concer~iedwith the social issues of tlie time. Benson tloward's -4 Texas Sicer (1 896), Tile Bunker's Daughter (1 873) and Herrviettu (1887): A Trip lo China Tolvl? (1891) Edward Harringan's Datl s fiibul~~rio~a(I 884) and Benman Tliomson's The 0/dEIonresteuci (I 886), A. Herne's A4argarc.l FIetrti~zg(1 890), S/?ore Acres (1 892) and Griflilli Duvellpor-t (1 899). A. Herne known for powerful acting and excellerit stage ~nanagementwrote Mcrrgarct Flenzing (1 890) his greatest achievement. 'He created an lbsenesque heroine wlio was not merely capable by cliallenging convention but who deftly asserted her 7 Artliur Miller autonomy wit11 marriage'. (A Critictrl Itltrodirctio?~lo fiventielh Ccn/u~vArneric>cllr Drartr~rC. W. E Bigsby) His plays had clarity and simplicity. Among the late nineteenth-century draniatists David Belasco, Steele Mackaqe and William Gillete were closely associated with tlie theatre business, Belasco onc of the most well known producer also directed his own play. His play T/ICGirl of the Golclelr West (1905) deals witli rural California in the niid-19"' centurj Gold Rush Days. Mackaye mostly wrote rornantic melodramas, arnong them tlie most powerful was Hazel Kirkc! (1880), a tnelodrania without heroes or villains.