2 Restoration
The Restoration refers to the restoration of the monarchy in England with the coronation of Charles II:
Attending this political Restoration was a literary restoration, the restoration of theater, which had been prohibited during the Protectorate. Restoration plays were intricately plotted. The often-elaborate staging is illustrated in this set for Elkannah Settle’s The Empress of Morocco as it was performed at the Dorset Gardens Playhouse in 1673. Plays became a favored pastime of a fashionable elite.
These political and literary restorations were not unrelated. The celebrities of the stage included the mistresses of the king, such as Nell Gwyn, pictured below:
The following video looks at the interconnected restorations of playboy and playhouses, and explains how the theater was not only restored but transformed:
Mastery Check:
- To what political event does the Restoration refer?
- Who and what was restored?
- What literary genre was restored during the reign of Charles II?
- What were some of the distinctive qualities of Restoration drama?
- On what grounds did William Congreve defend theater in Way of the World?