Under the Irish influence: 18th century theatre
Scotland produced a rare, notable playwright in John Home, whose Douglas (1756) was a popular tragedy, but the 4. _ _ _ _ _ drama on British stages in the 2. _ _ _ _ _ 18th century belonged to a couple of Irishmen. Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan reacted to 8. _ _ _ _ _ so-called ‘sentimental’ comedy of the mid 18th century and revived the comedy of manners, 9. _ _ _ _ _ minus the Restoration rude stuff. Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer (1773), still in repertoire today, is a class-clash farce set over the course of a single day. Sheridan, perhaps the greater playwright, is also still regularly performed. He immersed himself in London’s West End, 10. _ _ _ _ _ a stake in the Drury Lane Theatre where, aged 23, he produced his memorable romcom muddle, The Rivals (1775). 3. _ _ _ _ _ all its sophistication, the drama of Sheridan 7. _ _ _ _ _ al was less pivotal in 1. _ _ _ _ _ audience figures than pantomime and farce. By the end of the 19th century the masses were back, and Britain’s burgeoning theatres 6. _ _ _ _ _ more 5. _ _ _ _ _ 2,000 at a time.