1675

The year 1675 was an important year in the publication of Restoration theatre, and the following discussion will highlight some of the important happenings and trends in English theatre in the year.

__//**London Gazette**// **coverage**__

Printed media coverage of the theatre seasons and references to drama and entertainment were less frequent and still in the beginning stages during this year, and though much is known about the plays and productions themselves (including premiere details, casting and venues), this information is compiled from personal diaries, the //Stationer's Register// and John Downe's invaluable //Rosicus Anglicanus//, the historical stage account kept by the prompter for the Duke's Company.

Periodicals and newspapers were still picking up steam during 1675 and unlike those of the last years of the 17th century and the 18th century, the newspapers during the 1670s were not very pressed on theatrical review or inclusion of entertainment notices, especially a more political and economic major daily like //The London Gazette//.

Dryden's //Aureng-Zebe// and Wycherley's //The Country Wife// are rarely mentioned in newspapers of the year, and the little press they get is in advertisment. It seems that the newspapers of the time were more concerned with domestic news and international affairs, and were very succinct and business-oriented (often jumbled and organized in flashes and postings of different dates (like in the //Gazette).//

//The London Gazette// was one of the first far-reaching news publications and though it may have been availble to the general public, targeted or was fit more to the politically conscious and economically inclined reader, not the common folk and those seeking entertainment, humor and gossip. The //Gazette// was published two times a week (usually) and focused on politics and economics regarding the English crown. Most of the paper (1 page, 2 sides format) is dedicated to dispatches related to trade and sailing, as well as news from important European cities, such as Vienna, Paris, Rome, Rotterdam, etc. The news is not necessarily chronological nor exactly timely, as reports from months before may be published at a later date, depending when they arrive and are received to print. Thus, news especially overseas from the American colonies is delayed, appearing often two or three weeks after events actually unfold.

Very little mention of theatre is made in the //Gazette// volume for this year, but there are some small tid-bits, including some rather funny mentions like an announcement for gold seals lost at the Duke's Theater (October 4th, //Advertisments).//

__**Historical Context & Domestic and Worldly Happenings**__



The main historical backdrop that the //Gazette// chronicled was the Franco-Dutch war, which lasted from 1672 to 1678. In this year the war was at its peak, and several naval battles are the subject of weekly articles and reports in the //Gazette.//

In addition to this war, the Gazette weighed in on affairs in the colonies across the Atlantic in America, notable in **June 1675 --** marked the beginning of King' Phillip's War (also known as the First Indian War) in New England between English colonists and Native Americans. The //Gazette// issue for August 16th to 19h in the 1675 volume is one of the first mentions and accounts of the war. The front page features a letter/diary account by Benjamin Batten pertaining to July 6th.




 * Other Miscellaneous Happenings**


 * ROAD MAP**

In national news this year also saw a few key developments such as the publication of Britain's first road map/atlas, by John Ogilby, in January (revealed in the Advertisments in the January 13th issue of the //Gazette).//

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/1060/pages/2




 * December 30, 1675 - Coffe House Decree**

In the December 30th issue of the //Gazette// appeared a proclamation by King Charles II (given at Whitehall on the 29th of December) suspending certain Coffee Houses (the wildly common and ubiquitous places of social gathering) as he believed they posed a threat to his monarchy, being places of rumour, secrecy, vice and plotting: "for that in such Houses...the meetings of such Persons therein, divers false, malitious and scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majesties Government...His Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary, that said Coffee-houses be (for the future) put down and suppressed: and doth briefly charge and command all manner of persons do not presume froom and after to kep any publick Coffee-House..." (See issue [|here]). Mentions of Charles are infrequent in the Gazette (mostly only pertaining to foreign affairs or decrees that are not of immediate domestic importance) but this was an important notice at the end of the calendar year, and was likely paranoia on Charles' part concerning threats against his throne (he did not want to suffer his father's fate). This would be an important decree but not carried out in effect; the consequence had it been entirely enforced would have been particularly drastic for theatre, which flourished in the realm of Coffee Houses through discussion and sharing. This would have also been counter to Charles' affinity for Restoration drama.



__**A Review of the Theatre Season of 1674-1675 & 1675-1676**__

The year of 1675 was split into two theatrical seasons, from September 1674 to September 1675, and then again from September 1675 to September 1676. In this calendar year resumed a general continuity of the preceeding theatre season, and the London theatre scene was dominated by the duopoly of the Duke's Company (staged at Dorset Garden) and the King's Company (at Drury Lane).

As Charles II still reigned during this year, it is said he still frequented the theatre. This year thus saw the publication and staging of two of the most notable plays of Restoration drama and two prominent examples of contrasting genres: the heroic tragedy and the comedy of manners, in Dryden's finale //Aureng-zebe// and Wycherley's //The Country Wife// respectively.

Theatre of the year (and this time in general) can be characterized by numerous factors including the genre split between the semi-opera (like Shadwell's //Psyche),// the heroic tragedy play like Dryden's //Aureng-Zebe// or Elkanah Settle's //The Conquest of China// and by the emerging satirical form of the comedy of manners (most notably in this year the arrival of William Wycherley's //The Country Wife//. Interspresed amongst these also ran regular tragedies (that fused some elements of comedy, satire and herocism, like Shadwell's //The Libertine// and also general masques for the court).

The intense company rivalries ensued, and this is evidenced by the premiere of two plays: Shadwell's //Psyche// on February 27th by the Duke's Company, and then the unveiling of //Psyche Debauched//, a mockery ("travesty") by Thomas Duffett and staged by the King's Theatre. Even earlier in the 1674 play season we say the Duke's Company stage a Restoration version of Shakespeare's //The Tempest,// only to be countered by the King's Company's release of //Mock Tempest// some months after during the same year. (LONDON STAGE REFERNCE). Other Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare that were staged in 1675 included aversions of //Othello// (January)//, King Lear (//June)//, Macbeth// (August)//, Henry VIII// (November) and //The Merry Wives of Windsor// (December) Thus, revivals and rivalries were of the norm in during the middle of this decade.

Wycherley's //The Country Wife// is to this day performed heavily and considered one of the finest examples of Restoration comedy and social satire in general. We have discussed this play at length, so just here to quote Nicoll who writes of the work, "//The Country Wife// is a bright and glorious farce...brought to the stage with brilliant perfection" (238).

Finally of note pertaining to this entry is playwright John Dryden's prominence, as a key figure in Restoration drama and literature in general of the time. Dryden was also involved in many literary scuffles and rivalries himself, though was respected as one of the finest writers, and the master of the heroic verse. Speaking of the heroic tragedy, Bonamy Dobrée writes, "Ridiculous they may be in some respects...but they are not wholly absurd, and they have their florious moments." Nicoll further captures the essence of the heroic tragedy, saying that it "on all sides, is to be explained by declaring it a conscious artificialising of early seventeenth century romantic drama, with elements introduced to please the tastes of the Restoration novelty-seeking audience, and all modified just a trifle to make it approach a little nearer to the heroic plays of France" (131).


 * John Dryden**

For more on the Semi-Opera, click [|here]

The most notable/popular plays that premiered during this year included:

//The Guardian//, by Abraham Cowley (Friday January 8) //The Country Wife//, by William Wycherley (Tuesday January 12) //The Feigned Innocence//, by John Dryden (Thursday January 21) //Calisto//, //the Chaste Nimph//, by John Crowne (Monday February 15) //Country Wit,// by John Crowne //Aureng-Zebe//, by John Dryden (Wednesday November 17) //The Libertine//, by Thomas Shadwell (Saturday June 12) [|See here too!] //Psyche//, by Thomas Shadwell (Tuesday January 12) //The Conquest of China by the Tartars,// by Elkanah Settle (Friday May 28)

__**Dryden's //Aureng-Zebe, A Tragedy//**__



**"Death in itself is nothing; but we fear** **To be we know not what, we know not where."** //- Aureng-Zebe// (1676), Act IV, scene i.

The work is officially titled, //Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy. Acted at the Royal Theatre, Written by John Druden, Servant to his Majesty// (As it appears on the quarto version printed by T.N, for Henry Herringman in 1676). This production was carried out by the King's Company, and the show included notable actors of the era including Mohun as the Old Emperor, Hard as the titular Aureng-Zebe, and the famous boy-actor Kynaston as Morat.

The play, first appearing in quarto and premiering in 1675 at Drury Lane, was Dryden's last heroic work and his most complete, complex, elaborate and engaging. Building off of his previous works and a preceeding decade and theatre season ripe with exotic tragedies of heroes, kings and queens, Dryden--surely the master of the genre-- left his audiences with one final epic, its historical context loosely based on the story of Indian Moghul Emperor Shah-Jahan and the familial scuffle for his succession amongst his sons, primarily the semi-traitorus and villainous Morat, and the work's honorable, powerful and noble Aurgen-Zebe, who shines in the work as an example of loyalty, strength and valor and who's eloquent speech and wit were very well-received and respected by audiences and other playwrights alike.

There is only one mention of it in the London Gazette-- this in and of itself rare and thus noteworthy as very few advertisments or mentions of theatre and drama appear in the newspaper -- as an advertisment for sale of the printed version in the FEBRUARY 17th to 21st Issue (1070) of the following year, 1676. This mention is coupled with a note for Shadwell's The Libertine (which also premiered in 1675).

There is no mention of its premiere or staging in the 1675 volume.


 * Historical Context of the Play**

Dryden's interest in overseas affairs and the wonders of worlds beyond are illustrated in this and other works, including //The Indian Queen// (a trilogy and another of his most famous, taking place in Mexico). News from India was trickling in, as England had begun its conquest of India since the early 17th century, with the establishment of the British East India Company in 1600 (as mentioned above) and the existing relationship between the Mughal court in Agra (where Dryden's play takes place) and the English.

John Archer, in //The Performance of India and Dryden's 'Aureng-Zebe' ,// notes that "[the play] purports to be inspired by conflicts at the Mughal court in the old capital of Agra during 1658 (Dryden set it in 1660, as if to signal his symmetrical refashioning of recent events)" (182).


 * Plot Synopsis:**

The tragedy is broken-down into the classic standard of five acts, each with one scene, and is set in Agra, the Moghul Empire's capital and then-capital of India, in the year 1660. The background is the military campgain of the old Emperor and the political/military tension unfolding in the background, as his power-hungry younger son Morat seeks the throne and has assembled an army that he ultimately plans to use to usurp his father. But like the heroic dramas of this literary period, the focal point is the love story-- complicated and convoluted but with a main storyline and love affair that seems pure and is the one that hails victorious in the end. Aureng-Zebe is in love with the captive queen Indamora, who returns his love; but the old emperor desires the queen himself, and when Aureng-Zebe refuses, the tension grows between them. The Empress (and Aureng-zebe's step-mother) Nourmahal is cruelly in love with Aureng-zebe himself, and this the romantic plot is twisted-- the only constancy is that Aureng-Zebe desires only Indamora, and she him, even though four men vie for her affection -- Aureng-Zebe, the old Emperor, Morat and Arimant, the Governor of Agra, who is really a helpless and pitied character in that he is sidelined during the work in his modest quest for power.

In battle, Aureng-Zebe's forces defeat Morat; Morat, in a later attempt to save Indamora (whom he loves) from the jealous Nourmahal, is wounded and eventually dies; His wife, Melesinda, burns herself on the funeral pyre in an act of saatimeanwhile, Nourmahal, who attempts to poison Aureng-Zebe, ends up committing suicide by poisoning herself and driving herself mad. The Emperor ultimately sides with Aureng-Zebe and realizes the romance of his son and the captive queen Indamora, leaving the pair of lovers to a peaceful and joyous ending, thus ending the tragedy on a positive note in marriage (a common conclusion to this heroic tragedy type).


 * The Introduction & Prologue**

The introduction of the work is a dedication to John, Earl of Mulgrave, whom it is assumed was a fan of Dryden's and someone that Dryden looked to please and offer a work of finest perfection. Dryden writes, "I take the confidence to present you with a Tragedy; the Characters of which are the nearest to those of an Heroick Poem. 'Twas dedicated to you in my Hear, before 'twas presented on the Stage..." He continues later in an attempt to justify his characters that, "I confess, I have only represented a practical Virtue, mixed with the Frailties and Imperfections of human Life, I have made my Heroine fearful of Death, which neither Cassandra nor Cleopatra would have been..."

Admitting the difficulty of writing such a work, and also his process of striving for perfection of the genre/type, the prologue also echoes these notions from the dedication and also informs the audience as to the change of direction in Dryden's theatrical forays:

"Our author by Experience finds it true, 'Tis much more hard to please himself than you: And out of no feign'd Modesty, this Day Damns his laborious Trifle of a Play: Not that it's worse than what before he write, But he has now another Taste of Wit: And, to confess a Truth, (though out of time) Grows weary of his long-lov'd Mistress, Rhyme..." (Prologue)

This piece was his parting with this type and his beloved element. Scholar Bonamy Dobrée writes, "[The play] was the last play he wrote before abandoning his long-loved mistress, rhyme, to whom, however, he occasionally returned for a short visit. This play may serve gracefull to round off the series."


 * Characters and Analysis**

Dryden's Aureng-zebe is a character ahead of his time, assuming the heroic qualities of those that followed before him, yet also setting a literary precedent for a masculine figure as sentimental and noble in the context of violent tragedy. As Archer writes in his analysis, "Druden not only makes Aureng-Zebe into a loyal and heroic figure with such noble sentiments, he creates a new type of dramatic hero in the process. His protagonist usually eschews the rants of earlier historic plays in favor of reasoned debate and modest, if often ardent and moving proestation...Dryden makes the Mughal prince an early site for new modes of masculine European self-fashioning" (183).



Apart from the near perfection of the hero Aureng-Zebe, Dryden's other characters are deeply complex, especilly the role of Nourmahal, who, though a villain and antagonist in the play, is really a character of pity in the end, when she dies mad, unable to win the captain's love, having lost her son and now her position as Empress as well. "Close, close, close! must I see, and must have none?/ Thou art not hers: Give me that eager Kiss./ Ingrateful! have I lost //Morat// for this?/ Will you? -- before my Face?-- poor helpless I/See all, and have my Hell before I die!" (Act V, Sc. i).

Act IV Scene 1 contains one of the most famous and most quoted lines in this era of English literature, when Aureng-zebe starts in monologue: "When I consider Life, 'tis all a Cheat;/Yet, fool'd with Hope, Men fabour the Deceit; Trust on, and think To-morrow will repay:/ To-morrow's falser than the former Day;..."

Allardyce Nicoll writes in //A History of English Drama 1600-1900 (//Volume 1) that, "In //Aureng-Zebe,// the most interesting features are the comparative lack of bombast and the singular freedom of the rimed verse...It abounds in run-on lines, and there are passages scattered through it of a pre-eminent beauty" (115). Indeed, Dryden's work is filled with a passion that in his lyrics balance both a reality with their fictious context and are filled with emotional power. Nourmahal's character again is scripted with such vengance yet also such saddness. In the closing scene upon poisoning herself,

"I burn, I more than burn; I am all Fire: See how my Mouth and Nostrils Flame expire." (Act V, Sc. i)

The eloquency and poeticism of Dryden's work is a testament to his mastery of the genre. The performativity of the play-- and such epic works-- was propelled by the lycricism, as the stage direction are left open to intprepretation (for the most part, with little interruption or direction by Dyrden), and also the back and forth witty dialogue of comedies of the era are contrasted with the lengthy monologues of this type.

An example of Dyrden's script:

"Unmov'd she stood, and deaf to all my Prayers, As Seas and Winds to sinking Mariners. But Seas grow calm, and Winds are reconcil'd: Her Tyrant Beauty never grows more mild. Pray'rs, Promises, and Threats were all in vain.

__**Conclusions & Connections**__

This year of the //Gazette// was mainly focused on trade and on the Franco-Dutch war, which had big implications for England not only concerning political reshuffling but also in trade. Thus, the Gazette follows the war closely, publishing ship and troop advancements, any major developments in the war theatre (ironically //theatre// itself is less discussed). However, I could not find any significant link between these events and the plays published at the time. Nonethless, 1675 proves a crucial and successful year in English drama.

The premiere of the two plays //The Country Wife// and //Aureng-Zebe// indicate a duality to the Restoration theatre scene, with two genres of drama staged simultaneously by both the major theatre companies. It seems in this year that the tragedy was more common, as highlighted by the more numerous productions of //Psyche,// Calisto, and other epic heroic tragedies mentioned earlier.

The events unfolding in and around Britain did not make their way into the plays as blatantly as maybe in other years, especially preceeding ones with the fresh return to the monarchy and end of the Commonwealth period, and in the 18th century. In this time the background of forthcoming colonization and conquest of Eastern territories and the West (the Caribbean) is evident in the subject-matter that playwrights like Dryden proposed, notable the fantastical romances of the Far East, the Caribbean, Persia, and most notably India, which would become its most prized and largest colony. As the excerpts from the //London Gazette// indicate, there was a heavy emphasis on the foreign politics of the day most specifically in sea-trade (the competition of the British East India Company with the Dutch East India Company and those of other nations) and securing England's economic future abroad. Although the //Gazette// does not necessarily delve into domestic details on life, fashion and culture at home, it is likely (based on the unveiling of Wycherley's comedy) that foreign affairs and politics were still separate from domestic life, and that the oridinary social circles (especially those satired by the playwrights) remained relatively isolated from the wars overseas (America and the French-Dutch War) and international politics in general.

Of note, however, are subtle inclusions and ties to perhaps an increasing awareness of such matters (or at least a reference to the existing yet highly materialistic consideration of overseas): Wycherley's china scene with Horner in //Country Wife// is one of the most well-known and well-crafted and comedic scenes in all of English literature and it does suggest that there was a material/fashionable understanding of trade-goods and the latest, most exquisite items from abroad. This connection is limited to just that however, and we can't make any broader connections on the historical context or the content of the newspaper to the comedy of the day.

The news of the seas (of departing ships, arriving crews, armadas and foreign fleets) was still exciting news to those who did pay attention, and one way in which such context plays out in the theatre is in the production of the plays. The heroic tragedy is already rooted in a realistic exoticness, and coupled with the fantastical semi-operas, the theatricality of these performances were grand -- from the scenery to the machinery. Especially for an account like //Aureng-Zebe//, the main attraction would have been the exotic locale of Agra. Surely news of India arrived from the ships to the ports and trickled its way into the plays in minute ways; Dryden based his work off of other English historical accounts of the Mughal rule, but he surely would have kept abreast of the happenings on a political and economic scale. In addition, though his play seems very epic and ancient, it really takes place only 15 years before its production, so the costumery and production details must have been very updated (had he wished it directed in a realistic manner, which, given his tendency to perfect his form, was likely the case).

COMPILED BY RUTVIJ PANDYA. AUGUST 2012.

WORKS CITED:

//The London Stage, 1660-1800, Part 1, 1660-1700:// ‪//A Calendar of Plays, Entertainment and Afterpieces Together with Casts, Box-Reciepts and Contemporary Comment//. Ed. William Van Lennep. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1965. Print.

Muddiman, Henry, ed. //The London Gazette// 1675, 975-1079. //17th and 18th Century// // Burney Collection Newspapers //. Gale. University of Maryland College Park. Web. 20 July 2012.

//Five Heroic Plays.// Ed. Bonamy Dobrée. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1979. Print.

Nicoll, Allardyce. //A History of English Drama 1660-1900, Volume I: Restoration Drama 1660-1700.// New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1965. Print.