Restoration theater reflects the limitations of restoration society. After the restoration, the theater was no longer popular.

The theater of London had been closed officially from autumn of 1642 until the restoration of Charles 2. In 1660,the king issued patents to Sir William Davenant and Thomas killigrew, to producing play. Killigrews company became known as the kings players, in 1674 they housed in the Theater royal in Drury lane. Davenants company that acted after 1671 in new theater Dorset Garden. It was court influence and courtier management that appeal of the theater to the middle class. In 1682, the two companies were obliged to merge. In 1696, a second company was formed under the leadership of famous actor Thomas Betterton, who made the theater prosperous by making it appeal to the middle class, with plays of different taste.

The drama of the restoration was not an importation from France, and

the English fashionable world remained English. The romantic comedies of Shakespeare could not please the restoration society, but the realistic and satirical comedy of Ben Jonson was greatly admired. The dramatist and critics praised Jonson s classical techniques of drama, especially the observance of Aristotle s rule of the three unities of time, place and action. But English dramatists lost a great deal of Jonsons rugged and common sense. The restoration dramatists were less successful in tragedy than in comedy because they confused tragedy with epic and instead of aiming at purgation by arousing in us pity and fear, they aimed at mingling pity with admiration. In some of his plays Davenant makes so much excellent use of scenery and music that he has been called the initiator of English opera as well as heroic play. Dryden is not only the chief writer of heroic tragedy but also the principal commentator on it. In his essay OF HEROIC PLAYS, prefixed to THE CONQUEST OF GRANDA, Dryden analyzes and defends heroic drama. He observes that heroic play ought to be an imitation, in little, of an heroic poem; and consequently, that Love and Valor ought to be the subject of it.

However , many characteristics of heroic drama can be traced back to the decadent of Beaumont and Fletcher, the development of opera in England , the French court romances, and even the Elizabethan tradition. Although the elements of heroic play appear in Davenants SIGH OF RHODES ,Roger Boyle, the Earl of Orrey, wrote the first full-flagged heroic drama, THE GENERAL 1662. Dryden is, however, the greatest writer of heroic drama , and his CONQUEST OF GRANADA is its best example. Heroic drama is a type of tragedy or tragi-comedy that developed in the restoration period. It is characterized by excessive spectacle, violent emotional conflicts in the main characters, extravagant bombastic dialogue, and epic personages as the chief characters.

Its hero rivals Achilles in warlike deeds and easily surpasses him in love. The beloved is usually a captive princess or the daughter of the heros greatest enemy. The hero constantly torn between his passion for the beloved and his honor or duty to his country If he is able to satisfy the demands of both love and duty, the play ends happily for the hero and heroine ad unhappily for the villain and villainess. The heroine is always a paragon of virtue and honor , often torn between her loyalty to her villain-father and her love for the hero. The villain is usually a tyrant and usurper with an unlimited passion for power or else with base love for some beautiful and virtuous lady. The villainess is a passionate rival of the heroine. The heros rival in love is sometimes the villain and sometimes the heros best friend. All are unreal, all speak in hyperbole. all rant and rage. These plays are usually written in heroic couplet, the scenery is elaborate, and the action of the play is grand, often revolving around the conquest of some empire .

In the first two decades of the restoration period , dramatists wrote their heroic tragedy in heroic couplet. Roger Boyle the Earl of Orray (1621-1679) is one of the first writers of heroic tragedy. He uses English materials in to historical plays, HENRY5(1642) and THE BLACK PRINCE(1667) the pattern is the theme of love versus honor THE GENERAL(1664) the hero torn between love and honor The emotional conflicts in MUSTAPHA(1665) which is Boyles most typical play are very complex.

John Dryden is the most accomplished tragedian of the age,but to modern readers his plays seem not only old fashioned but also unreal. In the epilogue to the second part of THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA, he says that playwright must adapt his genius to the demands of his audience . he did not try to be universal, to be appealing to all ages. ALL FOR LOVE was written to please himself , and that is the only play that is appreciated today. Restoration drama is often accused of lacking the essential staff of human experience and being boring .it depends on the plays concept of love Love may be an idle pastime in some comedies, but in some Drydens heroic tragedies love is such great power that leads the lover into a conflict with earthy and heavenly obligations.

His heroic love very often reflects the sentimental , metaphysical Platonism of the French heroic romances.his heroic lovers are slaves to their emotions and self-centered ambitions. Drydens heroic plot portray two kinds of love. one is irrational disease. The other is Platonic love, ideal, spiritual, and wholly consistent with right reason. In THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA,PARTS 1,2, love is purely sensual; it is bold and blind.(the story) Drydens heroic plays show what men of great spirits would do when they fall in love THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA is defined in moral terms. In ALL FOR LOVE, or THE WORLD WELL LOST, Dryden imitates the ancients observes the unities ,and intends THE DIVINE SHAKESPEARE. He discards heroic couplet in favor of blank verse, presents all scenes in Alexandria, and treats the story of Antony and Cleopatra in the light of love and honor. the world is well lost for the sake of love. ALL FOR LOVE is a masterpiece and perhaps the greatest English tragedy in the period following the Renaissance. No other play on a Shakespearean theme comes as close to rivalry as Drydens does.

Restoration period is not a great age of tragedy because its playwrights confuse tragedy with epic and aim at mingling pity with admiration. Thomas Otway(1652-1685) is one of the restoration dramatists. His VENICE PRESERVED ; or , A PLOT DISCOVERED is attack directed against Shaftesbury. The story is related to love and honor, while marital and filial love dominate the play. Nathaniel Lee (1653-1692) is one of the gifted restoration writers of tragedy. Madness was lees favorite subject . For Lees second play, SOPHONISBA, Purcell wrote music for the stage for the first time. His OEDIPUS (1679) is a heroic play with the appearance of classicism. THE RIVAL QEENS; or, THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT(1677) is Lees most popular tragedy .

Hhis medium. Love-versus-honor is no longer the central themeis characters are mainly historical and classical, and blank verse is. Platonic love, which is an inevitable ingredient of heroic tragedy, is usually subordinated to swelling passion, especially in THE RIVAL QEENS. George villiers ,Duke of Buchingham(1628-1687) used to ridicule heroic tragedy and he is ridiculed by Dryden in the character of Zimri in ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL. Buckinghams Rehearsal is one of the greatest mock-heroic dramas in the English language