Trends in Modern English Drama

S.P.Dutta, M.A.( J.U.)

Modern drama is not a completely new product, but has come into existence at a stage of the
continuous process of literary evolution. In course of time, the taste of man has changed, and so
has changed the culture. With the spread of education and with the development of greater
international relations, foreign influences have exercised their impact on the public mind, and as
in the case of politics, so in the field of literary activities English men excitedly welcomed what
tasted anew. While the origin of English drama took place in the Miracle, Morality and Mystery
plays in the middle English period, it could not overcome its juvenile status until the renascence.
The renascence in Europe flourished with the dissemination of the literature and other arts of
ancient Greece and Rome, and the impact of the Greek drama, in particular, changed the character
of English drama. The drama as a literary form reached its peak in the hands of Shakespeare, who
still remains unassailable. During the time Shakespeare wrote, and in later years, drama went
through numerous experiments, and modern drama is a product of the ceaseless efforts made by
the dramatists, famous or not so famous.

T.W.Robertson, Sir Squire and Lady Bancroft introduced ‘renovation’ of the theatre, but well
before this event, there was a vital and developing stagecraft, although no literary drama worth
the name was produced as an example. The repeal of the Licensing Act (1843) did not cause any
perceptible change, though in the long run the effect was wholesome. The minor theatres were
coming into prominence. Reforms that brought Robertson into limelight were already underway
before his appearance. Apart from technical innovations in the structure of the theatres and
production of the plays, progress in various kinds of drama was discernible. Melodrama
demonstrated a swing from ‘vulgar staginess to a considerable degree of dignity, and from
fidelity to reality; and in naturalistic burlesque as performed by Mme Vestris and Charles
Mathews , a piquant (spicy) contrast between the extravagances of sentiment and situation and
the quietness of acting and deportment was prominently noticeable. Before 1865 a decidedly
realistic kind of acting had appeared in the London theatres. The problem was the absence of
playwrights to write plays for the actors of the new school.

Neither Don Boucicault (1820-1890) nor Tom Taylor (18817-1880) could satisfy this
requirement. Boucicault whose first successes were in the eighteen forties, fixed the type of
Victorian melodrama, adapting plots from foreign writers, and in The Colleen Bawn (1860) and
later plays exploited Irish subjects. Taylor’s talent was facile, though he was a prolific writer. In
Our American Cousin (1858) the ‘character-part’ of Lord Dundreary points the way towards
the individualisation as opposed to reliance upon conventional stage types. The Fool’s Revenge
(1859), adapted from Victor Hugo, is the best of Taylor’s pseudo-historical plays, and The
Ticket-of-Leave Man (1863) is the best of his melodrama.

The effort of Thomas William Robertson (1829-1871) was towards naturalism in dialogue,
feeling, and situation and the creation of the atmosphere of modern life with no artificialities of
plot or violence of passion. Lady Bacroft , actress-manager, appreciated Robertson’s views and
she , in her small, intimate theatre, allowed Robertson to put into practice Robertson’s ideal of
restrained acting and contemporaneousness of effect. When Society was staged in 1865, some
theatre critics expressed dislike for the new “cup-and –saucer” comedy, but Londoners thronged
the theatre. Robertson followed his success with Ours that was produced in 1866 , Caste that was
produced in 1867, and three other plays. To us, his technique seems elementary, and his dialogue
flat or stilted, his fidelity to actuality not beyond question. The literary value of his plays is rather
 2
slight, but in the history of modern drama, he has a secure place position as a pioneer.

Sir William S. Gilbert (1836-1911) wrote many farces and pantomimes and in several comedies
combined something of Robertson’s technique with a cynicism that was all his own. There are
motives in his “fairy comedies” and also in his Bab Ballads (18670-1869) which he wrote for Sir
Arthur Sullivan’s music. These operettas are unique among librettos in that they are enjoyable
even apart from their musical element. Lyric charm and lightly parodied romantic themes are
combined with a cynicism that is often quietly ruthless to mordant satire and contemporary fads
and humbugs. The formula requires a humorous chaos of situation and reasoning. Still, a delicate
and simmering grace prevails all over.

This trend in drama is followed by Ibsenism. The French idea of the piŠce bien faite - exposition,
situation, “great scene”, disentanglement – lived on till the close of the century, but in the
eighteen-eighties, as critics like Mariam A Franc think, the tide of Ibsenism began to flow .The
“discoverer” of the Norwegian dramatist had been Edmund Gosse, who wrote several essays
bringing Ibsen to notice, and in 1876, he translated Emperor and Galilean. In 1880, appeared
William Archer’s translation of Pillars of Society, and ‘ in 1884, Arthur Henry Jones
collaborated on bowdlerised perversion of A Doll’s House. Archer’s faithful reproduction of the
of the play invited stormy opposition under the leadership of Clement Scott, the drama critic, and
Sir Henry Irving, the foremost actor of the period turned his face away from the “new” drama.
The controversy assumed an acute form when, in 1891, the Lord Chamberlain refused licence to
Ghosts. George Bernard Shaw’s The Quintessence of Ibsenism, which was an extended version
of a lecture given in the previous years, appeared in this year. Simultaneously, the organisation of
the Independent Theatre in London (1891), in imitation of the Theatre Libre in Paris (1887) let
loose a current of serious, realistic drama. With Elizabeth Robins’ production of Hedda Gabbler
in 1892, appreciation of Ibsen began to flourish, and the controversy gradually withered.
However, the English theatre chose the social plays of Ibsen’s middle period in preference to his
later symbolic dramas owing to the prominence of contemporary problem novels and to current
sociological interest of the audience. Ibsen’s works furnished support to the English criticism of
the middle-class society. English imitators of Ibsen advanced the cause of the theatre to deal
seriously and purposefully with “ whole of life.”

The two most successful playwrights of the period were anti-Ibsenite or at most pseudo-Ibsenite.
Henry Arthur Jones who wrote about hundred plays most of which were never published hit the
theatre world with The Silver King (1882), a melodrama that was applauded by Matthew Arnold
did prim violence to A Doll’s House in Breaking a Butterfly. At that time he knew, as he later
said, “ nothing of Ibsen, but a great deal of Robertson.” Soon he moved away from the old
allegiance but did not accept the new concept unreservedly. He owned nothing of Ibsen’s ability
to universalise the characters and situations of a particular time and place, but he had “ something
of the master’s polemic fervour in his effort to reclaim for the drama the lost provinces and
religion.” The ideas of Morris and Ruskin upon him were great, but with a quiet conscience, he
avoided rebellion against “things as they are”. He remained involved in the prejudices of the age,
and criticised, the social affairs for which he did not cherish much discontent. He preached that
the art of drama was not only a matter of cleverly devised situations and “effective” curtains but
portrayal of life as a whole. Although he preached so, he never wavered from the demand of the
commercial theatre. Jones wrote with one eye on the actor-manager and the other on the box
office. Actually, Jones was a critic far ahead of his performance as a playwright. That he was
inclined not to make use of freedom he advocated liberally is seen in the contrast between the
claims advanced in the preface to Saints and Sinners (1884) and the timid sentimentality of
 3
the play itself. Michel and His Lost Angel (1896) dealing with the character of an Anglican
clergyman depicts the social exposure as just identical to the theme of basic sentimentality. The
Case of Rebellious Susan (1894) dwells on the theme of marital infidelity and The Liars (1897 )
on the problem of divorce. Shaw expressed extreme displeasure against The Liars, but it is a
technically admirable play , though old fashioned. The social problems constituted the themes of
Mrs.Dante’s Defence (1900) but in Dolly Reforming Herself (19808) ‘there is high comedy
and a mellow art instead of the old vehemence’. Jones capitulated to a imperialistic view that
rings in some of his plays , and this attitude hardened after 1914. Jones had bitter tiffs with Shaw
and H.G.Wells over England’s policy on war and peace.

The next playwright of importance in modern drama is Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934)
who was trained in the school of Scribe and Sardou and who never ignored the conventions of
over-imaginative plot construction, great scenes, conventional exposition and a little bit
abundance of ‘asides’. Beginning in 1877, he produced a series of comedies and farces. Although
the plays were, for natural reason, light in substance, they had the imprints of the dramatist’s
expertise in creation and resolution of comic complications. Gradually Pinero became serious.
The Profligate (1889) was an example of Pinero’s technical experiment. He wrote alternative
finale showing either a suicide or a technically happy ending. The theatre folk preferred
the happy denouement of the play, but Pinero closed the play tragically. The Second
Mrs. Tranquery (1893) which was a tragedy about “ a woman with a past”, invites
comparison with several contemporary novels such as Tess, Esther Watres, and Grant
Allen’s The Woman Who Did. The play was published when Ibsen was the target of cruellest
attack. Pinero’s plays received denunciation from Shaw who remarked, justifiably, that the
tragedy of Pinero emanated not from the treatment of the character but from exceptional and
improbable chain of events. Still, the play is remarkable for its admirable exposition and tense
critical scenes. Pinero handled the situation in such a way that he was not only able to evade ‘the
crushing accusations against society’, Ibsen would have faced but achieved the glory of having
produced “good” theatre. His later plays dealt with delicate or , as said, “Pinoretic” subjects. The
Gay Lord Quex (1899) is notable for its wit, its ingenious stage-setting, and its deft adjustment
of the audience’s sympathies whereby the “villain” becomes the “hero”. Pinero technique in
tragedy can be best studied in Iris (1901), old-fashioned though now it is. Mid-Channel (1909),
Pinero’s most powerful play is a study in neurasthenia that finally wrecks the marriage . Pinero
kept on writing till about 1930; but his post war plays are, like Jones’s, of little
consequence.Jones and Pinero may not have been faultless dramatists, but they set examples of
‘formal excellence’ and are acclaimed for their noteworthy contribution to the revival of the
theatre. Simple dismissal of these figures without properly assessing their roles as craftsmen
would not be a fair play.

Practically a new approach in modern drama swayed the English theatre by George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950). Born in Ireland with Yorkshire blood in his veins , he took the advantage of a man
without a country. In London where he passed his youth amidst poverty and struggle, he joined
the socialist movement and became a member of the Fabian Society (1884) whose manifesto he
had written. After initial experiments as a novelist, writing five novels, and as an art critic,
G.B.S., the initials made famous by The Saturday Review (1895-1898), discovered in the drama
the ideal medium for dissemination of his ideas. With William Archer, he had attempted to
collaborate on a play in 1885, but the endeavour did not meet with success. In 1892, being
influenced by Ibsen whom Shaw, however, did not follow as a model, Shaw radically altered the
play giving it the title Widower’s Houses, which was produced by the Independent Theatre
 4
group. Unsophisticated and wacky was the ironical exposure of slum landlordism and municipal
splice, but the characters derived liveliness from the rapid interchange of ideas. The Philanderer
(1893) which remained inside the closet is a disagreeable piece no longer vitalized by its
ephemeral topicalities on the Ibsenites, the vivisectionists, and the “new women”. In Mrs
Warren’s Profession(1894), Shaw widely inveighs against the problem of prostitution , defining
it as the evil of industrialisation. It was subjected to hard censorship, as the social evil, seriously
treated by Shaw, was indigestible by the beneficiaries, the dissembling puritans and the art critics,
yet unaccustomed to such a theme. It is often contemplated that Shaw was influenced by the
“sparkling dialogue and impudent paradoxes” that abound in Oscar Wilde’s comedies, but in
reality Shaw had an innate sense of style that distinguishes his dialogue from the usual trite and
stale traits that mark the dialogues of Jones and Pinero. Arms and the Man (1894), now popular
as the first name of Shaw’s plays outside England, is an anti-romantic comedy which is its sub-
title, derides the strongly prevalent illusory notions of love and heroism. Under the patronage of
Emily Horniman who later financially backed the Irish players the play found success among an
intellectual coterie but failed to win the attention of the larger public.

If people would not visit the theatre to see his plays on stage, they were irresistibly readable.
Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant (1898) collect in the latter category Shaw’s first three pieces and
in the former Arms and the Man, Candida, The Man of Destiny, and You can never tell.
Candida presents the conflict between the large , unpractical vision of a poet and the narrow but
boldly generous opinions of a Christian Socialist clergyman. Candida, the parson’s wife, is the
most charming of Shaw’s heroines, and Shaw designed the role for Ellen Terry. Except in this
play, Shaw avoids emotion till he wrote Saint Joan where he is seen to come close to an
understanding of emotion. By contrasting the historic Bonaparte with the legendary Napoleon,
The Man of Destiny, launches an attack upon the speciousness of martial glory . You Can
Never Tell owes its fame to William the Waiter, one of most memorable comic characters in
English drama. The play is an irresponsible farce comedy, aloof from being one of the social
theses, except the contrast upheld between the kindly wisdom and lowly social status of William,
the Waiter

Three Plays for Puritans (1901) is a compendium of three plays – The Devil’s Disciple,
Captain Brassbound’s Conversion, and Caesar and Cleopatra. The first one is a melodrama
on the American Revolution, the second one is a comedy and the third, Caesar and Cleopatra,
portrays a supremely famous man who cares little for the tradition for the recognition of his own
genius. In the third play, Shaw uses amusing anachronistic topical allusions to give the modern
spectator an awareness of history, but while the play opens admirably with Caesar’s encounter
with Cleopatra, profusion of sheer talk shrouds action and characterisation. Man and Superman
(1903) which always excludes from the stage Act III (the Dream of the Hell) is a bewildering
comedy that portrays a woman’s chase and capture of a disinclined male. Shaw’s apologue in this
play is that marriage is “ a man-trap baited with… delusive idealisations.” The message of the
comedy is revealed in John Tanner’s dream of Don Juan Tenorio and more explicitly conveyed
in the Preface. Shaw tells point blank that woman is the agent of the “Life-Force” which
motivates her more strongly than it does a man towards procreation of man, the supreme of the
species. “With suggestions of Bergson’s doctrine of creative procreation ( the élan vital )and hints
from Schopenhaur, Neitze, and Samuel Butler are combined the ‘advanced’ views on eugenics
and selective breeding.” The philosopher Shaw overpowers Shaw, the dramatist.

Shaw had limited success and enjoyed limited admiration as a dramatist till 1904. From this year
onward, Shaw’s success began to soar and fortune began to favour him. Harley Granville-Barker
 5
and J.E.Vedrene began their brilliant management of the Court Theatre which by 1907 produced
several hundred shows of nearly a dozen of Shaw’s plays. His skill ascended in the same pace
with his fame. The Abbey Theatre for which it was written rejected John Bull’s Other Island, a
wise and witty comedy on Irish character and politics, but it was produced in London and
published with Major Barbara (1907). Major Barbara saw the dramatist at his peak in power
of thought and brilliance of style, and this play, as his masterpiece, would keep up the position of
Shaw in the teeth of the fall of fame of his other plays. Shaw upheld the evil of industrialism in
the munitions business, and his Undershaft, the war-profiteer, illustrates how man conceals self-
interest as duty. The other side of the picture is provided by the Salvation Army that facilitates
the development of the theme, borrowed directly from Samuel Butler, that “poverty is the worst
of crimes” and the lack of money the root of all evil.

The Shavian sun now began to decline. The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet (1909) which is a
play that evinces some understanding of crude religiosity was refused a licence but was staged
in Dublin outside the jurisdiction of the Lord Chamberlain. The trouble that Shaw took to write
the preface seems to be fussy and is a vain exercise. Misalliance (1910) lacks dramatic
excellence and fails to rise above being a “Treatise on Parents and Children”, a note that Shaw
appended to the play. Getting Married (1908) is hardly a play and no better than a tedious
dialogue of some length. The Doctor’s Dilemma (1911) contains incidental attacks upon the
medical profession as an organisation to exploit the public. Shaw wrote this play in response to
Archer’s challenge that Shaw never handled a death scene but his enterprise fails to beat Archer’s
challenge successfully. Fanny’s first play (1911) attained stage success but it uses the old
practice of play-within-the-play and abounds in reminiscences of The Rehearsal and The Critic
to jeer at the drama critics. Androcles and the Lion (1913) is rich with several passages of
solemn beauty, and the lion is really funny. But the play provided mirth to those who were
intellectually not so strong as to to feel affronted at the blend of buffoonery with the different
types of Christian faith seriously presented. The Dark Lady of the Sonnets (1910) entertains the
audience as a comedy of the court of Queen Elizabeth, but its importance lies more in its
argument in favour of National Theatre. Frank Harris attacked Shaw for having filched the “Mary
Fitton” theory from him, but Shaw in his Preface defended Thomas Tyler as the inventor of the
theory. Pygmalion ( 1913) is a satire on snobbery and fails to attain success as having contributed
to educational theory. “That the normalization of Judy O’Gady’s use of the aspirates will make
her the equal of the Colonel’s lady does not carry us very far.”

Shaw’s popularity was at stake owing to misinterpretation of his views on World War I. While
people believed that he was against England’s participation in the war, Shaw actually sought to
disagree with the official justification of the country’s entrance into the conflict. But his
presentation, ill-timed as it was, was such that he, not quite unjustifiably, became the subject of
public hostility as his view in its overtone seemed to support the Germanic standpoint. Shaw
came out with some proposals for peace which influenced Woodrow Wilson. In 1917, the
dramatist came out with his Heartbreak House, which held the ruling classes responsible for the
collapse of the civilisation. As a play, it is an inartistic fusion of discussion and farce. He made
use of parable and symbol and predicted the mood of forthcoming disillusionment that was to
sway the field of literature of the nineteen-twenties. Shaw deals with the theme of creative
evolution in Back to Methuselah (1921), which includes a cycle of five plays. He begins with
the Garden of Eden and peers into the future “as far as thought can reach.” Shaw expounds that
death is a device of natural selection, and prolongation of life will be possible if the need is ever
felt. “ The power that produced Man when the monkey was not up to the mark, can produce a
higher creature than Man if Man does not come up to the mark.” Shaw’s anti-Neo-Darwinism and
 6
his advocacy for a restatement of religious mythology in modern terms are more persuasively
presented in his preface consisting of a hundred pages of finest prose than in the plays
themselves. Saint Joan (1923) was a great hit particularly because an atheist paid high tribute to
a heroine of religion. The characterisation of Joan of Arc being intellectually handled, the
emotional content of religion does not find adequate representation. Remarkably, in the trial
scene, Joan’s enemies are seen to place stronger arguments. Logic wins at the expense of
intuition, as ‘a vortex of pure thought’, as man whom intellect, not emotion, guides at every step
can hardly be expected to comprehend the character of a saint. After Saint Joan , the plays Shaw
wrote such as The Apple Cart (1930) and Geneva (1939) were either topicalities or, to use his
own term, “tomfooleries”.

Shaw told his authorised biographer that his economic studies had played as important a part as
a knowledge of anatomy did in the works of Michael Angelo. He rejected the Marxian theory of
value, and his practical knowledge of the life of the working class and the revolutionists
prompted him to reject the existence of class-conflict. “Revolutionists, he found, were generally
intelligent, and therefore, dissatisfied , members of the bourgeoisie, at war with their own class,
while self-interest attached the proletariat to the capitalistic system which exploited it.” Shaw
gradually drifted away from Marxism and began to believe that public ownership would
ultimately be accepted as the social ethos.

In 1928 the playwright came up with his ideas in a volume The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to
Capitalism, but from the beginning his thrust was to motivate the public to reconsider traditional
value system , especially with regard to economic and sexual relations. To this end, he was never
tired of propagation of his ideas, and was always virile in clowning, shocking and parodying, and
even fighting hard and generously against cruelty and hypocrisy. So strong were his convictions
that he garrulously and persistently talked about them, and was unconsciously led to create a
confusion about art and ethics. This practice turned many of his plays into pieces of propaganda.
Actually, Shaw did not come up with any new ideas of his own; he vigorously and brilliantly
campaigned for the thoughts he liked of other men. Under his attack came the church, the law,
penology, organised medicine and vivisectionists, Neo-Darwinism which he considered cruel,
mindless and futile, and countless other subjects. He derided romantic notion of love because he
always underrated emotion. To him, love is a biological mechanism for the propagation of the
race. War he hated as a human folly, but he believed that at the present stage of evolution , man is
not yet fully civilised so as to avoid primitive habits of destruction although to justify the actions
he puts forward such excuses as justice and patriotism. This view, found expression in Arms and
the Man, brings to light human hypocrisy and the contrast between what man professes and what
he practises. Shaw pulls out the inner soul of the individuals and of the society in order to expose
the villainy that causes men to suffer. Naturally, he was not basically inclined towards individual
characterisation, but was concerned about the problems in character and conduct of universal
import. He did not create villains as such, because, for him, the real villain is the society in its
present form, and unless the society as a whole is reformed desirably, “no man can reform
himself except in the small, insignificant ways.” Actually Shaw wrote not to tell a story but to
speak about his ideas. This would put Shaw’s reputation at stake as either his ideas will find place
in general consciousness or be rejected by the new generation exploring new thoughts. Whatever
may the future tell, it remains a fact that his plays dealing with ideas did not lack in entertainment
value and that they will, even if his ideas are rejected, will keep a room reserved for him in
English drama. “In some plays he does not entirely discard the raisonneur or disinterested tertium
quid of whom Jones and Pinero made so much use; but more frequently, seeking a perpetual
display of contrary arguments, Shaw permits the characters, who are sometimes mere burlesques,
 7
to illustrate and comment upon author’s theses. Often they are more than mouth pieces .” Shaw
called his plays of this kind debated drama as the characters were portrayed through discussion
reflecting their mental and spiritual states in a particular situation rather than through action. In
this connection, it would be pertinent to point out that St. John Hankin (1860-1909) was another
playwright who wrote “drama of ideas” in a sense different from Shaw’s. Hankin believed that
that dramatist’s business is to “represent life, not argue about it.” He did not make his plays
forums to preach ideas in the manner of Shaw , but he used a specific idea , suitable for comedy,
as the central motif of each play. Hankin carefully shunned cheap theatrical effects , sudden
“curtains” and the like. Owing to his special style, his plays are more readable today than most of
the plays of his time. The Cassilis Engagement (1905) is supposed to be his best play, and the
Last of the De Mullins (1908) his most serious.

The dramatist most intimately associated with G.B.S. was Harley Granville-Barker (1877-
1946). whose three important plays all belonged to the first decade of the century. His success
was due to the twin reasons – he was both an actor and producer in his early days. At the Court
Theatre, he played most of Shaw’s famous roles. Ahead of the World War I, he produced
Shakespeare’s plays, and the productions gained immense popularity in stage history for their
beauty and intelligence. With Gordon Craig he was an innovator in methods of mounting and
illumination. In his three books entitled Preface to Shakespeare (4 volumes, 1927-1945), On
Dramatic Method (1931), Associating with Shakespeare ( 1932) he emerges as a brilliant
dramatic critic, particularly Shakespearean. His varied and direct experiences as actor, manager,
producer, playwright, translator, adapter and experimenter made him acquainted with the
practical problems of the theatre and hence his books on the problems of drama have received
widespread admiration.

The first significant play of Granville- Barker , The Marrying of Ann Leete (1901)deals with
the problem of misalliances into which “Life-Force” drives the heroine and her brother Barker
combines ideas suggestive of Shaw and Meredith with elements of fantasy and symbolism.
Prunella (1904) is a light but very charming product , written in collaboration with Laurence
Housman. The Voysey Inheritance (1905) depicts the conflict between two generations – the old
generation is symbolised by the energetic, dishonest father while the sensitive young son
confronting the heritage of debt and dishonour stands for the new generation. The counsel given
by the young man’s sister clashes with the one given by his betrothed , and the conflict is never
resolved, leaving the play in an atmosphere of suspense. Waste (1907) which was denied licence
is a sombre domestic tragedy of a young politician who is bereft of a son he yearned for and his
mistress who died as the result of an operation she underwent in order to escape child-bearing. In
whirlpool of a scandal that ruins his career the young man commits suicide. The Madras House
(1910) is another study of generation conflict and mirrors the ‘feminist’ agitation of the pre-war
years. The Secret Life (1923) reproduces the moral and spiritual desolation prevalent in the post-
war world and raises questions with no answers in response. Granville-Barker was not a prolific
writer, but his works are characterised by an extreme precision in dialogue, an intimate sympathy
with his characters, ‘ a most effective employment of understatement’, cohesive employment of
details to contribute to the mood of the entire play, and a sensitiveness to the subtle relationships
existing between things small and great.

The theatre at Manchester that functioned under the patronage of Miss Horniman helped flourish
many a dramatist of whom William Stanley Houghton (1881-1913) was the most renowned.
His best play , Hindle Wakes (1912) is marked by a frank realism without a doctrine to preach.
The play deals with the problem of “double standard”, and the treatment is austere and genuinely
 8
modern. Fanny passes a holiday at the seaside with Alan, and this creates a scandal. In the face of
it, the parents try to force marriage upon them. Alan who is a young man of weak nerves is
compelled to propose to Fanny, but Fanny refuses to accept the proposal as she does not really
love Alan and does not like to allow a passing affair entangle her life for ever. The play ends with
the problem remaining unresolved.

John Galsworthy, famous as a dramatist, will ironically continue to be remembered for just one
work of fiction rather than for his plays. After writing quite a few novels, he began The Forsyte
Saga when Granville-Barker produced his first play, The Silver Box (1906). In this play,
Galswaorthy launches a scathing attack upon on the society for its differential treatment of two
men, one rich and the other poor, both guilty of the same crime. Strife (1909) presents the
conflict between the capital and the labour, and simultaneously deals with the problems of the
lock-out and the strike. The play ends with the reconciliation that could be discerned at the outset.
The compromise is achieved after both sides come out of the clutches of their obstinate leaders.
Galsworthy’s next play Justice (1910) upholds the playwright more as a humanitarian than as a
writer because the play created a commotion in the society and brought about reforms in prison-
administration. Falder, the protagonist may not be innocent, but he is not a hardcore criminal, and
when he is sentenced to solitary confinement after a theatrically effective trial, one cannot help
believing that the statutes are hostile to the individuals. When, after the dreadful experience in the
prison, Falder tries to seek employment by forging references, he is rearrested, and in his bid to
escape meets death. Galsworthy suggests no solution but just presents the problem, particularly
the problem of disproportionate punishment and social apathy to an ex-prisoner. The Pigeon
(1913) contrasts the treatment of social outcasts by a charitable sentimentalist with that by three
types of social workers. Similarly, the contrast between the “county families” and the neo-rich
constitutes the theme of The Skin-Game that was produced in 1920.In Loyalties (1922) a vulgar
Jew, young in age, from whom a “gentleman” stole money to buy off his former mistress and
who, upon discovery of his crime, shoots himself is treated with deep sympathy. Old English
(1924), which in mood is close to The Forsyte Saga, studies the extinction of the ruggedly
individualistic man of affairs. Galsworthy wrote a dozen plays of less calibre that are no longer
acted or read.

At the beginning of his career, Galsworthy faced pungent criticism for being cold and “inhuman”
in his impartiality, and this criticism later in his later days became far more acute. He was
branded as having been sentimental; his sympathy for the unfortunate was designated aristocratic
patronage, and his pity was said to often become lachrymal. He was also criticised for anxious
seriousness, unrelieved by wit or humour, as much in the theatrical arrangement of his plays as in
his exposure of the defects of the modern society. That Galsworthy often restrains himself from
putting forward a theory of solution of the problem is as indicative of his inability as of his failure
to take firm stand. His compassion, occasionally facile, was directed towards social communities
rather than towards individuals, and his antagonism was, like Shaw’s , was to the institutions
rather than to men and women individually. He advocated that the circumstances that diminish
human happiness, particularly of those who are poor and ill-fated must be purged if society must
protect itself and claim to be civilised in the true sense. The accusation that Galsworthy as a
dramatist was not a reformer is undisputed, but that as a man he was a strong advocate of reforms
is evident in his correspondence with Winston Churchill and other officials of high rank. He was
in favour of social evolution, not revolution; “but in his desire to be just to the under-dog he did
less than justice to the society itself.”

William Somerset Maugham, born in 1874, had a literary career almost like Galsworthy’s.
 9
Remembered more as a novelist, he wrote a number of plays. His first play, A Man of Honour,
was produced in 1903 by the Stage Society when he had already gained reputation as a writer of
fiction. A tragedy generated from a mismatch, a rather well-worn theme, the play had profound
promise , but Maugham failed to exploit it for the sake of polished technique which he favoured
more than anything. The Land of Promise (1909), a comparatively trivial play, has literary
grace, but is reminiscent of Oscar Wilde and the cynicism that it displays reminds one of
Restoration Comedy. His post-war plays, particularly The Constant Wife (1926) is written in the
same manner as The Land of Promise, but The Circle (1921) exhibits his high level of
craftsmanship and is remarkable for being substantial. He was often derided the self-assured pose
of the “bright Young Things” of the post-war generation, and “his somewhat supercilious
sophistication sometimes anticipates the tone of Noel Coward”. In his final phase, Maugham
chose not to appease the audience but write what he wished to express. This took him aloft to a
high level of sincerity and power. The Breadwinner (1930), demonstrative of skill in
craftsmanship and mordant humour seems to have affinity with his novel, The Moon and the
Sixpence. A grim commentary upon the politicians’ promise of “ a land fit for heroes to live in”
is For Services Rendered (1932). Sheppey (1933) is a play of a different character. In the last
act of the play, as the old morality motive of the Coming of Death is introduced, the action shifts
most impressively from the realistic to the symbolic plane. Maugham had followed for long the
melodramatic or farcical path, but gradually his mind diverted to a cynical view of life and
contempt for the world in which he was obliged to live.

While Galsworthy and Maugham will be remembered more for some of their novels than for their
plays, it is quite different in the case of Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) who, like
Galsworthy and Maugham, experimented with some other literary forms before turning to drama.
His early writings sketch with humour and pathos the life of Kirriender, and the Scottish
regionalism of the “Kailyard School” are contents of Auld Licht Idylls (1888) and A Window in
Thrums (1889). Somewhat broader in scope is My Lady Nicotine (1890).The Little Minister
(1891), originally a novel that won success despite its humorous and unabashedly sentimental
tone, attained greater success when it was dramatised in 1897. The Professor’s Love Story
(1894) like The Little Minister is humorous and is steeped in sentimentality. But underneath
the apparent softness lay a hard core Barrie whom we see in the two novels, Sentimental
Tommy (1896) and its sequel Tommy and Grizel (1900). The costume-play Quality Street
(1902) deals with the old theme of lovers reunited after long separation, but the treatment of the
theme is movingly and genuinely tender. In The Admirable Crichton (1902) Barrie presents,
with perfect mastery of art, the imperturbable, sagacious butler who assumes the role of a leader
when the fashionable people, his employers, are wrecked on a desert island. Turning arrogant, he
plans to marry his master’s daughter. Rescued, the party returns to Mayfair, and the butler returns
to his menial rank. The sound social criticism that can be discerned by a sharp eye is confined
under the ground , and is never allowed to clash with the comedy of the situation. Peter Pan
(1904) developed from a somewhat shadowy elfin-child in the volume of fantasies called The
Little White Bird (1902). The boy who dwelling in the “Never-Never Land”refused to grow up
and carried Wendy and his companions to the fairy world , to the pirate ship and to his home on
the tree tops, has assumed the proportions of a myth in the imagination of modern England.
Reality is merged with most delicate art, and although the juvenile readers and spectators will be
highly amused, the combination of humour and adventure with sentimentality does not succeed
inmaking the adult minds relish it. Dear Brutus (1917) in which reality fades into dream and
dream fades into reality is Barrie’s masterpiece. Outside the house of old Lob exists a magic
wood in which each character of a miscellaneous company of guests finds his or her second
chance of life. The third act which has a grim or tragic potentiality is perfectly protected inside
 10
the comic ring, and the moral – that the “fault , dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves” is
clear yet inconspicuous. Barrie’s short war plays did not earn renown. In Mary Rose (1920) a
ghost-story is dramatised with symbolism. Shall We Join the Ladies ? (1921) is a murder play
that begins startlingly but initial charm is not sustained long. The Boy David (1936) achieved
success owing to the dramatist’s renown, and as a play it failed to gain any importance.
Abundance of sensibility and pathos characterise Barrie’s writings, especially in his treatment of
mockery, slyness, and, for all his apparent want of robustness, a disillusioned, quietly ironical
view of life, not without hints of cruelty. He skirts round tragedy constantly availing himself of
the by-path of fantasy. His plays are consequently nearer to the poetic drama than to the drama of
social reform.

Stephens Phillips (1868-1915) heralded the promise for poetic tragedy. He achieved brilliant
success, though brief, and it flickered out soon. Paolo and Francesca, acted in 1902, his first and
best play, was more like an opera but it held the audience in grip for a while. Soon began the
decline of the quality of Phillips’ drama, evident in the lyricism of Herod (1901) and the episodic
spectacles of Ulysses (1904). His later plays do not merit attention, but the large, unsubtle
rhetoric of his plays, neither difficult to speak nor difficult to understand, exotic costumes and
theatrical emotionality, provided the public a charm so long not felt during the era of the problem
plays.

Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948) strenuously applied his non-dramatic poetry to his closely-knit
plays in which there is a brutal force that springs from a primitive content of the poet’s own
nature. After having written three one-act plays, Bottomley wrote The Riding to Lithend (1909),
King Lear’s Wife (1915), and his two finest plays Gruach (1921)and Britain’s Daughter
(1921). They suffered from neglect, and whether they will be revived and admired, only time can
tell.Bottomley’s first five play were collected in 1920; the later plays have not yet appeared in a
collected edition.

Edward J.M.D.Plunkett, Lord Dunsay (1878-1957) was an Irishman who was associated with
the Abbey Theatre for a brief period. He invented a mythology of his own without drawing upon
the Celtic legends for his stories. Among his productions the best are Time and the Gods (1906),
The Book of Wonder (1912), Tales of Wonder (1916), the beautiful masterpiece of little length,
The Charwoman’s Shadow (1926). His more recent books include his experiences of war and
travel into far lands. It is clearly discernible that Maeterlink influenced Dunsay. He sought to
create a symbolism with the help of his stormy gods and helpless mortals, but the symbolism is
too elusive to catch. Still the playwright achieved effects of weird, romantic beauty despite
working within narrow limits and despite his failure to avoid repetition. The Gods of the
Mountain (1914) and A Night at an Inn (1917) are among his best plays.

John Masefield who was a poet laureate obviously owes his fame to poetry. Still he wrote some
plays and has found for himself a niche in the history of British drama. A grim story, culminating
in a moment of sheer horror posited against the background of the Seven river and its mighty
tides constitutes the theme of The Tragedy of Nan (1909) which was produced in Manchester.
The play easily reminds one of Synge’s Riders to the Sea. But a problem lies in the fact that
what is natural in the west of Ireland is less appropriate to the west of England. A dignified prose
style is employed to better purpose in The Tragedy of Pompey the Great (1910). Good Friday
(1915) carried hints for the next play A King’s Daughter (1923) that is based on the story of
Jezebel. His other works include The Trial of Jesus (1925), The Coming of Christ (1933) and
Easter (1928). Tristan and Isolt (1927) and End and Beginning (1933), on Mary Queen of
 11
Scots, are, like the plays on biblical themes. They are “noble” even though the attempt to
interweave verse and prose, dialogue and choruses is not entirely successful. Masefield trekked
past-ward to the medieval mystery play in his quest for freedom from modern conventionalities
of form and diction.

An actor and author of several plays, now forgotten, was John Drinkwater (1882-1937) whom
Abraham Lincoln (1918) made famous. It allegorically deals with the theme of a captain slain at
a moment when, after braving many a tempest, the ship arrives ashore. The play received a
overwhelming response and swayed the whole race when the optimistic leader and his comrades,
with malice towards none and charity for all, were seeking to heal the wounds of a ravaged
nation. The play is now not appreciated much, but it remains memorable not only for the nobility
of sentiment, depiction of high ethos and dignity of versification but manoeuvring of history to
raise the barren fact to a high point of art. Later plays , Mary Stuart (1921), Oliver Cromwell
(1921) and Robert E. Lee (1923) were not inconsequential , but the public attention did not
desirably veered towards them.

While Shaw and Galsworthy turned dramatists after an affair with novels, T.S.Eliot whose
contribution to modern drama is ever admired began as a poet. If all his poetical works are
forgotten, he will be remembered for The Wasteland (1922) which had a tremendous impact on
the pos-war generation and is considered an important document of the age. In a sense, Eliot
reminds us of Galsworthy whose The Forsyte Saga will keep him immortal even if all his plays
find place in the British museum. Eliot wrote seven dramas – Sweeney Agonistes (1926-27), The
Rock (1934), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939) The Cocktail
Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk (1953), The Elder Statesman (1958). They contain, after
the Elizabethan plays, the best dramatic poetry and indicate Eliot’s emotional growth, but they
fail to contain the essential qualities of drama. Sweeney Aginistes has little dramatic conflict or
does not show character development, and its importance rests on the accentual verse of his later
works. The Rock is concerned with religious matters and the main interest of this pageant play
lies in the choruses of superb merit. In Murder in the Cathedral dramatic elements are
discernible in the moving speeches of the Chorus of the women of Canterbury, and while there is
confrontation between the Church and the State, Becket suffers from an inner conflict. This play
is often valued as the best of Eliot’s drama. The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party
present modern characters. Like Four Quartets, these plays too are concerned with the theme of
rebirth and regeneration. The Confidential Clerk (1953) is a thought-provoking play which
contains, under its comic surface, serious questions as to the nature of identity and the effects of
heredity. It also projects the importance of grappling one’s true self.

In respect of drama, the mid-Victorian period was a wasteland. Many of the major poets tried
drama, but while they all failed to achieve success, most of them never saw the stage. The
professional theatre was reviled by the respectable audience as a place of vice. The popular pieces
of the day were melodrama, farces and sentimental comedies which, having no literary qualities,
were poor in dialogue and weak in characterisation, and relied for their success upon sensation,
rapid action, and spectacle.The respectable people avoided theatre as a place of vice. Dion
Boucicault (1822-90) was the most prominent writer of melodrama. Naturally, the Shakespearean
plays were staged to meet the demand for real drama, and in 1879 the Shakespeare Memorial
Theatre was built at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Against this background, the birth of modern drama took place, and there was a great transition
from romantic and historical themes to domestic matters and social affairs. While T.W.Robertson
 12
showed the way, and Jones and Pinero followed him , though not blindly and totally. Shaw
dragged this tendency farther ahead and in his hands drama became serious, dealing as they did,
with serious personal, domestic or social problems. While the social problems in their variety
constituted the themes of the dramas of ideas, Ibsen tore off the veil of sex. Alongside social
problems, psychological issues were included in order to heighten the effect of the drama of
ideas, and social conflicts were upheld by Shaw as wells as Galsworthy. The new drama was
brought aground, but lacking chiefly in poetry, they were too realistic and intellectual to set the
imagination afire. The theatre-going public did not go to see their own problems presented on the
stage, but they wanted entertainment. This aspect was , except in comedies, which too were
serious in vein, was sidestepped and drama tended to lapse into mere ‘social photography’.

Alongside, there was a repertory movement in England and Ireland. This movement was
necessary to create audience for the new drama – the drama of ideas and the problem plays.
Repertory companies were founded in several places. The leading role was taken by Miss
Horniman (1860-1937) who abandoned the Abbey Theatre and founded Miss Horniman’s
Company which ultimately turned into Manchester Repertory Company. It encouraged writing of
realistic problem plays in the new tradition. Other repertory companies were founded in
Liverpool (1911) and Birminham(1926). But the most important event was the creation of the
Irish National Theatre in Dublin. The idea was cherished long by W.B.Yeats, and Miss
Horniman helped found the Abbey Theatre , of which Synge, Yeats and Lady Gregory were
directors. Of the dramatists who wrote for the theatre, Yeats and Synge conceived drama as a
vehicle of emotions, and shunning photographic realism, searched out their themes in legends,
folklores and the peasantry of Ireland.

Synge’s meeting with W.B.Yeats in 1899 changed the course of his life. Yeats persuaded him to
abandon Bohemian life and come to Ireland and the Isles of Aran. In the new place, Synge was
influence by the beauty of his surroundings, and the humour, tragedy and poetry of the simple
fisher-folk, and was impressed by the loveliness of the native dialect. In 1903 the Abbey Theatre
in Dublin produced his The Shadow of the Glen, and then he joined Lady Gregory and
W.B.Yeats as a director for the theatre for which he wrote six plays. Synge is hailed as the
“greatest dramatist in the rebirth of the Irish Theatre.” Not many play did he write, but the few
that he wrote have occupied for him a place in the history of English drama. The Shadow of the
Glen (1903), a comedy founded on the an old folktale presents a romantic picture of Irish peasant
life, but the play did not enjoy appreciation. The Riders to the Sea (1904), a one act play, that
followed The Shadow of the Glen is a powerful, deeply moving tragedy that deals with the
omnivorous sea swallowing up the islanders who are bound to stay in despite their helplessness
before the sea that represents the malicious fate. Apparently simple, the play has a grandeur that a
spectator or a reader without a discerning eye would miss. The Well of the Saints (1905) is a
fantastic comedy based on a legend of Franco-Irish character. It was not staged for three years,
and meanwhile was produced The Tinker’s Wedding (1907), a two-act play, of not much merit.
The Playboy of the Western World (1907) took Synge to the peak of success. Though based on
an old legend, it is broader in scope, woven around Christy Mahon, the central character. A funny
comedy, full of vitality, the play was not well-received in Ireland for the satirical treatment of the
Irish character, but in England it was received with high enthusiasm. Synge’s last play, Deirdre
of the Sorrows (1910) , also based on a legend, deals with the themes of love and death tragically
but gloriously interwoven. “the play is simple in theme and in structure, but the sustained beauty
of its prose , the depth of the experiences which it handles, and the unity of its tragic effect give
to its simplicity a tremendous majesty.”
 13
The inter-war years produced dramatists of no small merit. Sean O’Casey (1884-1964) who
worked as a labourer and lived in a slum of Dublin presents his direct experience of life vividly in
his early plays. The first play of O’Casey, who received in 1926 received the Hawthornden
Prize, The Shadow of a Gunman was produced in the Abbey Theatre in 1923. The slums of
Dublin and its squalid crowd form the setting, and the play is a faithful study of the Anglo-Irish
war, depicting its bloodiness and violence that caused tremendous miseries to the people. In Juno
and the Peacock (1924) having a woman as its chief character like the former play, is a
definitely mature play and is considered to be his masterpiece. Again the Dublin slums constitute
the setting; and time covers the civil disturbances of 1922. An intensely powerful play, it
emphasises a bitter tragedy under the film of grotesque humour. The play is famous for the three
characters – juno, her worthless husband and his companion Joxer Daly. His next play The
plough and the Stars (1926), is a tragic play handling the historical Easter rising of 1916. The
play too combines deep tragedy with grotesque humour, and exposes the futility and horror of
war. His next play The Silver Tassie (1929) was not staged by the Abbey Theatre, even though ‘
it is considered the most powerful tragedy of our day’. The theme is the World War I and the play
portrays the grimness of war through a footballer hero who return from war in a paralytic
condition. The play depicts of the intolerable suffering caused by the war, and claims acclamation
for the combination of prose with ‘rhythmic chanted verse’. Several other plays were written by
O’Casey, but they are of less importance. Casey’s plays are remarkable for their realistic detail as
his experience of the Dublin slums was firsthand, and like Synge he discovered the magic charm
of the language of the ordinary folk he dealt with. His dialogue is vivid, racy, and metaphorical
while his prose is rhythmical and imaginative. Comedy is coated over the grim, and tragic
sadness that lie underneath.

Sir Noel Coward (1899-1973) wrote in abundance, but that was the cause of lack of success. He
began I ‘ll Leave It to You (1920) and The Young Idea (1923), both light comedies. The Rat
Trap (1924) and some of the plays that later wrote were satires on the county society, the newly
grown rich class, and conventional morality. Coward confronted disdain for his three plays The
Vortex (1924), Fallen Angels (1925) and Easy Virtue (1926). His next plays Bitter Sweet
(1929), Private Lives (1930), Cavalcade (1931), Conversation Piece (1934), Blithe Spirit
(1941), Present Laughter (1943) and This Happy Breed (1943) were frivolous yet sentimental.
“his popularity rested on the brilliance of a sophisticated but rather shallow wit, blasé yet cynical,
which produced dialogue of scintillating epigrams; the appeal to sentiment popular at the
moment; the effervescent excitement which was the dominant mood of many of his later plays;
and above all his superb theatrical technique.”

J.B.Priestley (b.1894) wrote more than thirty plays beginning with Dangerous Corner (1932).
He achieved great popularity for the width of his range – comedy, farce, morality and social
criticism. Fascinated by The Serial Universe (1934) and An Experiment with Time (1927) of
J.W.Dunne, he took to handling the theme of time in his plays – Time and the Conways (1937),
I have Been Here Before (1937) An Inspector Calls (1946). An Inspector Calls contains
unexpected time-shift in order to illustrate Priestley’s humanitarianism and his repulsion against
social affectation. Priestley’s plays show him as a serious social reformer and yet as a plain man.
His characters are soundly drawn, the dialogue pungent, and his plays are theatrically successful.
He lacked poetic insight and that was the cause of his plays not being works of excellence while
he handled the theme of metaphysical problems that absorbed his mind.Laburnum Grove (1933)
Eden End (1934) and When We are Married (1938) are his conventional comedies.

James Birdie (1888-1951) which is the pen-name of Henry Mavor, became a famous dramatist at
 14
the age of forty. His plays are a peculiar mixture of argument, philosophy, violent incident, wit
and whimsical fancy. He displays delight in romance, which bears witness to the youthfulness of
his mind; still his plays do not suffer from want of argumentative passages. His chief interest lay
in the study of characters, and in this field he was at his best when he dealt with the Scots. He
wrote more than thirty plays, pointing to the versatility of his genius, while the use of prologue
and old-fashioned soliloquy speak of his individuality as a playwright. His plays have good first
acts, but he seems to be in a quandary in the middle. His dialogue is apt, and is enlivened by a
ready wit, and some of his better known plays are The Anatomist (1931), Tobias and the Angel
(1932), Jonah and the Whale (1932), A Sleeping Clergyman (1933) Dr Angelus (1947) and
Daphne Laureola(1949).

Eugene O’Neil (1888-1953) is the first American dramatist of international importance. He wrote
his first play in 1913, and the Provinceton Players produced his earliest work.He was
acknowledged as a talented writer very soon and in 1920, he received the Pulitzer Prize. O’Neil
started realistically, but soon gave up the method after Anna Christie (1922) that dealt with the
theme of the redemption of a prostitute. He started experiments with new techniques of
presentation, new forms and original dialogue. He uses asides and soliloquies in Strange
Interlude (1931), and this method carries on the action at two levels. He revived the chorus and
used highly stylised speeches. He is, as result, often obscure, and his audience cannot always
have a clear idea of what he means to say. He is , however, “ a dramatist of immense force and
powerful imagination, and his best plays show a real sense of the theatre.” As a serious dramatist
O’Neil shows concern about the major issues of his time – religion, philosophy, psycho-analysis,
and scientific thoughts. This is evident in his plays like Dynamo (1929), Mourning Becomes
Electra (1931). His Days without End is a play of great length, at least twice the normal one,
and his Iceman Cometh (1946) is a play of ten acts. O’Neil is by far the greatest exponent of
‘expressionist drama’ that was concerned less with society and more with man. Its objective is
deep, subjective, psychological analysis, and it sought to deal with the subconscious. Among
O’Neil’s famous plays are included The Emperor Jones (1920), Beyond the Horizon (1920),
The Hairy Ape (1922) A Long Day’s Journey into the Night (1956).

Since the time of Sheridan and Goldsmith, people missed the comic pleasure, and when they
came to the theatre, their minds were reflected in their sullen faces. Robertson initiated the
growth of new comedy , presenting a gently view of life as it existed. His lead was followed by
H.A.Jones and by Oscar Wilde, who took the comedy of manners to the highest ever point.

W.S.Gilbert followed their footsteps, though with a difference. The time simultaneously saw the
rise of poetic dram in a new form. Despite the efforts of the major Victorians poets, there was no
palpable sign of poetic drama till 1920 , but the atmosphere being realistic and naturalistic, it was
not congenial for healthy growth of this genre. At the Abbey Theatre, Yeats attempted to put
poetry on stage but he failed as he lacked the essential qualities of a dramatist. Stephen Phillips
and Masefield had little success, but Gordon Bottomley (1874-1948) who wrote a number of
poetic dramas were staged only by the amateur groups. John Drinkwater began his career with
poetic dramas which include Rebellion (1914), The Storm (1915), The God of Quiet, and X=
O: A Night of Trojan War (1917), but the true poetic drama had to wait till Synge whose plays,
though not written in verse, had all the qualities of this genre. Incomplete will remain a
discussion on the modern without the mention of the foreign dramatists, particularly Ibsen. He
became known in England in 1890 and his contribution lay in offering impetus to the realist
movement, the deeper study of character and subtler conception of plot and construction. Other
influence came from Bjornstjerne , the Norwegian, August Strindberg, the Swede, Chekhov,
 15
Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, the Russians.

The wartime black was responsible for the closure of the London theatres for some time, but
when they reopened not long after, they avoided the ‘gaiety of leave entertainment’ that captured
the taste of the wra years. C.E.M.A.( Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts) and
E.N.S.A. (Entertainment s National Service Association) took drama into the provinces, even to
the smallest villages, to the places where there were army camps and workers’ hostels. This
created an upsurge in the dramatic interest of the public. C.E.M.A. was converted into Arts
Council, a body that supported the theatre groups , especially the smaller ones which solely
depended on the state grants. The Old Vic Theatre Company which enjoyed enormous prestige
during and after the war, became a victim of the government’s austerity drive, particularly its
centres that conducted training and the Children’s theatre, but in 1963 the Old Vic became the
temporary home of the National Theatre company. The subsidized drama increased the number of
annual festivals where the tourists gathered chiefly to entertain themselves with plays. The Royal
Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford and its sister-company based in London were built, and
alongside thrived university theatres and theatres sponsored by local authorities, which motivated
the younger generation to develop interest in drama.

In the forties drama was dominated by three personalities. Christopher Fry ( b.1907)
expounded the vitality of verse drama and caught the mood of the times in the brilliantly
sensational witticism of The Boy with a Cart (1939), A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946) and The
Lady’s Not for Burning (1949). Sir Terence Rattigan (1911-77) won stupendous success in
his neat presentation of human relationships as in Flare Path (1942), The Winslow Boy (1946),
The Browning Version (1948), Separate Tables (1954), Ross (1960) and Cause
Celebre(1977). Peter Ustinov (b.1921) who acted in many of his plays arrested admiration with
his The Love of Four Colonels (1951) and Romanoff and Juliet (1956).

Soon to follow in mid 1950’s was the influence of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), a dramatist
famous for his use of songs and music, his humanitarian communism, and ‘his insistence on the
alienation of the audience and the actor from the character even as he pjects his plays in the midst
of the spectators. After Brecht, the most important influence was was Samuel Becket, formerly
James Joyce’s secretary, who wrote in French. Waiting for Godot (1952) which was translated
in English in 1954 The play is static and uses apparently rambling language to suggest the
neurotic society and mankind gullibly surrendering giving away its natural freedom. The foreign
dramatists who exercised great influence are Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Edward
Albee from the USA,; Weiss and Hochhuth from Germany; Durrenmatt from Switzerland; Ugo
Betti from Italy , Cocteau, Genet, Ionesco, Anouilh , and Sartre from France; and Arrabal from
Spain.

With television flashing in every home, a revolution took place in playwriting. Some dramatists
write solely for television. The names that must be mentioned are Alun Owen, Clive Exton, and
John Mortimer who wrote only for the small screen. However, it is very difficult to assess their
merit for want of scripts; moreover, a television show can have enormously elaborate background
that often compensates for any deficiencies a stage play cannot avoid.

The mid-twentieth century produced some dramatists who deserve solid acclamation. Peter
Levin Shaffer (b.1926) wrote superbly constructed plays, and in Five Finger Exercise (1958)
he examined a broken family that outwardly maintain a façade of respectability. The conflict
between idealism and evil concerned him, and he brought it to the notice in the historical
 16
spectacle of The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), The Battle of the Shrivings (1970) and
Equus (1973). The new stage theories were exploited by John Whiting (1915-63), even in his
A Penney for a Song (1954) an imaginative farce. While Marching Song (1954) dealt with
theme of self-destruction with high tension but not action, The Devils ( 1961) handling the theme
of salvation and destruction, good and evil, was in imitation of Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of
Loudun. Brecht was followed very deeply by Robert Oxton Bolt (b.1924) in A Man for All
Seasons (1960) which, while dealing with Thomas More’s strivings against various antagonists ,
also assayed to determine the principles for which he would die. He turned to the theme of power
politics and the clash of ambitions in Vivat! Vivat, Regina(1970), Flowering Cherry (1957) had
made him successful for the first time . Set in the present, it dealt with self-destruction in its bid
to conceal failure.

The establishment of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court theatre led English to a new
path. While determined to present the best foreign plays, it also encouraged the new native
writers and new ideas. In its venture, it produced John James Osborne (b. 1929) whose Look
Back in Anger (1956) deals with the Angry Young Man. It is ‘a tragic-comic depiction of the
failure, the liar, and the irresponsible’ tinged with nostalgia for the past considered better than the
present. A more well-written play , in collaboration with Anthony Creigton, handles the same
topic , The Entertainment (1957) in which the same theme is repeated was meant to aid a star
actor. Some of the plays he wrotelater did not become successful, but Luther (1961) regained for
him the fame. Inadmissible Evidence (1964) which demonstrates the anti-hero’s contempt for for
the hypocrisy and outdated laws was notably successful, but in his zest to assail everything and
his passion for abnormalities of sex , Osborne’s fame declined and his plays Plays for England
(1963), A Patriot for Me (1965), West of Suez (1971) and Watch it Come Down (1976), not
being successful, show that the dramatist lost his way. John Arden (b.1930) who, with the
assistance of his wife, wrote many experimental pieces for amateurs achieved success wth Live
Like Pigs (1958), written in the Brechtian manner. Arden’s best work was Serjeant Musgrave’s
Dance (1950) in which he dealt with very real people involved in a situation and are quest of
principles to guide them. Ann Jellicose (b.1927) wrote fascinating plays like The Sport of My
Mad Mother (1956) and The Knack (1961) in which she uses semi-articulate dialogue to show
the violent, unorganised world of the teenager where life means insecurity and meaninglessness.
Norman Frederick Simpson (b. 1919) wrote a number of plays, some among them are farces,
like A Resounding Tinkle(1957), One-Way Pendulum, (1959) The Cresta Run (1965). The
Theatre Royal , Stratford (East London) was from 1953 to 1961 the Theatre Workshop of Joan
Littlewood were responsible for producing a number of playwrights . The most notable among
them were Brendan Behan (1923-64) and Shelagh Delany (b.1939).Behan’s plays have little
plot but he handled numerous themes. His comedy The Quare Fellow (1954) was a better
production than The Hostage (1958) , a melodrama on Irish troubles. Shelagh Delaney became
famous for his mingling of sordid realism and dream fantasy in A Taste of Honey (1958) in
which he depicts the innocence of young love and, by contrast, the conflicts of mother-daughter
relationship and homosexuality.

Arnold Wesker (b.1932) was a prominent figure in the post-war drama whose trilogy Chicken
Soup with Barley (1958), Roots (1959), I’m Talking About Jerusalem (1960) dealt with the
search of the East End Jews for security, principles and happiness. Concerned about the lot of the
working class, he gradually came to believe that there was a lack of progress, Wesker often
showed his inclination towards nineteenth socialism. Wesker founded Centre 42, which took the
arts to the neglected classes. The cause of the East End Jews was the concern of another
playwright, Bernard Kops (b.128) who wrote The Hamlet of Stepney Green (1956), and The
 17
Dream of Peter Mann (1960). The plays show an admixture of fantasy and social message, wit,
song, dance and invectives., and occasional touches of sentimentality. There is a new toughness,
even cynicism, in the arrogantly comic play Enter Sally Gold (1962). Henry Livings (b.1929),
exposing people and their needs in a dehumanised world, and their stupidity is almost close to the
theatre of the absurd. His plays are strings of incidents, each relating to a character, yet he
displays a great variety of styles. Big Soft Nellie (1961) is almost a plot-less play which was
followed by Nil Carborundum(1962)a Services comedy. Kelly’s Eye (1963) was a sensational
melodrama, and Eh? (1964) a screwy farce. David Mercer (b.1928) gives pictures, through
short scenes, monologues and outpourings of wit, of nerve-wrecked people seeking relief from
tension in wild behaviour and eccentricity. His plays point out that in the modern world of ‘sick,
hurry and divided aims,’ one must rebel against it or find a way of escape. Notable among his
plays are Ride a Cock Horse (1965), A Suitable Case for Treatment(1966), After Haggarty
(1970) and Duck Song (1974). David Storey also finds that madness or craziness is the way of
escape from this the inhospitable climate of the present world, but unlike Henry livings, his
comedies are more conventional in form with a central incident that engages a number of people
expressing their own views about the society. His important plays are The Restoration of
Arnold Middleton (1966),The Contractor (1969), The Changing Room (1971) and Life Class
(1974).Tom Stoppard (b.1937), a Czech who settled in England, was under deep influence of
Becket and earned fame for his Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966). His
characters suffer from isolation, and they do nothing but philosophise. Their acts, words and ideas
are devoid of relevance. Stoppard’s next plays include The Real Inspector Hound (1968), but
his reputation in the commercial world was heightened by Jumpers (1972), Travesties (1974)
and Dirty Linen (1976).Harold Pinter (b.1930) came out with The Birthday Party (1958), The
Dumb Waiter (1960) and The Caretaker (1960) which, marked by the influence of Beckett,
build up the sense of menace and unrestrained violence. The plays are quite short and set in an
enclosed, claustrophobic space; the characters are neurotic and schizophrenic. Pinter’s more
recent works include A Night Out (1961), The Home Coming (1965) written on a larger scale,
but his preference for shorter play impelled him to produce Silence (1969), and Old Times
(1971). Pinter’s chief contribution lies in his ability to transform radio and television plays to suit
the stage. He also showed that traditional drama could gain enough from the techniques used by
the radio and television plays. John Clifford Mortimer ( b. 1923) too earned name and fame by
adopting the methods from radio and television. His Dock Brief (1957) was developed from a
TV script. His plays express sympathy for the lonely, the neglected , the unsuccessful as in The
Wrong Side of the Park (1960) and Two Stars for Comfort (1972). His more successful
comedies are Collaboration (1973) and The Bells of Hell (1977); and his tender,
autobiographical review of an era is demonstrated by A Voyage Round My Father (1970).

It has come to be accepted that the author and the actor must create an impact on the audience by
means of situations that are horrifying, shocking and even disgusting. Edward Bond (b. 1935)
belongs to this group of writers who uses terse imagery and unambiguous language. He considers
that “ all authority is evil, man is in social, political and mental chains, and the world is a place of
despair. Saved (1965), Narrow Road to the Dee[ North (1968), Lear (1971), Bingo (1974) and
The Fool (1975) are his important works, each one being an imaginatively different expression of
his basic philosophy. Giles cooper (1918-66) wrote two comedies, Everything in the Garden
(1962) and Happy Family (1966) which were more than satires on the middle classes, revealing
a cheerless society without hope of amelioration. The exposition of a middle class morality was
the basis of The Rattle of a Simple Man (1963), Staircase (1963)and Mother Adam (1970) by
Charles Dyer(b.1928) The theatre of Cruelty was exploited by David Rudkin (Afore Night
Came, 1962)and Johny Speight ( The Knacker’s Yard, 1962), but Joe Orton (1933-67) was a
 18
writer of ‘black farce’ where humanity is characterised by violence, death, cruelty, and
callousness. His lack of concern with morality and brilliant wit upgraded his Entertaining Mr
Sloance (1954), Loot (1967) and What the Butler Saw (1969). E.A. Whitehead (b.1933) did
not write comic plays; they are pessimistic depictions of lazy, unheroic lives and valueless day-
dreams, but softened by their compassion towards the women victims of this sleazy world. His
noteworthy plays are The Foursome(1971), Alpha Beta (1972) and The Sea Anchor (1974).
Frank Marcus ( b.1928) seemingly wrote from a woman’s point of view , though the situations
he handled are very complex.

Alan Bennet (b.1934) and Christopher Hampton (b. 1946) made various experiments, but
ultimately they remained traditional. In Forty Years On (1968), Getting On (1971) Habeas
Corpus (1973) he ridicules the refined society, with nostalgia for the past ideals , for lack of real
values. Christopher Hampton’s plays are as much middle class comedy as social documents
with historical value as evident in When Did You Last See My Mother? (1967) The
Philanthropist (1970) Savages (1973) Treats (1976) . A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1967)
by Peter Nichols (b.1927) sensitively depicts the condition of a spastic with legible commentary
on marriage. His Forget Me not Lanes (1971) recalls the war years through the eyes of young
people. It is a comedy that combines music, personal memories, impersonations and moments of
history. The National Health (1969) and Chez Nous (1974) are acerbic satires in a language
that forces one to listen even when it hurts. The study would remain incomplete without the
mention of two dramatists whose plays hit the box-offices. William Douglas Home (b.1912)
became famous for his The Chiltern Hundreds (1947) followed by The Reluctant Debutante
(1955) The Secretary Bird (1969) and The Kingfisher (!977). The other name is Alan
Ayckbourn (b.1939) who had an individual style , evident in his Relatively Speaking (1967),
How the Other Half Loves (1970) and Norman Conquests(1974), a trilogy.

Modern drama, as we see from our study, is dominated more by comedy than tragedy. Robertson,
and Brecht had considerable influence on the dramatists, and Irish theatre contributed enormously
to the development of modern English drama. Realism and social problems were the guiding
force of the playwrights, and poetic drama was revived by Yeats and T.S.Eliot. In the inter-war
period this was highly appreciated because of theatre-lovers’ dissatisfaction with realism and
naturalistic prose dialogue. In spite of considerable experiments by rich talents, the inter-war
period was not congenial for poetic drama. The minds of the war-ravaged people temporarily
sought to forget their bloody experience, but after a period incubation, the real world, now more
horrible, regained their consciousness. The war formed the attitude of the dramatists, and a
palpable break from the conventional drama, not altogether de-linked from the tradition, was
visible. The rising of the middle class and the industrial bourgeoisie developed a new taste, and in
the absence of the royal patronage, the dramatists had to seek support from elsewhere. The arrival
of the cinema with its wider scope of presentation bedimmed the theatre, and particularly the
masses of lower taste and the war-stricken people thronged the cinema to find entertainment, they
did not find in the theatre. The dramas became more and more obscure, with a subcutaneous
significance under the smooth surface, and the dialogue was not so simple as even the plays of
Shaw and Galsworthy. Experiments continued unabated with regard to techniques of
presentation, and the roles of light and sound were a part of the production.

From 1890 to 1920, the pursuit of realism and naturalism dominated the field, though Yeats and
Synge were not content with realism. Gradually, a shift from realism was explored by the
dramatists, and the greatest inter-war dramatist O’Casey who based his plays on the stark slum
life of Dublin “really transformed his work into poetry.” Writers such as J.M.Barrie and
 19
A.A.Milne catered to the demand of sentimentalism, and from this trend was not free his realistic
play Journey’s End (1929).another interesting feature of the modern play was its concern with
the post mortem life manifest in plays like Outward Bound (1923) by Sutton Vane. The
comedy, as we have said, was the ruling force, and the satirical and cynical work of Somerset
Maugham and the blasé (nonchalant) sophistication of Noel Coward anticipated the atmosphere
of the later twenties.

The history plays were immensely popular, and were received by the audience with a little less
fervour than they received the comedy with. Though Shaw used some historical themes, actually
John Drinkwater was responsible for setting the trend. After writing four short plays, he
produced Abraham Lincoln (1918) which expressed the popular sentiments and achieved great
success. The study of Lincoln, at once the statesman of vision and ideals and the homely family
man was interspersed with the poetical choruses to produce an overall sense of dignity.
Drinkwater was, however, not so successful with his Oliver Cromwell (1921) and Robert E.Lee
(1923).

Of the new experiments, the most influential was ‘expressionism’. Expressionist drama was
concerned not with the society but with man. Its purpose was to present a deep, subjective,
psychological analysis, not so much of an individual as of a type, and it dealt with the
subconscious. The hitherto-used dramatic forms and methods of expression were inadequate, and
the dramatists sought unrestricted freedom. In the expressionistic dramas, the dialogue was
cryptic and patterned, and there was a combination of verse and prose. Symbolic figures,
embodiments of inner, secret impulses, were introduced on the stage in an attempt to make clear
the psychological complexities of character. Such a drama, by its very nature, difficult, and it did
not stay in the field for long. As a matter of fact, the most extreme forms of expressionism were
never practied; The British dramatists did not wholeheartedly welcome the new sentimental ideas,
and expressionism soon became a thing of the past. Of expressionist English dramatists, the most
important figure was Eugene O’Neil, and Elmer Rice (1892-1967), his countryman, wrote only
one play of this kind - The Adding Machine. In Britain, the influence of expressionism is seen
in O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie and Priestley’s Johnson over Jordan.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sibaprasad Dutta (better to call S.P.Dutta) is at present engaged in research-based literary work.

Books consulted: 1.Literary History of England ed. A.C. Baugh (Volume IV)
2.History of English Literature by Albert
3. History of English Literature by Legouis and Cazamian
4. History of English Literature by Ifor Evans
5.The Typical Forms of English Literature by A.H.Upham
6. British Brama by Alardice Nicoll
7.The Oxford Literary History of English Literature by Pat Rogers
8.Oxford Concise Companion to English Literature by Margaret Drabble and
Jenny Stringer.
9. Cambridge History of English Literature.
10. History of English Literature by David Daiches