Restoration Theatre Practice Questions

Correct answer: The Restoration of Charles II

When Charles II returned from exile in France in 1660, he issued royal patents creating two licensed theatre companies. This ended the Puritan suppression of the stage that had begun with Parliament's closure order in 1642.

Correct answer: The appearance of women on the professional stage

Charles II's royal patent explicitly permitted women to play female roles for the first time on the professional English stage. This replaced the Elizabethan tradition in which prepubescent boys performed women's parts.

Correct answer: Comedy of Manners

The Comedy of Manners — exemplified by Wycherley's 'The Country Wife' (1675) — satirized the affectations, intrigues, and sexual mores of the upper classes through witty dialogue and a cynical view of marriage. Sentimental Comedy was a later 18th-century reaction that emphasised virtue and emotion rather than wit.

Correct answer: The Proscenium Arch

Influenced by French and Italian theatre design, Restoration playhouses moved indoors and adopted the proscenium arch — a frame around the stage opening. This allowed the use of painted shutters and wing-and-groove scenery for rapid scene changes.

Correct answer: A man foolishly obsessed with fashion and appearance

The 'Fop' was a stock comic character representing vanity and superficiality. He was typically used for satirical comedy and served as a foil to the more genuinely clever 'Rake' hero, mocking the era's excessive concern with fashion and social performance.

Correct answer: Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn was a prolific and successful writer who broke gender barriers in the 17th century. 'The Rover' remains a staple of Restoration drama for its complex plot and exploration of female agency.

Correct answer: An actress playing a female character disguised as a man

Breeches roles allowed actresses to wear tight-fitting male attire (breeches), which was considered provocative and drew large audiences. The device also served as a plot mechanism for disguise and mistaken identity, common in Restoration comedies.

Correct answer: Its intricate plot and brilliantly polished wit

Though 'The Way of the World' (1700) struggled at the box office on opening, it is now celebrated as the pinnacle of the Comedy of Manners for its intricate legal sub-plots and the sophisticated verbal sparring between Mirabell and Millamant.

Correct answer: Heroic Couplets

Restoration Heroic Drama was written in heroic couplets — rhymed iambic pentameter pairs — to give the plays a grand, elevated, epic quality. John Dryden was the principal architect of the form, as seen in 'The Conquest of Granada' (1670–71).

Correct answer: A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage

Jeremy Collier's 1698 pamphlet attacked the licentiousness of Restoration comedies and their failure to punish vice. His critique accelerated the shift from the cynical Comedy of Manners toward the more moralistic Sentimental Comedy of the early 18th century.

Correct answer: The King's Company and the Duke's Company

Charles II granted royal patents to Thomas Killigrew (the King's Company) and William Davenant (the Duke's Company). These two companies held a monopoly on professional London drama, a system that lasted until the Licensing Act of 1737.

Correct answer: Antony and Cleopatra

Dryden's 'All for Love' (1677) adapted Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' into a more tightly structured drama observing closer to the classical Unities of time, place, and action. It is a prime example of how the Restoration reinterpreted Elizabethan material for a new audience.

Correct answer: A witty, fashionable, and sexually promiscuous male hero

The 'Rake' (or Libertine) was the quintessential Restoration comic hero — valuing wit and pleasure above conventional morality. Dorimant in Etherege's 'The Man of Mode' is the archetype: charming, amoral, and irresistible to other characters and audiences alike.

Correct answer: The part of the stage extending forward past the proscenium

The apron was the section of the Restoration stage that projected forward past the proscenium arch into the audience area. It allowed actors to maintain close contact with the audience for intimate soliloquies and asides, preserving some of the intimacy of Elizabethan thrust stages.

Correct answer: Sir John Vanbrugh

Sir John Vanbrugh was both a leading Restoration playwright and a celebrated architect — he designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. His plays, including 'The Provoked Wife' (1697), were noted for their frank treatment of marital discord and female desire.

Correct answer: Candelabras and candle footlights throughout the house

Because Restoration theatres moved indoors, they required artificial lighting. Wax and tallow candles were used in candelabras and footlights throughout the house, necessitating intervals in the performance so candles could be trimmed or replaced.

Correct answer: Love's Last Shift, by Colley Cibber

Cibber's 'Love's Last Shift' (1696) ended with a rake reforming and becoming a faithful husband. Vanbrugh, skeptical of such abrupt moral conversion, wrote 'The Relapse' (1696) as a cynical sequel showing the character quickly reverting to his dissolute ways.

Correct answer: The clash between London sophistication and country manners

Restoration Comedy of Manners frequently contrasted 'town' characters (witty, fashionable Londoners) with 'country' characters (portrayed as boorish and unsophisticated). This geographic social divide, where country values were mocked and urban wit was celebrated, was a defining feature of the genre.

Correct answer: Tragedy

While comedies dominated the era, Otway’s 'Venice Preserved' was a highly successful tragedy. It was noted for its emotional depth and political overtones regarding the Exclusion Crisis.

Correct answer: They were vocal, socialized, and often interacted with the actors

Theatre-going was a highly social event. The audience (which included the middle class and nobility) would talk, flirt, and even climb onto the stage, making for a very lively and sometimes chaotic environment.