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Culture of Great Britain

By the beginning of the 18th century the most popular type of play was the sentimental comedy. The acting was artificial probably due to the influence of French actors.

But, later, under the influence of David Garrick and some other actors, acting became much more naturalistic. David Garrick was one of the greatest actors known. But even at his time acting was not very popular. An actor whose acting had offended the audience had to ask pardon on his knees before a full house before he could continue in his profession. During the 19th century acting became more and more naturalistic. Like in Shakespeare's time, the best actors understood the importance of the teamwork of the company. One of the most famous actors of that time was Henry Irving. He was the first actor to be knighted. By the 1920s naturalistic acting reached a peak in the performance of Sir Gerald Du Maurier. He hardly appeared to be acting at all.

At present most acting still continues to be naturalistic. Designers make the settings as realistic as possible. Modern producers and directors Peter Hall, Peter Brook and others are trying out new styles of acting. Some go back to Greek methods, with a revival of the chorus; others are making use of the audience in helping to interpret the play.

British Drama Theatre Today

Britain is now one of the world's major theatres centres. Many British actors and actresses are known all over the world. They are Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Glenda Jackson, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and others.

Drama is so popular with people of all ages that there are several thousand amateur dramatic societies. Now Britain has about 300 professional theatres. Some of them are privately owned. The tickets are not hard to get, but they are very expensive. Regular seasons of opera and ballet are given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. The National Theatre stages modern and classi­cal plays, the Royal Shakespeare Company produces plays mainly by Shakespeare and his contemporaries when it performs in Stratford-on-Avon, and modern plays in its two auditoria in the City's Barbican Centre. Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse, about which you have probably read, was reconstructed on its original site. Many other cities and large towns have at least one theatre.

There are many theatres and theatre companies for young people: the National Youth Theatre and the Young Vic Company in London, the Scottish Youth Theatre in Edinburgh. The National Youth Theatre, which stages classical plays mainly by Shakespeare and modern plays about youth, was on tour in Russian in 1989. The theatre-goers warmly received the production of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s play ‘Murder in the Cathedral’. Many famous English actors started their careers in the National Youth Theatre. Among them Timothy Dalton, the actor who did the part of Rochester in ‘ Jane Eyre’ shown on TV in our country.