The Stockton Axson Eighteenth-Century Drama Archive

Aristotle defines tragedy in his Poetics (4^th century BCE) as a serious play where, “the protagonist is led into a fatal calamity by a Hamartia...which often takes the form of hubris...The tragic effect usually depends on our awareness of admirable qualities - manifest or potential - in the protagonist, which are wasted terribly in the fated disaster" (Baldick; 260). This exhibit explores late seventeenth and early eighteenth century English tragedies such as John Dryden’s The Indian Emperour, Thomas Southerne’s Oroonoko, Joseph Addison’s Cato, Delariviere Manley’s Lucius The First Christian King of England, and Nicholas Rowe’s The Fair Penitent and Tamerlane.  

All of these plays are performed at Drury Lane which functions as both playhouse and public sphere, “a common space in which the members of society are deemed to meet through a variety of media: print, electronic, and also face-to-face encounters; to discuss matters of common interest; and thus to be able to form a common mind about these” (Taylor; 1).  As a consequence, “Government is then not only wise to follow opinion; it is morally bound to do so. Government ought to legislate and rule in the midst of a reasoning public” (Taylor; 3). Thus, aside from bringing about entertainment, Drury Lane tragedies promote civil empowerment relating to the serious debates on colonialism, citizenship, religion, and gender roles presented in the plays.

The following pages investigate how the structure and management of Drury Lane Theater brings people with different political view points and powers together into a common space. A study of tragic performance style shows how these plays communicate societal problems to audiences. The short/long term and local/global political consequences resulting indirectly from the debates presented in the tragedies proves that Drury Lane Theater is an enduring public sphere.

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