Diane Howard, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2001

During the 18^th c. man's reason was exalted. Man was considered perfectible by his reason. The 18^th c. has been called the period of the "enlightenment." The middle classes were on the rise and social consciousness was increasing. In theatre a pseudo-sophisticated attitude was prevalent. Neo-classical ideas, such as those concerned with the restricting ideas of the unities of time, space, and action, overly constrained plays. There was a general emphasis on logic, rationality, reason, and control.

Ironically, it was also a period of revolution. The Reign of Terror emerged, during the French Revolution. Peace came only at the hand of the dictatorship of Napoleon. In France, individual human reason was the primary authority. There was not a general belief in universal absolutes. However, ironically and tragically it led to social chaos and destruction.  In the United States the American Revolution ended more fortunately with the writing of the Constitution and the establishment of American representative government, which were guided by the enlightenment of biblical principles and the belief in absolute Lex Rex (law above the king).

During this period performance opportunities were limited in England for actors, who were not attached to one of the two London theatres licensed by the king. Therefore, one-man “entertainments” were devised to circumvent and to provide relief from theatrical restrictions imposed since the English Restoration. One-person, independent performances began to flourish in England in the eighteenth century.

In the nineteenth century, the emphasis on reason, which had not provided stability, meaning, and satisfaction in the 18^th c., shifted to a dominating, romantic appeal to man’s emotions. Gothic, supernatural, fantastical, and eerie themes were popular. There was a fascination with self-expression. Beethoven's work reflected these popular interests. So did the work of poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge. Rosseau urged autonomous freedom and a return to the concept of the noble savage. He encouraged a return to nature. He promoted the idea that society corrupted man. Leading artists who tried to live according to this Bohemian ideal, however, despaired and ended tragically. Gauguin went to Tahiti to find and to paint the noble savage. He died in desperation, as did many of his impressionistic artist friends.

Against the backdrop of romantic plays, which  were loosely concerned with facts, which emphasized emotional extremes, and which were frequently contrived, imaginary, melodramatic, and flamboyant, one-person performances received unprecedented, popular support in the United States. This was considered the golden age of platform performances (Gentile, 1989). Several factors facilitated the popularity of one-person, platform performances. First, they were considered more commercially viable than plays. Secondly, during the Victorian Age, there was a strong resistance from churches to the theater. Factors, such as the common practice of prostitutes frequenting the third tier of theaters to meet "clientele," justified the concerns of clergy and churches. The platform presentations consisted of lectures and solo readings of literature. These were considered genteel, dignified, respectable, and edifying. Therefore, they were able to draw broad popular and mainline support.

After the American Civil War, there was a strong demand for non-theatre entertainment. Literacy was widespread and there was an avid interest in hearing the written word read or recited. Railroads provided the travel needs of solo performers. Charles Dickens was one of the most popular performers in Britain and in the United States. The public adored him. He was more like a popular star would be today. His was the greatest, one-man show of the 19^th c.  Having aspired to be an actor in his youth, Dickens performed characters from his writings, breaking from the elocutionary style of the day. Wonderfully expressive with his body and face, he performed with energetic character gestures. Having mixed reviews, it was said by some that he succeeded in dialogue more than in recitation. Some considered him more of an animated storyteller than a reader. 

              In the 19^th c. platform lectures and performances were common. Lyceum bureaus, which served as booking agencies for lecturers, promoted notable American and English figures on American platforms, during this period. Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Alexander Graham Bell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes were some of the most celebrated. Distinguished authors publicized their writing and then secured supplemental income by platform presentations (Gentile, 1989).

           Charles Dickens was distinguished for his character performances and Edgar Allen Poe was noted for his performances of poetry during the 19^th c. James Murdock, a popular Shakespearean actor, served his country with benefit readings in order to arouse patriotic spirit, during the American Civil War. Murdoch performed with great virtuosity and craft as an elocutionist.  

          Anna Cora Mowatt, Fanny Kemble, and Charlotte Cushman were popular, female, platform performers in the 19^th c. They brought prestige to their art, securing respectability and acceptance for female, solo artists. Mowatt performed material from major and minor poets. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Henry James praised Fanny Kemble’s platform readings of Shakespeare. (Gentile, 1989)

            During this period, the Chautauqua Assembly was founded. Gatherings on the shore of Chautauqua Lake in New York began as Sunday-school meetings held in the woods for lectures, lessons, sermons, devotions, and conferences. People, who attended the camp-like meetings, stayed in tents. What began for religious instruction was expanded for cultural enlightenment at various sites. Fifteen years after the Lake Chautauqua meeting there were one hundred independent assemblies across the United States. Lyceum presentations were conducted in comfortable auditoriums in the winter and Chautauqua meetings were held outdoors in the summer. Famous performers were seen in both circuits. During the last decade of the century, Samuel Clemens emerged as Mark Twain, the popular American humorist and master storyteller.

                The 19th c. was marked by great, prolific, platform performances of literary, dramatic monologues. Platform presenters described themselves as elocutionists, readers, reciters, characterists, impersonators, monologists, storytellers, and expressionists. Reflecting a romantic interest in the individual, it was a rich period for one-person, independent performances of great literature and of fascinating characters. Against the backdrop of unsavory, fantastical, theatrical elements, independent platform lecturers and performers provided wholesome and mentally stimulating presentations. Against the background of the tragic, revolutions of the 18th c. and 19th c., Christian Americans sought cultural enrichment, stability, and relief, which was based on biblically, morally, and ethically, enlightening principles. These biblical principles provided opportunities for independent individuals but did not seek meaning and enlightenment based on the authority of man's reason and emotions.  

 

References

Gentile, John. S. Cast of One, One-Person Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage. Urbana and Chicago; University of Illinois Press, 1989.

Schaeffer, Francis. How Should We Then Live? Westchester: Crossway Books, 1984.

Young, Jordon. Acting Solo, The Art of the One-Man Show. Beverly Hills: Moonstone Press, 1989.