1

Jared Wheelock
Professor Graves
Lang 120
12th of November, 2018

From Shakespeare to Broadway: Plays & What We Can

Learn From Them

Going all the way back to Ancient Greece where the first plays appeared in the
Theatre of Dionysus by a single performer, shifting to Italy and its slapstick showcase of
Commedia Dell'arte, taking a quick trip to the streets of foggy London where one could
go to the pub after visiting West End, finally landing in New York City with bright flashing
lights letting you know you’re on Broadway, if you can get a taxi.
Plays have existed since the 5th century and are still around (and very popular)
to this day. They entertain the masses, provide work for aspiring artists, but for the
purpose of this analysis they are better suited as examples for how literature,
throughout time, has evolved and continues to do so. It may seem fairly obvious to say
that the plays written today are nothing like they were centuries ago, and that would be
a correct statement. More importantly, why?
Plays are dramatic works written to be performed onstage for an audience. They
provide a perfect representation for how literature develops throughout time because it
is influenced by the societal norms of that era. Ethics, language, culture, acceptance,
technology, etc. These are all broad examples of how the way we as a people think and
act at a certain time impact the kind literature that is written.
Plays are constructed in format differently than other genres. They are written to
be read by individual viewers as well, but they are also manuals for the actors who are
meant to be playing these roles. With dialogue, stage directions that let the actors know
how they’re supposed to be moving onstage, and further notes of the playwright desires
that gives the actors insight on their own character development. Some playwrights are
very strict and put in much detail to make sure their plays are performed in a specific
 2

way to their liking and no other, others allow their plays to be taken to interpretation and
allow for creative freedom with their creations.
A common occurrence in the writing process of plays is that a playwright will
have a draft for what will be performed, hold auditions and cast roles for the play and go
through a workshop phase. Here the playwright and the rest of the cast will sit at a table
for hours as the actors read out their parts, then it will be taken to the stage for further
rehearsal and the playwright is constantly paying attention and making changes to the
play so that it will be ready for a real audience.
Playwrights have to keep in the back of their mind that they don’t just want their
work to be published, they want it to be performed with an audience of people who all
paid to sit and watch their work, hopefully receiving a good review and more people will
come, effectively having a successful run of their show. This can be stressful for a
playwright, creating something that you both enjoy writing and will attract an audience.
Plays are influenced by what people want to see, but one can also think of this in
a different way. Pay attention to current events, what is going on around you that no one
is addressing? What needs to be spoken about but hasn’t yet? In Ancient Greece it
would have easily been religion, today one has many options; Climate change,
immigration, police brutality, diversity, etc.
A perfect example is when Arthur Miller wrote ​The Crucible.​ He was aware of
what was going on in America during the 1950’s. Mccarthyism was rampant and people
were incriminating others of being communist, persecuting them as such with no
credible evidence. He noticed this and thought to himself ‘What can I do with this? How
can I make a change with my writing?’ He then created a parallel with ​The Crucible,​
people in Salem were accusing others of being witches and those charged were
immediately deemed as such and dealt with accordingly. This was received with
controversy, it had a short run but critics loved it. People were also scared to say they
loved it because a lot of people were being painted in a negative light. It was moving for
people and opened up an awareness to what was going on around them. He created a
change with his work by applying this method of thinking.
 3

First, examining a play that is very familiar with the shelves of first year drama
classes, ​A Midsummer Night's Dream​ by William Shakespeare, written towards the end
of the 16th century and is considered one of his greatest works. It’s studied today as a
basic foundation of theatre along with his other classics. Today, main elements of this
piece would be considered old, such as the language. “I love thee not, therefore pursue
me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?... Do I entice you? do I speak you fair? Or,
rather, do I not in plainest truth… Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you? Tempt not
too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee.” (Shakespeare)
It’s beautiful wording, but many people today wouldn’t be able to understand it. During
this time of the Elizabethan era religion was still a major influence and that impacted the
way people both created and accepted art. This was still in the earlier days of theatre,
and so Shakespeare had to keep in mind he was playing to two different audiences at
the same time. In the Globe Theater, both the high class and low class citizens
attended. This made Shakespeare create subplots so that the higher class could enjoy
the tale of beautiful lovers and the lower class could laugh at the crude comedy that
entailed in between the lover scenes. The creation of this subplot is another example of
how the needs of the audience affected what was written.
At this current point in time there weren’t a large variety of plays that weren’t
based on religion or mythology, so people were still coming up with the ideas that would
later become the general foundation for playwriting.
Fast forwarding to the Neoclassical era, ​The Importance of Being Earnest​ by
Oscar Wilde, written in 1898. A lovable comedy with themes of class and social
expectation, conflict created by slight misunderstandings that are hilarious for the
audience to watch with a happy ending for all characters at the end. A major influence
that impacted art at this time and without we would not have much of the art we have
today, romanticism. It had already been around for a while and Wilde’s work showcased
the effect. Because of romanticism, people were defecting from religion and focusing
more on individualism and personal inspiration. Another major influence taking place
towards the end of the 19th century was aestheticism. People were straying away from
 4

social-political themes and wanted to pay more attention the the beauty of things rather
than finding a deeper meaning, known as ‘art for arts sake’.
In this play the characters are all mostly beautiful and young, with no real worries
other than getting married to the one they love. The language itself is much easier to
follow than what Shakespeare wrote, however it is written for upper class viewers and
reads as such;
“How you can sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make
out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless."

"Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One
should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them." (Wilde)

It’s lighthearted and written to distract the audience from the real issues going on in the
world. So the desire of the public to be distracted by beautiful things was reflected in the
art of this time.
Lastly, we will be traveling to present day New York to look at the very popular
smash hit, based off the book by Mark Haddon. ​The Curious Incident of the Dog in The
Nighttime,​ written by Simon Stephens and first performed in 2012. This play is unique to
this time period and is a great demonstration of how our ways of thinking have
developed. Using elements like sex, inappropriate language, violence (demonstrated
onstage), and even technology. This show was adapted from a novel and written to
wow a large audience and maintain revenue, which it successfully did and is still being
performed around the world today. Technology is a newer influence but makes more od
today's plays unique. People were getting bored of the same old Broadway tricks, so the
writer and designers came up with the idea to have the entire stage be a part of the
story, with floors and walls that move and open up to reveal surprises and green
screens. The language itself is simple to follow because it’s the language we use every
day. It’s not just that the plays today are different, but there’s such a wide variety. So
much more can be done than before because there are less limits. In this excerpt from
the play, modern day influences are clear;
 5

“And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think
human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve
into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like
we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die
out or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects
in the world and they will be the best animal.” (Stephens)

People are free to believe in whatever they want now. By saying “people who believe in
God” implies that there are people who do not. That used to be an intolerable thought
but is now more of a casual consensus. He’s theorizing about the purpose, meaning
and inevitability of life without fear of persecution.
A big difference between this and our first play would be evolution of thought.
We think much differently than we used to and this is evident in these plays. Ways that
we have advanced that reflects in current pieces of literature are advancements in
acceptance, including our expanded views of gender roles (women can actually play the
roles of women now, feminist movement, closer to equality than when plays first began
being written), increasing acceptance to formerly taboo ideas (sex and foul language
shown onstage so leisurely would have gotten someone in serious trouble a long time
ago, but to this day it’s encouraged and seen as a viable form of entertainment. We as a
people are changing always, and since what we put out into the world reflects in our art
and literature, what we read and write change with us.
It’s important to understand why what we write changes because identifying
these influences and becoming more aware of the world around us makes us more
impactful and original with our writing. Coming up with ideas that resonate with your
audience and creating your desired impact with the reader.

Bibliography:

Shakespeare, William. ​The New Folger Shakespeare Library: A Midsummer Night's

Dream​. New York, NY: Pocket Books, 1993

Wilde, Oscar. ​The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings​. U.S.: Bantam Books,
 6

1982.
Stephens, Simon. T​he Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time​. New York:
Vintage, 2012. Print.