Theatre and Popular Culture in the English Restoration and 18th Century
The English theatre culture from the early Restoration to the early 18th century witnessed a marked shift towards increased commercialization and popularization of theatre. Gone were the post-1660 close association with the court, royalist productions, and prominently elite (well-off and upper-class) audiences. Instead, the experimentation with new genres, opening of new theatres, and a growing differentiation of the theatre programme into mainpieces, entr’acte entertainments and afterpieces revolutionized the established cultural hierarchies of the period.