United Kingdom

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History of Performing Arts

Throughout the world the name Shakespeare is associated with the greatest achievements of England in the performing arts. William Shakespeare emerged in the colorful Elizabethan era of the 16th century, and his works are still played and quoted throughout the world. The 16th century was a time of immense creativity, when it was said that the full flower of the Renaissance had finally come to England. It was during this era that commercial theater began. The most famous was the Globe Theatre in London. Destroyed by Puritans in the mid-17th century, the Globe was replaced in the 1990s with an authentic replica. Dozens of other playwrights, including Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, had their works staged at the Globe and at other theaters built during this time. Marlowe was noted for writing tragedies in a period when comedies were more common, and his most famous work is The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (1604?). Jonson was a gifted satirist who wrote for both the royal court and commercial theaters. The words to the famous song “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes” are from a play he published in 1616.

The foundations of choral music, which became an important musical tradition in England, were laid during the Elizabethan era. Its development was encouraged at this time by the Protestant Reformation in England, which changed the language used in church services and music from Latin to English. Thomas Tallis and his student William Byrd are noted composers who worked in the royal chapel of Queen Elizabeth I. There were also many secular composers in Britain. The English madrigal, a song for two or more voices, developed during the Elizabethan era as well.

The Puritans banned theater as immoral when they controlled England in the mid-17th century. Theater was revived, along with the monarchy, in the Restoration of 1660. Restoration theater featured witty and often acerbic comedies about social manners, a contrast to the great dramatic themes of Shakespeare’s era. William Wycherley and William Congreve were noted Restoration dramatists. England’s first operas were written in the late 17th century, and Henry Purcell is a noted British composer of the era.

George Frideric Handel, a German who settled in London, wrote many operas and oratorios in the early 18th century. He is most famous for his Messiah oratorio, first sung in 1742. During the 18th century the number of theaters grew and the plays performed became more satirical. Oliver Goldsmith, born in Ireland, wrote comedies as well as novels, poems, and essays. Another noted comic playwright was Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

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The 19th century saw the development of a uniquely British form of amusement, the music hall, which is related to early-20th-century vaudeville. Music halls provided variety shows with comic acts and songs, many of them risqué. The pantomime also emerged in the Victorian era as elaborately costumed retellings of fairy tales, staged during the Christmas season. Pantomime performances involved song, dance, slapstick comedy, and audience participation. The comic operas of Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan were also an important part of Victorian music; the works of Gilbert and Sullivan are still produced around the world.

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Performing Arts in the 20th Century

In the 20th century, Britain remained one of the world’s greatest centers for drama. Britain’s many theaters attract crowds from all over the world. This is due in large measure to the high caliber of 20th-century British actors, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Michael Redgrave, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Sir Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Dame Maggie Smith, Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, and Emma Thompson. The quality of the plays is another important factor. In the early 20th century, noted playwrights included John Galsworthy and Noel Coward. Post-World War II Britain saw a renaissance of drama with the avant-garde works of Irish-born Samuel Beckett and the plays and screenplays of Harold Pinter, Alan Bennett, and Tom Stoppard. Playwright and screenwriter John Osborne presented stark social realism in his play Look Back in Anger (1956), which was made into a film in 1959. Caryl Churchill continued the tradition of stark realism, while Alan Ayckbourn provided witty, complex comedies.

Britain has several hundred professional theaters and about as many professional theater companies. Some companies are associated with specific theaters and some are touring companies. The world-famous Royal Shakespeare Company performs in London and in Stratford-upon-Avon. Famous theaters in London also include the Royal National Theatre, the Old Vic Theatre, and the Royal Court Theatre. Countless amateur theatrical groups also perform throughout Britain.

Music was enormously important in Britain in the 20th century, and London is regarded as one of the great music capitals of the world. Appreciation of music is extremely widespread, and the kinds of music regularly performed are diverse, ranging from early music to modern. Britain boasts thousands of amateur opera societies, choirs, and musical groups, including orchestras; dance, brass, and steel bands; and rock and jazz groups.

Important composers in the early 20th century included Sir Edward Elgar, who wrote choral and orchestral music, and Frederick Delius, who composed the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet (1900-1901). Later in the century, Ralph Vaughan Williams established himself as Britain’s foremost composer, and Sir William Walton composed many important classical works, including the opera Troilus and Cressida (1954). In opera, Benjamin Britten and Sir Michael Tippett created several important works. Britten adapted Henry James’s story “The Turn of the Screw” and Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream into operas in 1954 and 1960, respectively. Tippett combined classical music with popular music—his Fourth Symphony (1977) contained elements of jazz. Thomas Adès was a rising star in the early 2000s, with operas such as The Tempest (2004), commissioned by the Royal Opera House. Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed musicals for the theater since the 1970s, producing such smash hits as Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), Phantom of the Opera (1986), and Bombay Dreams (2002).

Britain has many professional orchestras, the most famous of which are the London Philharmonic and the London Symphony. The BBC maintains six orchestras and since 1927 has sponsored the popular annual Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Britain has several major opera companies, the best known of which are the Royal Opera at Covent Garden and the English National Opera in London, and the Glyndebourne Opera in southeastern England. Glyndebourne presents an annual summer opera season that later tours the country.

Britain’s worldwide impact in music in the second half of the 20th century, especially in the realm of popular music, was enormous. The Beatles appeared in the 1960s and were followed by other successful rock groups and singers, including names such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Elton John, Sting, and the Spice Girls. A high-spirited kind of rock music known as Britpop became popular in the 1990s. Pop and rock music remain the most popular kinds of music in Britain, although jazz also has a large following.

Britain also has famous dance companies that rank among the world’s leading troupes. These include the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet, located in London; the Birmingham Royal Ballet, a division of the Royal Ballet; and the Northern Ballet Theatre, a touring company based in Leeds. The leading contemporary groups are the Rambert Dance Company and the Siobhan Davies Dance Company. London hosts two contemporary dance festivals every year. Also popular are traditional dances of the British Isles, including English morris dancing and the Scottish Highland fling, and social gatherings featuring Celtic music and dancing that are known as céilidhs (pronounced kay-lees).

Britain hosts more than 600 professional arts festivals each year, attracting more than 4 million visitors. The two largest arts festivals in Britain are held in Scotland: The Edinburgh International Festival is a mixture of six arts festivals that takes place every August and September, and the Mayfest is held every May in Glasgow. Festivals focusing on music include the Three Choirs Festival, so-called because it takes place in three separate English cities; the Cheltenham Festival; and the Aldeburgh Festival, founded in the 1940s by composer Benjamin Britten and English tenor Sir Peter Pears.

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Films

The British film industry has a long history and is noted for many critically acclaimed productions and actors. In recent decades it has become largely international. The great pull of the American box office has always lured British actors, directors, and producers to Hollywood, and conversely, British studios and locations have been used in international productions.

The film industry in Britain developed during the 1930s after the government established a quota requiring that a certain percentage of films shown in British cinemas be made in Britain. Hungarian-born director and producer Alexander Korda came to Britain during this time and was instrumental in the production and international distribution of many British films. The industry received another boost from the influx of German writers, producers, and directors escaping the Nazi government in the 1930s. During World War II, many people working in the British film industry immigrated to the United States. One of these was London-born director Alfred Hitchcock, who moved to the United States in 1939 and continued to produce popular films.

British film output after World War II tended to be literary, drawing upon classics from Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare. A number of witty comedies that appealed to the more educated and culturally conservative segment of society appeared in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These included such films as Genevieve (1953) and The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954). By the mid-1950s the Free Cinema Movement had begun, shooting low-budget films that illuminated the problems of contemporary life. Simultaneously, so-called new cinema films began to present antiestablishment and anti-middle class views with social realism using working-class themes and characters. Notable examples of new cinema films include Look Back in Anger (1959), based on the John Osborne play; Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960); and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). Director David Lean, who had produced many popular films in the 1940s, became noted for big, lavish epics during the 1950s, particularly The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1959), both of which won Academy Awards.

For a brief time London became the film production capital of the world when a number of important films were made there. These included Tom Jones (1963), with an award-winning screenplay by John Osborne, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), directed by Stanley Kubrick. Richard Attenborough gained fame not only for his acting but also for directing such biographical films as Gandhi (1982), which won multiple Academy Awards; Chaplin (1992), about English actor and director Charlie Chaplin; and Shadowlands (1993), about British author C. S. Lewis. Anthony Minghella adapted and directed the 1996 film version of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient and the 2003 film of Charles Frazer’s novel Cold Mountain. Mike Leigh became known for his collaborations with actors on films such as High Hopes (1988) and Vera Drake (2004).

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Museums, Galleries, and Libraries

Britain is world famous for its outstanding libraries and museums, most of which are located in London. The British Museum, one of the most spectacular museums in the world, is renowned for its extensive and diverse collections, from Egyptian mummies to important historical documents. The National Gallery houses a vast collection of British and European paintings dating from the 13th century to modern times. Next door to the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery with about 10,000 portraits of famous figures from British history, some dating from the 14th century. The Tate Gallery houses a vast collection of British art, as well as European works from the past two centuries. The Victoria and Albert Museum features one of the world’s largest collections of fine and applied arts, from jewelry, clocks, and pottery to fabrics, furniture, and musical instruments. The National Museum of Science and Industry contains five floors of exhibits on medicine, photography, engineering, transportation, and communications. Plant, animal, and mineral specimens from all over the world are part of the collection at the Natural History Museum, London. The Imperial War Museum features exhibits on the wars of the 20th century, and the modern Museum of London illustrates the history of the capital from its earliest times. Particularly popular with tourists is Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks (see Marie Tussaud), a unique collection of lifelike wax figures of famous people, both living and dead.

Several museums and galleries of note are located outside London. The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology at Oxford University contains a diverse collection of rare art and relics, as does the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University. One of the world’s finest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art is at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh houses a collection of fine European paintings dating from the Renaissance, including many Scottish paintings. The Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum has an excellent collection that ranges from ancient weapons and objects to 17th-century Dutch paintings and works by French masters. The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff focuses on Welsh life, history, and culture. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Ulster Museum has a diverse collection that mixes the arts, history, and sciences. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Holywood concentrates on the traditional life of Northern Ireland’s people.

Britain has several specialized museums, including the National Railway Museum in York, with its large collection of locomotives, many from the 19th century. In recent years some museums have taken on the lively aspects of theme parks. Examples are the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which recreates a Viking village, and the exhibits at Warwick Castle, which include wax figures, collections of weapons and torture devices, and jousting reenactments.

Britain’s premier library, the British Library in London, contains a copy of nearly all significant works published in English. It was housed in the British Museum until 1997, when it moved to a new building. The famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University also contains one of the most extensive collections of English publications in the country.

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Science and Technology

Britain has been a world leader in science and technology, and since the Industrial Revolution the nation has been a pioneer in the use of machinery. The profession of modern engineering emerged from the work of the skilled craftsmen of the 18th and 19th centuries. The British have appreciated and encouraged inventors and scientists, and in pure science, the country has produced a steady stream of solid research. More than 70 British citizens have been awarded the Nobel Prize in science, second only to the United States.

Modern science owes much to 16th-century philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, whose theories of inductive reasoning and experimentation laid the foundation of the scientific method. Sir Isaac Newton, a scientific genius in physics and mathematics, formulated the laws of motion and gravity that were not surpassed until Albert Einstein’s theories in the early 20th century. Michael Faraday, another outstanding figure in British science during the 19th century, made important discoveries in chemistry and electricity, specifically electromagnetic induction. His work led to the creation of the electric generator. Biologist Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution through natural selection, radically influenced modern science and thought.

British scientists have also made striking contributions to the field of medicine. Surgeon Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgery in the 1860s, and in 1928 Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first of the antibiotic medicines. In physics, several British scientists carried on atomic research, most notably Ernest Rutherford, Sir Joseph John Thomson, and Sir John Douglas Cockcroft.

The technology of the Industrial Revolution was not developed by scientists but by practical craftsmen—locksmiths, carpenters, and blacksmiths who pioneered innovations on the earliest machines. A key invention was a practical steam engine, which Scottish inventor James Watt was pivotal in developing in the late 18th century. Steam power was then used to run various other machines, including the spinning jenny, invented by James Hargreaves in the 1760s; the spinning frame, invented by Sir Richard Arkwright; the spinning mule of Samuel Crompton, which combined the best of the jenny and water frame; and the power loom invented by Edmund Cartwright. All of these early inventions of the Industrial Revolution were first used in the textile industry, where the mass production of cotton cloth by machine was revolutionary.

In the 20th century, British science and technology continued on the cutting edge. British technology pioneered in the development of radar and jet engines. British scientists contributed to the 1953 discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as well as subsequent breakthroughs in medicine and genetics, including DNA fingerprinting, gene therapy, in vitro fertilization, and cloning. Other contributions include the discovery of cholesterol and vitamin D. In chemistry, British scientists have developed a biodegradable plastic and are working on substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons, which destroy the Earth’s ozone layer. British scientists in Antarctica first discovered a hole in the ozone layer in 1985. British scientists have also made advances in the fields of astrophysics and superconductivity. They also are at the forefront in developing semiconductors and fiber-optic cables.

One contemporary British scientist has gained worldwide attention not only for his accomplishments but because he has surmounted severe disabilities. Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist, suffers from an incurable disease of the nervous system. He regained his power of speech only through a computerized voice synthesizer. Hawking has made major contributions to the study of the origin of the universe and black holes, and his work has supported the big bang theory of the creation of the universe. As a professor of mathematics at Cambridge, Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time (1988).

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Economy of the United Kingdom

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