The post-war Theater witnessed the alterations that the whole world underwent in the course of the Second World War. Right after the war, the European theatrical scenes were occupied by the plays of three authors. They are Tennessee Williams with his “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, Jean-Paul Sartre with “No Exit”, and Samuel Becket “Waiting for Godot”;
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Modern Theatre comes from the European Renaissance Theatre of the 16th-17th centuries that dates back to the Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre. Its foundation was laid down in England and Italy, especially by the English Renaissance Theatre between in the period between Reformation and theatre closure in 1642;
The beginning of the 19th century was swept by the never-before-seen cultural movement known as Romanticism. One of the first European dramatists who got himself involved in this process was August Schlegel that considered W. Shakespeare the greatest playwright;
Modern Theatre
Modern Theatre comes from the European Renaissance Theatre of the 16th-17th centuries that dates back to the Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre. Its foundation was laid down in England and Italy, especially by the English Renaissance Theatre between in the period between Reformation and theatre closure in 1642. It was the greatest theatre period in the whole European history established by William Shakespeare and other outstanding playwrights.
Usually, this period in the history of England and Europe is called "Elizabethan Theatre". Normally, this period lasted for the entire Elizabethan epoch, but the subsequent reigns of James I and Charles I were the continuation of this flourishing drama period.
Still, there were some medieval theatrical traditions, including 'mystery', masque, etc that firstly were mere religious holidays that were celebrated all around Christian Europe. Initially, it was all done under the control of the Church and was held in certain boundaries. Then, however these feasts turned into folk entertainment giving place to such modern theatre genres as comical operetta, slapstick, comedy, etc. Some other European theatrical traditions were the staging of biblical themes and morality plays that emerged actually out of the mysteries.
In its turn, Italian modern theatre that rose in the 16th-17th centuries was called Commedia dell'arte. It played a certain positive role in formation of modern Italian theatre.
To comeback to what was said about the English Renaissance Theatre, it must be mentioned that originally there were no permanent actors. Most of them were players who traveled around the country giving performances in different localities. By 1572, non-patronage traveling England became unlawful what made plays get themselves fixed to a certain local theatre. What's more, the drama popularity was constantly growing at the court of Elizabeth I personally financed and supported by the Queen. Additionally, female roles were a taboo for females till the end of the 17th century. These roles were performed by young boys dressed in frivolous garment.
The Theatre, being supported by the authorities, was growing to be more and more complex in structure, ways of performance and staging. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson and many other playwrights create the best well-known masterpieces that served to be the basis for a lot of future plays and are still staged nowadays.
By the 19th century, the Theatre activity became a profitable and lucrative business. The 19th century witnessed the fast development of the European Theatre that we see today.