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;
Neoclassical Theater
At the beginning of the 18th century, there comes the Age of Reason and Rationalism which substitutes the Renaissance. This period is most often called Neoclassicism and European royal start taking a different interest to the theater art. The main change is connected with the loss of interest towards the genre of tragedy and all previous religious plays, including liturgical plays, masque and all other medieval theatre forms. From the beginning of the 19th century, the main place "onstage" is taken by comedy. What's more, the second half of the 19th century evokes the interest towards Ancient Greek and Roman authors among which the most fundamental authors are Seneca, Plinius, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Terence and Plautus which enjoy even greater popularity than in the Ancient times.
In this way, Neoclassicism became the prevailing part of the eighteenth century. It was the flourishing of the rich and luxurious new-born bourgeoisie that finally becomes the leading class and rejoices at its top social position. The merchants have a great deal of money and are not eager to hear or see anything "terrible" or "horrible". The only thing they are keen on is entertainment in all spheres of life, including theatre in which theater is the most dominant.
The theatrical spectacles are grandiose. The costumes and scenery are complicated and well-done. One more important theatrical genre is melodrama. The spectacles are full of sexual fantasies and political satirical comedies that are of tremendous popularity. At the same time, in France and England there appears Censorship that starts to control all produced theater plays and limits the number of emerging theatres.