Theater History from The Guardian

OK, so I'm not going to get around to writing the second part of my "what could make an audience riot?" post tonight. In the meantime, how about something I discovered when I was writing the first part of the post?

Looking for information about the first production of Playboy of the Western World, I found and linked to an article from The Guardian. Turns out, it was part of a fascinating series of articles. In the mid-2000s, journalist Samantha Ellis had a column called "Curtain Up," describing the opening nights of memorable theatrical productions, drawing upon reviews and eyewitness accounts.

There doesn't seem to be an index for this series on the Guardian website, so I've taken the liberty of making my own, using the Guardian's index of every article that Samantha Ellis has written for them. Here are all the productions that you can read about in the "Curtain Up" column:

• Hamlet, London, 1963 - opening night of the National Theatre
• Votes for Women!, London, 1907 - "the first suffragette play"
• Salomé, London, 1931 - censored for 40 years and finally produced
• The Birthday Party, London, 1958 - Pinter's debut was a major flop
• Richard of Bordeaux, London, 1933 - "the night John Gielgud became a star"
• The Playboy of the Western World, Dublin, 1907 - riots!
• Saved, London, 1965 - getting around the censors
• Hedda Gabler, London, 1970 - Ingmar Bergman's production starring Maggie Smith
• An Inspector Calls, London, 1946 - mixed reviews for a modern morality play
• The Revenger's Tragedy, London, 1966 - rediscovery of a Jacobean tragedy
• Look Back in Anger, London, 1956 - seminal kitchen-sink drama
• The Lady's Not For Burning, London, 1949 - surprise-hit verse drama
• A Wife Without a Smile, London, 1904 - farce "banned on account of a dancing doll"
• Oliver!, London, 1960 - one of the most successful British musicals
• Titus Andronicus, London, 1955 - Peter Brook's acclaimed production
• Black Chiffon, London, 1949 - the '40s fad for Freudianism in theater
• The Importance of Being Earnest, London, 1939 - starring Edith Evans
• A View from the Bridge, London, 1956 - Miller and Marilyn
• A Man For All Seasons, London, 1960 - "a quiet distinction"
• French Without Tears, London, 1936 - Terrence Rattigan's first hit
• Water Hen, Edinburgh, 1972 - experimental Polish fringe-festival hit
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun, London, 1964 - "the first new British play produced at the National"
• Othello, London, 1930 - starring Paul Robeson
• A Taste of Honey, London, 1960 - Angry Young Woman
• Private Lives, London, 1930 - Noel Coward at his most soigné
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, London, 1973 - a camp classic
• Ben-Hur, London, 1902 - how do you stage a chariot race?
• The Entertainer, London, 1974 - revival starring Max Wall
• The Living Room, London, 1953 - Graham Greene's debut play
• Macbeth, London, 1969 - staged by a New York experimental-theater provocateur
• The Merchant of Venice, London, 1879 - with Henry Irving and Ellen Terry
• Moby-Dick, London, 1955 - verse drama by Orson Welles
• A Bill of Divorcement, London, 1921 - topical and popular
• Pygmalion, London, 1914 - this popular comedy had a difficult first production
• Play, London, 1964 - Billie Whitelaw's first Beckett role

Of course it is exciting to read about plays that have gone on to become classics, like Pygmalion or Look Back in Anger, but I also find it interesting to read about plays that are probably too minor and too dated to ever be produced again, but epitomize something about the theater and culture of their era -- like Black Chiffon or Ben-Hur.

I also think it's fascinating how many now-classic plays were flops in their first productions!