Styles of acting - Vaudeville

Pre -Vaudeville (1881 – 1920)

·         Was before the civil war theatre was dominated by burlesque and had many risqué things.

·         Theatre was not only a place to entertained, was for men to have a drink, aimed at a male audience.

After the civil war

·         1881 – tony pastor said that theatre shouldn’t be just for men and shows having a wide variety of different performances in one evening are missing a completely separate audience. 

·         He banned drinking in the theatre

·         He then started to perform Shakespeare, acrobats, singers, presentations of dance and comedy all at in the same evening.

·         He removed all the risqué and inappropriate content and aimed to make it for everyone.

What he found out

·         He could make a huge amount of money if they kept putting on performances like this.

·         As the years went on more amusements became available to choose from (circuses/mimes/singers etc)

·         Performances in saloons and burlesque houses still continued

The purpose

·         The sole purpose of Vaudeville was to entertain the audiences.

·         Over the years (1880 to the early 1920s) the easiest was to this was to make people laugh.

·         There was an increase in Comedy Sketches which was full of slapstick comedy e.g.           Charlie Chaplin

The Demise of Vaudeville

·         Over years it became more and more popular appealing to many different audiences, and for the first time Irish performers and black performers.

·         When Silent movies started to be released for cheaper prices , meaning Vaudeville started a big competition.

·         Vaudeville in theatres became less common as they could not support themselves as ,uch as they once could.

So what is Vaudeville now?

·         Shows like Britain’s got talent and the Royal Variety performances.

·         However we also have kept the comedy sketches that were bought to life by Vaudeville  (Laurel and Hardy).

·         This is called New Vaudeville .

What makes it new Vaudeville

·         Over the top physically

·         Comedy sketch type performance

·         No character relationship with the audience

·         Often recognise your audience. Acknowledging the they are there.