Restoration Drama and Politics: An Overview

Abstract

Politics had a profound effect on both the form and the content of Restoration drama. The author aims to present a clear and concise survey of Restoration drama's engagement with politics and the effect of politics on the drama from 1660 to the end of the Exclusion Crisis. Political reference is also evident in the serious plays of the 1660s, most of which may be classed as tragicomedies. As with the comedies, there are political contradictions, even in royalist heroic drama. The contradictions within royalist drama are not always successfully contained, and there is a significant body of oppositional drama. It is also clear that Restoration drama was not the worse for its political nature. On the contrary, the immediacy and intensity of the drama's engagement with politics contributed to significant transformations in dramatic form and content, and gave the drama its vitality.

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