Theater Throughout Times and Media
Have you ever considered what the theater was like in the nineteenth century and how it has developed over the years? Since then, theater has been shaped into something new and innovative. Theater is something we all love and enjoy, and it has developed over many periods of time through various media. But do we truly understand how it came to be…?
Theater has been around for many centuries, which is why many historical stories have been passed down from century to century. In the article “Paradise lost nor regained: social composition of theatre audiences in the long nineteenth century” by Henk Gras and Harry van Vliet. The theater audiences were considered “elite” in the late eighteenth century. This made matters worse, considering that other people with different social backgrounds weren’t able to because they weren’t the so-called “elite.” Back in the nineteenth century, there was a different social class depending on how you looked or even on how much money you had. At first, the lower and middle classes had the advantage over the theater because the elite were more into opera. However, that changed in due time in the late nineteenth century; they then started to shift into drama. Later in the 1870s, there was a movement that shifted to theatrical amusement. There was a group called “The Dutch Stage League.” Apparently, this rich bourgeoisie wanted to take the theater for their own class. And it was later proved that it was in their best interest when Queen Sophie visited the Daniceffs in 1876. This changed the perspective to “civilized classes.” Because of the queens, the theater was improving and getting spread out through the audiences from one person to another, for more involvement in the theater world. That was not all; due to the actors having good taste, they were able to bring in new, well-mannered audiences. They were able to create a more fashionable theater manner. They later had a subscription system for the theater audiences, which just showed their wealth while also giving those of a lower class a chance to be in the subscription system; however, it didn’t last long. The drama cohort wanted them to be “university-trained subscribers.” Even though the subscribers had different backgrounds, they still were able to join; due to that matter, there were a lot of political issues that surfaced because of it. And matters got worse when other political parties found out about it. “Due to the political system and poor records, little is known about the political stand of the melodrama subscribers.” However, there was not much that they could do about it.
Was there always some other way to view theater besides its bad history in the nineteenth century? Well, that’s when we came in, and this was how the theater was shaped into a modern theater through media, or rather, the news. In “The Media Players” By Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News, they were more interested in the news regarding cultural and historical research. But that wasn’t all that was to it. “I argue that the unique discursive space created by commercial theater helped to foster the conceptual framework that made news possible” (chapter 1). Thus, the news did not always tell the truth regarding matters. There was something that I always studied consistently, and that was the fact that there was new technology that was being developed for the public’s present. “Thereby offering an alternative to histories that explain modern news culture as a predetermined corollary of advances in print technology alone.” After all, they just wanted to find a way that the theater could develop through the times with the use of news. They were just waiting around for the print media to come along, and things happened, but rather the growth of news-related forces to interconnect the public publicly, and in particular theater. “The unique role theater played in the development of news hinges on the distinctive position it took up in regard to topicality and the truth.” Theater was a means to escape reality and things because it was just a well-played-out and scripted story, as well as current events. “Theatrical discourse did not present itself as true.” Did you think that something like that would stop them from doing what they must just because of some stuff that might not be true? Well, that just gave them a bigger change and chance for the better. They did not waver but rather fenced the theater off from news culture and were able to create a better place for them to grow and make the news flourish. Still, they wanted to achieve something big through this new technology that would later be the further use of everything. “a space where the concept of news could become manifest from an elucidating distance and could accrue value in an emotion.” While theater is all about the acting and the story that must be told, there’s also emotion that goes into that acting and there must be a reason as to why the world would want to see them or even hear them. Which is why the media is the best way to make them acknowledge that they need this great talent to be able to also succeed in what they both want for each other. They must use one another to get what they want and to also be able to influence those around them, no matter what kind of strategy they use to achieve that. But this is why Shakespeare was a rather important figure, and that’s because he told stories with his plays, but not only that, he had many people behind him who were willing to help, such as when he drew in material from William Strachey’s account of the 1609 shipwreck to write The Tempest. That’s when news started to spread that they could gain something from joining hands, but they also saw the risk that they would have to take if they were to join; their reputation would be spoiled due to the fact that these were just some ordinary public men that were lucky enough to have these amazing achievements and the passion that they had for the drama. “The default attitude of authority toward professional drama was generally dismissive, but companies could get in serious trouble for material that touched the reputations of public men.” Thus, they had those who wanted to give them material who were yet ready to risk it all for some fame that they might or might not get, because they wouldn’t be sure if they would be able to actually achieve what they set out for, or if it was a mere fluke the first time. But still Ben Johnson was still set out to risk it all for his writing.
But what about the demands that people had regarding the theater and the social media standing? Would they be able to work together? In the article “The impact of social media activities on theater demand” by Andrea Baldin, they were trying to find a way to spread the performed art through social media, and in doing so, they were able to create “the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) generated via social media.” With having a source like the electronic word of mouth, they would be able to be more directly involved with the development of the spread of theater through social media and give real-time information to others. Because of that, social media was able to understand the demands regarding theater. However, that wasn’t all; they were also looking into the pricing that the theater would bring with the use of eWOM in regard to selling tickets. “The feedback provided by social media (in terms of ‘likes’ and comments) and the purchase of tickets by consumers—as both reflect unobserved characteristics of the theater production; (3) ticket sales influence eWOM activities; (4) ticket sales influence eWOM, which in turn influences ticket sales, and so on.” This shows that social media had a big impact regarding the ticket sales and the demands that the people were hoping for. Therefore, the article shows that social media was able to handle the demands very effectively and be able to demonstrate that they can keep up with the heavy demands.
There was a time when the theater wasn’t all about making a profit or spreading the theater performances through social media. In the book “Applying Performance” by Nicola Shaughnessy, she explains how performing arts is about practicing educational and social community contexts. This was a sort of thing that people did to engage with sociality, but that wasn’t all; they also wanted to demonstrate a sort of performance that could convey emotions and show different kinds of performance art, just with the different types of writing that were in the performance, as well as to show historical events to be able to piece everything together to create change. That’s when the writers come into the picture because they get to interpret however they see fit. “Analysis of, and reflection on, performative events keeps them alive by breaking down the polarity between process and product, between past and present, and between theory and practice” (Preface xv). They also thought of it as “live art” as a strategic move that would benefit not only them but also the artists themselves, which would give them the experience of the production of objects or things. In doing so, they would be able to test the limits of the permissible. Due to how theater and drama are a sort of entertainment for socializing, they made sure to use that to their advantage because that’s how they would be able to practice the art of performers and make it into something that everyone would know about regardless of what class they are in or if they are just passing by, which is why they took a lot more effort into the live performances because those are what the people saw at the moment and were able to spread to the public. “The commitment of live artists to finding ‘new languages for the representation of ideas, new ways of activating audiences, and new strategies for intervening in public life’ (ibid.: 9) is shared by many applied theatre practitioners who similarly seek to find new ways of engaging audiences as participants” (xvi Preface). This shows that they were seeking ways to capture the audience with this new way of performing arts in a way that can coexist with the system of representation, hierarchies, and ideologies, while keeping in mind that it brings together aesthetic and socially engaged perspectives.
Do you truly know the history behind how theater came to be, as well as the media industries? The article “The Big Picture: Theatrical Moviegoing, Digital Television, and Beyond the Substitution Effect” by Kevin J. Corbett is about the innovation of movie theater technology. When you want to watch a play, the first thing that comes to mind is going to Broadway, right? But when you want to watch a movie, you think about going to the movie theater because it is now something that is used in today’s times. “Over its more than one hundred-year history, the movie theater has faced some threats and has gone through several transitions, both physically and symbolically” (Page 18). This shows that even after many years, movie theaters are something that should be appreciated because they have progressed throughout the many years to get to where they are now, and, most of all, are a more efficient way of replacing theatrical filmgoing. The movie theaters have shaped our culture and symbolic transition to the film industry that we now experience. There was still some problem that might come to the surface, however, that made them think harder about what they must do to make a more innovative movie theater that everyone would appreciate without the doubt that this technology is for the greater future rather than for a moment. “These components have been frequently modified over time, thereby making the history of the movie theater as much a history of technological adaptation as a site of social practice” (Page 18). Regardless of how the further theater might shift, there is something that will always be there, and that is the skill and technology that people put into making their efforts show through their work, and how media sometimes tend to gloss over how people interpret those messages in their daily lives. Therefore, no matter the history of the theater industry, there would always be wonderful things to look forward to. There are always new ways to innovate this creation into something greater. Especially when theater was only ever performed on a stage and was only able to be done live for that moment, to then later make it into the bigger leagues by now going onto Broadway, as well as now theatrical plays being recorded to be able to look back on them. And now we have all these new technologies to look forward to.
Now that theater is something that everyone has come to love but also hate, there is room for more improvement regarding this matter because we have been down that road before and are now able to deal with it, no matter what comes our way. Those who are in the theater industry are there because they are passionate about their work, and they want to see it grow, even if they first get hated for it and then loved for it, because everything has to start somewhere. Without those hardships, how would you know if that is something that you truly want when you haven’t even faced the problem and made the most of the opportunities that come your way, no matter if it’s hate or honor? There would always be hate towards anything that is known to the audiences because everyone has their opinion, and regardless of whether you want to hear those opinions or not, it is best you do because that helps with greater innovations for further uses. Therefore, theater is something that we all love and enjoy as a sort of entertainment, but theater only came to be what it is today because of the history behind it and the many people who helped shape it into what it is today.
Works cited
Gras, Henk, and Harry van Vliet. “Paradise lost nor regained: social composition of theatre
audiences in the long nineteenth century.” Journal of Social History, vol. 38, no. 2, winter
2004, pp. 471+. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A128027051/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=28a56da6.Accessed 23 Nov. 2025.
Stephen Wittek. The Media Players : Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News.
University of Michigan Press, 2015. EBSCOhost,
research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=82ab226f-072b-301f-9bed-eb1f281b265f.
Baldin, A., Bille, T., Mukkamala, R.R. et al. The impact of social media activities on theater
demand. J Cult Econ 48, 199–220 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-023-09480-z
Shaughnessy, Nicola. Applying Performance: Live Art, Socially Engaged Theatre and Affective
Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Corbett, Kevin J. “The Big Picture: Theatrical Moviegoing, Digital Television, and beyond the
Substitution Effect.” Cinema Journal, vol. 40, no. 2, 2001, pp. 17–34. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1225841. Accessed 10 Dec. 2025.
