| dc.description.abstract | The American Company, run by the Hallam family and David Douglass, was the first professional theatre troupe to establish in America from London, and held a de facto monopoly on professional theatre in the colonies from 1752-1790. While theatre scholars have unearthed the company’s origin story, there has yet to be a scholarly discussion regarding the intentions and consequences behind specific plays the company produced. Was the Hallam family sympathetic to the revolution? Did their political opinions affect the choices made about which plays to produce? What impact did these plays have on the values of a new and developing nation and its leaders? This thesis theorizes that the Hallam family was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause, a theory that will be proven by examining relevant political themes in seven plays they debuted in the colonies: Cato, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, The Wonder, Julius Caesar, The Prince of Parthia, and The Padlock. Its findings include the fact that many of the plays produced by the American Company were thematically political—for example, nine of the twelve Shakespeare plays selected held clear anti-crown sentiments, with plotlines surrounding the downfall of monarchy or the dangers of tyrannical leadership. In addition, the company was the first to put on an American-born playwright’s work—that also harbored anti-Britain themes—and produce controversial plays featuring blatant racial commentary and female leads breaking from traditional domestic expectations. Chapter one provides a comprehensive summary of existing scholarly conversations on American theatre, as well as the historical context necessary to understand the significance of the American Company’s monopoly. Chapter two analyzes Cato, Julius Caesar, and The Prince of Parthia as propagandistic plays with revolutionary messaging. Chapter three explores the origination of minstrelsy and racial prejudice in American theatre through Othello and The Padlock, and how race was negatively associated with the British government. Chapter three also analyzes the development of rule-shattering gender roles in The Merchant of Venice and The Wonder, symbolizing the rise of independence and rebellion in the New World. This thesis concludes that the choices of plays—and the American Company’s interpretations of them—implied the Hallam family’s pro-revolutionary stance, influenced the socio-political attitudes of their colonial audiences, and is an exemplary lesson in the propagandistic powers of artistic monopolies on theatre then and today. | |
