Theatre timeline
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William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church
The Teatro Farnese in Parma is the first to have a proscenium arch, framing perspective scenery painted on flat wings
A Passion play is performed for the first time at Oberammergau, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation
Pierre Corneille's play Le Cid, popular with Paris audiences, hinges on the conflict between duty and love
French dramatist Jean Racine's first great success, Andromaque, finds tragic drama in a quadrangle of love
Molière falls fatally ill when acting in his own play Le Malade Imaginaire
Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni makes a success of plays in the ancient commedia dell'arte tradition
Venice's new theatre, the Teatro Novissimo, has machinery which can change the scenes in the blink of an eye
A new theatre opens in Richmond, with a prologue written for the occasion by David Garrick
Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer is produced in London's Covent Garden theatre
Goethe's play Götz von Berlichingen, a definitive work of Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), has its premiere in Berlin
Figaro makes his first appearance on stage in Beaumarchais' The Barber of Seville
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Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane theatre
Friedrich von Schiller's youthful and anarchic play The Robbers causes a sensation when performed in Mannheim
The English actress Sarah Siddons, already well known in the province, causes a sensation when she appears in London at Drury Lane
US painter and author William Dunlap has great success with his comedy The Father; or, American Shandyism
Mozart's opera Così fan Tutte has its premiere in Vienna, in the court theatre of Joseph II
Mozart's opera The Magic Flute has its premiere in Vienna in a popular theatre run by the librettist, Emanuel Shikaneder
Goethe and Schiller become friends, and together create the movement known as Weimar classicism
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The destruction of Drury Lane Theatre lights up the night sky
Today's Drury Lane Theatre opens
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Edmund Kean gives his snuff box to an admirer, as a souvenir of his Richard III
Victor Hugo's romantic drama Hernani provokes a riot in the Paris audience on the first night
Edmund Kean takes a lease on the theatre and acts here until his death in 1833