ABSTRACT
The brilliance of the writers of the 1690s partly inspired and was partly inspired by the brilliance of the leading actors. The actors’ need for freedom to explore this new repertoire was one reason why in 1695 they broke away from the United Company to form their own co-operative at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. But there was at the heart of this a contradiction: was the theatre they were creating based on stylisation, or was it basically naturalistic?
