Drama Television Series About The Israeli–Palestinian Conflict
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Drama is the specific mode of
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
represented in
performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
and the
lyrical Lyrical may refer to: *Lyrics, or words in songs *Lyrical dance, a style of dancing *Emotional, expressing strong feelings *Lyric poetry, poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view *Lyric video A music video is a video of variab ...
modes ever since Aristotle's ''
Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...
'' (c. 335 BC)—the earliest work of
dramatic theory Dramatic theory is a term used for works that attempt to form theories about theatre and drama. Examples of ancient dramatic theory include Aristotle's '' Poetics'' from Ancient Greece and Bharata Muni's ''Natyasastra'' from ancient India. Drama ...
. The term "drama" comes from a Greek word meaning "deed" or " act" ( Classical Greek: , ''drâma''), which is derived from "I do" ( Classical Greek: , ''dráō''). The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division between comedy and tragedy. In English (as was the analogous case in many other European languages), the word '' play'' or ''game'' (translating the
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
''pleġan'' or Latin ''ludus'') was the standard term for dramas until William Shakespeare's time—just as its creator was a ''play-maker'' rather than a ''dramatist'' and the building was a ''play-house'' rather than a '' theatre''. The use of "drama" in a more narrow sense to designate a specific ''type'' of play dates from the modern era. "Drama" in this sense refers to a play that is ''neither'' a comedy nor a tragedy—for example, Zola's '' Thérèse Raquin'' (
1873 Events January–March * January 1 ** Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar. ** The California Penal Code goes into effect. * January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat ...
) or Chekhov's ''
Ivanov Ivanov, Ivanoff or Ivanow (masculine, bg, Иванов, russian: ИвановSometimes the stress is on Ива́нов in Bulgarian if it is a middle name, or in Russian as a rare variant of pronunciation), or Ivanova (feminine, bg, Иванов ...
'' (
1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Har ...
). It is this narrower sense that the
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and television industries, along with film studies, adopted to describe " drama" as a genre within their respective media. The term ” radio drama“ has been used in both senses—originally transmitted in a live performance. May also refer to the more high-brow and serious end of the dramatic output of radio. The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an
audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
, presupposes
collaborative Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
modes of production and a
collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...
form of reception. The structure of dramatic texts, unlike other forms of literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception. Mime is a form of drama where the action of a story is told only through the movement of the body. Drama can be combined with music: the dramatic text in opera is generally sung throughout; as for in some ballets dance "expresses or imitates emotion, character, and narrative action".''Encyclopaedia Britannica''
/ref>
Musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
include both spoken
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
and songs; and some forms of drama have
incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
or musical accompaniment underscoring the dialogue (
melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
and Japanese , for example).See the entries for "opera", "musical theatre, American", "melodrama" and "Nō" in Banham (1998). Closet drama is a form that is intended to be read, rather than performed.'' Manfred'' by Byron, for example, is a good example of a "
dramatic poem Verse drama is any drama written significantly in verse (that is: with line endings) to be performed by an actor before an audience. Although verse drama does not need to be ''primarily'' in verse to be considered verse drama, significant portion ...
." See the entry on "Byron (George George)" in Banham (1998).
In
improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
, the drama does not pre-exist the moment of performance; performers devise a dramatic script spontaneously before an audience.Some forms of improvisation, notably the
Commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
, improvise on the basis of 'lazzi' or rough outlines of scenic action (see Gordon (1983) and Duchartre (1929)). All forms of improvisation take their cue from their immediate response to one another, their characters' situations (which are sometimes established in advance), and, often, their interaction with the audience. The classic formulations of improvisation in the theatre originated with Joan Littlewood and Keith Johnstone in the UK and Viola Spolin in the US; see Johnstone (1981) and Spolin (1963).


History of Western drama


Classical Greek drama

Western drama originates in
classical Greece Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (the 5th and 4th centuries BC) in Ancient Greece,The "Classical Age" is "the modern designation of the period from about 500 B.C. to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C." ( Thomas R. Marti ...
. The theatrical culture of the city-state of Athens produced three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Their origins remain obscure, though by the 5th century BC, they were
institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
alised in competitions held as part of festivities celebrating the god
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
. Historians know the names of many ancient Greek dramatists, not least
Thespis Thespis (; grc-gre, Θέσπις; fl. 6th century BC) was an Ancient Greek poet. He was born in the ancient city of Icarius (present-day Dionysos, Greece). According to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, he was the first pe ...
, who is credited with the innovation of an actor ("''hypokrites''") who speaks (rather than sings) and impersonates a character (rather than speaking in his own person), while interacting with the
chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
and its leader ("'' coryphaeus''"), who were a traditional part of the performance of non-dramatic poetry (
dithyramb The dithyramb (; grc, διθύραμβος, ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in ''The Laws'', while discussing ...
ic,
lyric Lyric may refer to: * Lyrics, the words, often in verse form, which are sung, usually to a melody, and constitute the semantic content of a song * Lyric poetry is a form of poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view * Lyric, from ...
and
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
). Only a small fraction of the work of five dramatists, however, has survived to this day: we have a small number of complete texts by the tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comic writers Aristophanes and, from the late 4th century,
Menander Menander (; grc-gre, Μένανδρος ''Menandros''; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His rec ...
. Aeschylus' historical tragedy '' The Persians'' is the oldest surviving drama, although when it won first prize at the City Dionysia competition in 472 BC, he had been writing plays for more than 25 years. The competition ("''
agon Agon (Greek ) is a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', ...
''") for tragedies may have begun as early as 534 BC; official records ("''didaskaliai''") begin from 501 BC when the satyr play was introduced. Tragic dramatists were required to present a tetralogy of plays (though the individual works were not necessarily connected by story or theme), which usually consisted of three tragedies and one satyr play (though exceptions were made, as with Euripides' '' Alcestis'' in 438 BC). Comedy was officially recognized with a prize in the competition from 487 to 486 BC. Five comic dramatists competed at the City Dionysia (though during the
Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...
this may have been reduced to three), each offering a single comedy. Ancient Greek comedy is traditionally divided between "old comedy" (5th century BC), "middle comedy" (4th century BC) and "new comedy" (late 4th century to 2nd BC).


Classical Roman drama

Following the expansion of the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) into several Greek territories between 270 and 240 BC, Rome encountered Greek drama.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 43). From the later years of the republic and by means of the Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD), theatre spread west across Europe, around the Mediterranean and reached England;
Roman theatre Roman theatres derive from and are part of the overall evolution of earlier Greek theatres. Indeed, much of the architectural influence the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings. However ...
was more varied, extensive and sophisticated than that of any culture before it. While Greek drama continued to be performed throughout the Roman period, the year 240 BC marks the beginning of regular
Roman drama The architectural form of theatre in Rome has been linked to later, more well-known examples from the 1st century BC to the 3rd Century AD. The theatre of ancient Rome referred to as a period of time in which theatrical practice and performance t ...
. From the beginning of the empire, however, interest in full-length drama declined in favour of a broader variety of theatrical entertainments. The first important works of Roman literature were the tragedies and comedies that
Livius Andronicus Lucius Livius Andronicus (; el, Λούκιος Λίβιος Ανδρόνικος; c. 284 – c. 204 BC) was a Greco-Roman dramatist and epic poet of the Old Latin period during the Roman Republic. He began as an educator in the service of a n ...
wrote from 240 BC.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 47). Five years later,
Gnaeus Naevius Gnaeus Naevius (; c. 270 – c. 201 BC) was a Roman epic poet and dramatist of the Old Latin period. He had a notable literary career at Rome until his satiric comments delivered in comedy angered the Metellus family, one of whom was consul. A ...
also began to write drama. No plays from either writer have survived. While both dramatists composed in both genres, Andronicus was most appreciated for his tragedies and Naevius for his comedies; their successors tended to specialise in one or the other, which led to a separation of the subsequent development of each type of drama. By the beginning of the 2nd century BC, drama was firmly established in Rome and a guild of writers (''collegium poetarum'') had been formed. The Roman comedies that have survived are all ''
fabula palliata ''Fabula palliata'' is a genre of Roman drama that consists largely of Romanized versions of Greek plays.''OCD'', sv. palliata The name ''palliata'' comes from ''pallium'', the Latin word for a Greek-style cloak. It is possible that the term ''fa ...
'' (comedies based on Greek subjects) and come from two dramatists: Titus Maccius Plautus (Plautus) and Publius Terentius Afer (Terence). In re-working the Greek originals, the Roman comic dramatists abolished the role of the
chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
in dividing the drama into episodes and introduced musical accompaniment to its
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
(between one-third of the dialogue in the comedies of Plautus and two-thirds in those of Terence).Brockett and Hildy (2003, 49). The action of all scenes is set in the exterior location of a street and its complications often follow from eavesdropping. Plautus, the more popular of the two, wrote between 205 and 184 BC and twenty of his comedies survive, of which his
farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...
s are best known; he was admired for the
wit Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever and usually funny. Someone witty is a person who is skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip, repartee, and wisecrack. Form ...
of his dialogue and his use of a variety of poetic meters.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 48). All of the six comedies that Terence wrote between 166 and 160 BC have survived; the complexity of his plots, in which he often combined several Greek originals, was sometimes denounced, but his double-plots enabled a sophisticated presentation of contrasting human behaviour. No early Roman tragedy survives, though it was highly regarded in its day; historians know of three early tragedians—
Quintus Ennius Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabria, ...
,
Marcus Pacuvius Marcus Pacuvius (; 220 – c. 130 BC) was an ancient Roman tragic poet. He is regarded as the greatest of their tragedians prior to Lucius Accius. Biography He was the nephew and pupil of Ennius, by whom Roman tragedy was first raised to a positi ...
, and
Lucius Accius Lucius Accius (; 170 – c. 86 BC), or Lucius Attius, was a Roman tragic poet and literary scholar. Accius was born in 170 BC at Pisaurum, a town founded in the Ager Gallicus in 184 BC. He was the son of a freedman and a freedwoman, probably from ...
. From the time of the empire, the work of two tragedians survives—one is an unknown author, while the other is the Stoic philosopher Seneca.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 50). Nine of Seneca's tragedies survive, all of which are ''fabula crepidata'' (tragedies adapted from Greek originals); his '' Phaedra'', for example, was based on Euripides' '' Hippolytus''. Historians do not know who wrote the only
extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
example of the ''fabula praetexta'' (tragedies based on Roman subjects), '' Octavia'', but in former times it was mistakenly attributed to Seneca due to his appearance as a character in the tragedy.


Medieval

Beginning in the early Middle Ages, churches staged dramatised versions of biblical events, known as
liturgical drama Liturgical drama refers to medieval forms of dramatic performance that use stories from the Bible or Christian hagiography. The term was widely disseminated by well-known theater historians like Heinrich Alt (''Theater und Kirche'', 1846), E.K. C ...
s, to enliven annual celebrations. The earliest example is the Easter trope ''Whom do you Seek? (Quem-Quaeritis)'' (c. 925).Brockett and Hildy (2003, 76). Two groups would sing responsively in Latin, though no impersonation of characters was involved. By the 11th century, it had spread through Europe to Russia, Scandinavia, and Italy; excluding Islamic-era Spain. In the 10th century, Hrosvitha wrote six plays in Latin modeled on Terence's comedies, but which treated religious subjects.Brockett and Hildy (2003, 77). Her plays are the first known to be composed by a female dramatist and the first identifiable Western drama of the post-Classical era. Later, Hildegard of Bingen wrote a musical drama, ''Ordo Virtutum'' (c. 1155). One of the most famous of the early secular plays is the courtly
pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
'' Robin and Marion'', written in the 13th century in French by Adam de la Halle. '' The Interlude of the Student and the Girl'' (c. 1300), one of the earliest known in English, seems to be the closest in tone and form to the contemporaneous French
farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...
s, such as '' The Boy and the Blind Man.'' Many plays survive from France and Germany in the late Middle Ages, when some type of religious drama was performed in nearly every European country. Many of these plays contained comedy, devils, villains, and
clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
s. In England, trade guilds began to perform vernacular "
mystery plays Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...
," which were composed of long cycles of many playlets or "pageants," of which four are
extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
: York (48 plays),
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
(24), Wakefield (32) and the so-called "
N-Town The N-Town Plays (also called the Hegge Cycle and the Ludus Coventriae cycle) are a cycle of 42 medieval Mystery plays from between 1450 and 1500. The manuscript The manuscript is now housed in the British Library, London (BL MS Cotton Vespasian ...
" (42). '' The Second Shepherds' Play'' from the Wakefield cycle is a farcical story of a stolen sheep that its
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
, Mak, tries to pass off as his new-born child asleep in a crib; it ends when the shepherds from whom he has stolen are summoned to the Nativity of Jesus. Morality plays (a modern term) emerged as a distinct dramatic form around 1400 and flourished in the early Elizabethan era in England. Characters were often used to represent different ethical ideals. '' Everyman'', for example, includes such figures as Good Deeds, Knowledge and Strength, and this characterisation reinforces the conflict between good and evil for the audience. '' The Castle of Perseverance'' (c. 1400–1425) depicts an archetypal figure's progress from birth through to death. '' Horestes'' (c. 1567), a late "hybrid morality" and one of the earliest examples of an English revenge play, brings together the classical story of Orestes with a Vice from the medieval allegorical tradition, alternating comic,
slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
scenes with serious, tragic ones. Also important in this period were the folk dramas of the Mummers Play, performed during the Christmas season. Court masques were particularly popular during the reign of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
.


Elizabethan and Jacobean

One of the great flowerings of drama in England occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these plays were written in verse, particularly iambic pentameter. In addition to Shakespeare, such authors as
Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
, Thomas Middleton, and Ben Jonson were prominent playwrights during this period. As in the medieval period, historical plays celebrated the lives of past kings, enhancing the image of the Tudor monarchy. Authors of this period drew some of their storylines from Greek mythology and Roman mythology or from the plays of eminent Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence.


English Restoration comedy

Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in England during the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. Comedy of manners is used as a synonym of Restoration comedy. After public theatre had been banned by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 with the Restoration of Charles II signalled a renaissance of English drama. Restoration comedy is known for its sexual explicitness, urbane, cosmopolitan
wit Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever and usually funny. Someone witty is a person who is skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip, repartee, and wisecrack. Form ...
, up-to-the-minute topical writing, and crowded and bustling plots. Its dramatists stole freely from the contemporary French and Spanish stage, from English Jacobean and
Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...
plays, and even from Greek and Roman classical comedies, combining the various plotlines in adventurous ways. Resulting differences of tone in a single play were appreciated rather than frowned on, as the audience prized "variety" within as well as between plays. Restoration comedy peaked twice. The genre came to spectacular maturity in the mid-1670s with an extravaganza of aristocratic comedies. Twenty lean years followed this short golden age, although the achievement of the first professional female playwright,
Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barrie ...
, in the 1680s is an important exception. In the mid-1690s, a brief second Restoration comedy renaissance arose, aimed at a wider audience. The comedies of the golden 1670s and 1690s peak times are significantly different from each other. The unsentimental or "hard" comedies of John Dryden, William Wycherley, and George Etherege reflected the atmosphere at Court and celebrated with frankness an aristocratic macho lifestyle of unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. The Earl of Rochester, real-life Restoration rake, courtier and poet, is flatteringly portrayed in Etherege's '' The Man of Mode'' (1676) as a riotous, witty, intellectual, and sexually irresistible aristocrat, a template for posterity's idea of the glamorous
Restoration rake In a historical context, a rake (short for rakehell, analogous to "hellraiser") was a man who was habituated to immoral conduct, particularly womanizing. Often, a rake was also prodigal, wasting his (usually inherited) fortune on gambling, w ...
(actually never a very common character in Restoration comedy). The single play that does most to support the charge of
obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
levelled then and now at Restoration comedy is probably Wycherley's masterpiece ''
The Country Wife ''The Country Wife'' is a Restoration comedy written by William Wycherley and first performed in 1675. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for ...
'' (1675), whose title contains a lewd pun and whose notorious "china scene" is a series of sustained double entendres. During the second wave of Restoration comedy in the 1690s, the "softer" comedies of William Congreve and
John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...
set out to appeal to more socially diverse audience with a strong middle-class element, as well as to female spectators. The comic focus shifts from young lovers outwitting the older generation to the vicissitudes of marital relations. In Congreve's '' Love for Love'' (1695) and '' The Way of the World'' (1700), the give-and-take set pieces of couples testing their attraction for one another have mutated into witty prenuptial debates on the eve of marriage, as in the latter's famous "Proviso" scene. Vanbrugh's '' The Provoked Wife'' (1697) has a light touch and more humanly recognisable characters, while '' The Relapse'' (1696) has been admired for its throwaway wit and the characterisation of Lord Foppington, an extravagant and affected
burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
fop with a dark side. The tolerance for Restoration comedy even in its modified form was running out by the end of the 17th century, as public opinion turned to respectability and seriousness even faster than the playwrights did. At the much-anticipated all-star première in 1700 of ''The Way of the World'', Congreve's first comedy for five years, the audience showed only moderate enthusiasm for that subtle and almost melancholy work. The comedy of sex and wit was about to be replaced by sentimental comedy and the drama of exemplary morality.


Modern and postmodern

The pivotal and innovative contributions of the
19th-century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...
Norwegian dramatist
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
and the
20th-century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...
German theatre practitioner
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
dominate modern drama; each inspired a tradition of imitators, which include many of the greatest playwrights of the modern era. The works of both playwrights are, in their different ways, both modernist and realist, incorporating formal experimentation, meta-theatricality, and social critique. In terms of the traditional theoretical discourse of genre, Ibsen's work has been described as the culmination of " liberal tragedy", while Brecht's has been aligned with an historicised comedy. Other important playwrights of the modern era include
Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
, August Strindberg,
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
, Frank Wedekind, Maurice Maeterlinck, Federico García Lorca, Eugene O'Neill, Luigi Pirandello, George Bernard Shaw, Ernst Toller, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams,
Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...
,
Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
,
Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
,
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Dario Fo, Heiner Müller, and
Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.
.


Opera

Western opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
is a dramatic art form that arose during the Renaissance in an attempt to revive the classical Greek drama in which dialogue, dance, and song were combined. Being strongly intertwined with western classical music, the opera has undergone enormous changes in the past four centuries and it is an important form of theatre until this day. Noteworthy is the major influence of the German 19th-century composer
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
on the opera tradition. In his view, there was no proper balance between music and theatre in the operas of his time, because the music seemed to be more important than the dramatic aspects in these works. To restore the connection with the classical drama, he entirely renewed the operatic form to emphasize the equal importance of music and drama in works that he called " music dramas".
Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
has seen a more conservative development over a somewhat longer period of time.


Pantomime

Pantomime (informally panto), is a type of musical comedy stage production, designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is still performed throughout the United Kingdom, generally during the Christmas and New Year season and, to a lesser extent, in other English-speaking countries. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale.Reid-Walsh, Jacqueline. "Pantomime", ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'', Jack Zipes (ed.), Oxford University Press (2006), It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. These stories follow in the tradition of fables and folk tales. Usually, there is a lesson learned, and with some help from the audience, the hero/heroine saves the day. This kind of play uses
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
s seen in masque and again
commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
, these characters include the villain (doctore), the clown/servant (Arlechino/Harlequin/buttons), the lovers etc. These plays usually have an emphasis on moral dilemmas, and good always triumphs over evil, this kind of play is also very entertaining making it a very effective way of reaching many people. Pantomime has a long theatrical history in Western culture dating back to classical theatre. It developed partly from the 16th century
commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
tradition of Italy, as well as other European and British stage traditions, such as 17th-century masques and
music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
. An important part of the pantomime, until the late 19th century, was the
harlequinade ''Harlequinade'' is a British comic theatrical genre, defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th cent ...
."The History of Pantomime"
It's-Behind-You.com, 2002, accessed 10 February 2013
Outside Britain the word "pantomime" is usually used to mean
miming A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...
, rather than the theatrical form discussed here.


Mime

Mime is a theatrical medium where the action of a story is told through the movement of the body, without the use of speech. Performance of mime occurred in Ancient Greece, and the word is taken from a single masked dancer called ''Pantomimus'', although their performances were not necessarily silent. In Medieval Europe, early forms of mime, such as mummer plays and later dumbshows, evolved. In the early nineteenth century Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes that we have come to know in modern times, including the silent figure in whiteface. Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by
Commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...
and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks in the training of his actors. Étienne Decroux, a pupil of his, was highly influenced by this and started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime and refined corporeal mime into a highly sculptural form, taking it outside of the realms of naturalism. Jacques Lecoq contributed significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods.Callery (2001).


Ballet

While some ballet emphasises "the lines and patterns of movement itself" dramatic dance "expresses or imitates emotion, character, and narrative action". Such ballets are theatrical works that have characters and "tell a story",''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' Dance movements in ballet "are often closely related to everyday forms of physical expression, o thatthere is an expressive quality inherent in nearly all dancing", and this is used to convey both action and emotions; mime is also used. Examples include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ''
Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
'', which tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse, Sergei Prokofiev's ballet ''
Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'', based on Shakespeare's famous play, and
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
's '' Petrushka'', which tells the story of the loves and jealousies of three puppets.


Creative drama

Creative drama includes dramatic activities and games used primarily in educational settings with children. Its roots in the United States began in the early 1900s. Winifred Ward is considered to be the founder of creative drama in education, establishing the first academic use of drama in Evanston, Illinois.


Asian drama


India

The earliest form of Indian drama was the Sanskrit drama.Richmond, Swann, and Zarrilli (1993, 12). Between the 1st century AD and the 10th was a period of relative peace in the
history of India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...
during which hundreds of plays were written. With the Islamic conquests that began in the 10th and 11th centuries, theatre was discouraged or forbidden entirely. Later, in an attempt to re-assert indigenous values and ideas, village theatre was encouraged across the subcontinent, developing in various regional languages from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The
Bhakti movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...
was influential in performances in several regions. Apart from regional languages, Assam saw the rise of Vaishnavite drama in an artificially mixed literary language called Brajavali. A distinct form of one-act plays called Ankia Naat developed in the works of Sankardev, a particular presentation of which is called Bhaona. Modern Indian theatre developed during the period of colonial rule under the British Empire, from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th.


Sanskrit theatre

The earliest-surviving fragments of Sanskrit drama date from the 1st century AD. The wealth of archeological evidence from earlier periods offers no indication of the existence of a tradition of theatre.Richmond (1998, 516). The ancient '' Vedas'' ( hymns from between 1500 and 1000 BC that are among the earliest examples of literature in the world) contain no hint of it (although a small number are composed in a form of
dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is c ...
) and the rituals of the Vedic period do not appear to have developed into theatre. The '' Mahābhāṣya'' by Patañjali contains the earliest reference to what may have been the seeds of Sanskrit drama.Richmond (1998, 517). This treatise on grammar from 140 BC provides a feasible date for the beginnings of theatre in India. The major source of evidence for Sanskrit theatre is '' A Treatise on Theatre'' (''Nātyaśāstra''), a compendium whose date of composition is uncertain (estimates range from 200 BC to 200 AD) and whose authorship is attributed to
Bharata Muni Bharata Muni (Hindi: भरत मुनि) was an ancient sage who the musical treatise '' Natya Shastra'' is traditionally attributed to. The work covers ancient Indian dramaturgy and histrionics, especially Sanskrit theatre. Bharata is con ...
. The ''Treatise'' is the most complete work of dramaturgy in the ancient world. It addresses
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
,
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
, music, dramatic construction, architecture, costuming,
make-up Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
, props, the organisation of companies, the audience, competitions, and offers a
mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
account of the origin of theatre. Its drama is regarded as the highest achievement of
Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
.Brandon (1981, xvii). It utilised
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
s, such as the hero (''nayaka''), heroine (''nayika''), or clown (''vidusaka''). Actors may have specialised in a particular type. It was patronized by the kings as well as village assemblies. Famous early playwrights include Bhasa,
Kalidasa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...
(famous for '' Vikrama and Urvashi'', '' Malavika and Agnimitra'', and ''
The Recognition of Shakuntala ''Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, IAST: ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam''), also known as ''Shakuntala'', ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', ''The Sign of Shakuntala'', and many other variant ...
''), Śudraka (famous for ''
The Little Clay Cart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''), Asvaghosa, Daṇḍin, and Emperor Harsha (famous for '' Nagananda'', '' Ratnavali,'' and '' Priyadarsika''). '' Śakuntalā'' (in English translation) influenced Goethe's '' Faust'' (1808–1832).


Modern Indian drama

Rabindranath Tagore was a pioneering modern playwright who wrote plays noted for their exploration and questioning of nationalism, identity, spiritualism and material greed.Banham (1998, 1051). His plays are written in Bengali and include ''Chitra'' (''Chitrangada'', 1892), ''The King of the Dark Chamber'' (''Raja'', 1910), '' The Post Office'' (''Dakghar'', 1913), and ''Red Oleander'' (''Raktakarabi'', 1924). Girish Karnad is a noted playwright, who has written a number of plays that use history and mythology, to critique and problematize ideas and ideals that are of contemporary relevance. Karnad's numerous plays such as ''Tughlaq'', ''Hayavadana'', ''
Taledanda ''Taledanda'' (Kannada: ತಲೆದಂಡ, Hindi: ''रक्त कल्याण'', literally: ''Death by Beheading'') is a 1990 Kannada-language play written by Girish Karnad, an eminent person in Kannada literature, about the rise of the ...
'', and ''Naga-Mandala'' are significant contributions to Indian drama. Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani are amongst the major Indian playwrights of the 20th century. Mohan Rakesh in Hindi and Danish Iqbal in Urdu are considered architects of new age Drama. Mohan Rakesh's Aadhe Adhoore and Danish Iqbal's ''Dara Shikoh'' are considered modern classics.


Modern Urdu drama of India and Pakistan

Urdu Drama evolved from the prevailing dramatic traditions of North India shaping Rahas or Raas as practiced by exponents like
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Mirza Wajid Ali Shah ( ur, ) (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better k ...
(1822 – 1887) of Awadh. His dramatic experiments led to the famous Inder Sabha of Amanat and later this tradition took the shape of Parsi Theatre. Agha Hashr Kashmiri is the culmination of this tradition. Urdu theatre tradition has greatly influenced modern Indian theatre. Theatre has flourished in Urdu (which was called Hindi by early writers), along with Gujrati,
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...
, and Bengali. Urdu drama has had an important influence on Bombay Film industry and all the early works of Urdu theatre (performed by Parsi Companies) were made into films. Urdu dramatic tradition has existed for more than a 100 years. Prof Hasan, Ghulam Jeelani, J.N,Kaushal, Shameem Hanfi, Jameel Shaidayi, etc. belong to the old generation, contemporary writers like Danish Iqbal, Sayeed Alam, Shahid Anwar, Iqbal Niyazi, and Anwar are a few
postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
playwrights actively contributing in the field of Urdu Drama. Sayeed Alam is known for his wit and humour and more particularly for plays like 'Ghalib in New Delhi', 'Big B' and many other works, which are regularly staged for large audiences. ''Maulana Azad'' is his most important play both for its content and style. Danish Iqbal's play ''
Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank" ...
'' directed by M. S. Sathyu is a modern classic that uses newer theatre techniques and a contemporary perspective. His other plays are '' Sahir''. on the famous lyricist and revolutionary poet. ''Kuchh Ishq kiya Kuchh Kaam'' is another play written by Danish which is basically a Celebration of Faiz's poetry, featuring events from the early part of his life, particularly the events and incidents of pre-partition days which shaped his life and ideals. ''Chand Roz Aur Meri Jaan'' – another play inspired from Faiz's letters written from various jails during the Rawalpindi Conspiracy days. He has written 14 other plays including ''Dilli Jo Ek Shehr Thaa'' and ''Main Gaya Waqt Nahin hoon''. Shahid's ''Three B'' is also a significant play. He has been associated with many groups like 'Natwa' and others. Zaheer Anwar has kept the flag of Urdu theatre flying in Kolkata. Unlike the writers of previous generation Sayeed, Shahid, Danish Iqbal and Zaheer do not write bookish plays but their work is a product of performing tradition. Iqbal Niyazi of Mumbai has written several plays in Urdu, his play ''AUR KITNE JALYANWALA BAUGH?'' won a National award other awards. Hence this is the only generation after Amanat and Agha Hashr who actually write for stage and not for libraries.


China

Chinese theatre has a long and complex history. Today it is often called
Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
although this normally refers specifically to the popular form known as
Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...
and Kunqu; there have been many other forms of theatre in China, such as zaju.


Japan

Japanese Nō drama is a serious dramatic form that combines drama, music, and dance into a complete aesthetic performance experience. It developed in the 14th and 15th centuries and has its own musical instruments and performance techniques, which were often handed down from father to son. The performers were generally male (for both male and female roles), although female amateurs also perform Nō dramas. Nō drama was supported by the government, and particularly the military, with many military commanders having their own troupes and sometimes performing themselves. It is still performed in Japan today. Kyōgen is the comic counterpart to Nō drama. It concentrates more on dialogue and less on music, although Nō instrumentalists sometimes appear also in Kyōgen. Kabuki drama, developed from the 17th century, is another comic form, which includes dance. Modern theatrical and musical drama has also developed in Japan in forms such as ''
shingeki was a leading form of theatre in Japan that was based on modern realism. Born in the early years of the 20th century, it sought to be similar to modern Western theatre, putting on the works of the ancient Greek classics, William Shakespeare, Moli ...
'' and the Takarazuka Revue.


See also

* Antitheatricality *
Applied Drama Applied drama (also known as applied theatre or applied performance) is an umbrella term for the use of theatrical practices and creativity that take participants and audience members further than mainstream theatre. It is often in response to co ...
* Augustan drama * Christian drama * Closet drama *
Comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
* Costume drama * Crime drama * Domestic drama * Drama school * Dramatic structure *
Dramatic theory Dramatic theory is a term used for works that attempt to form theories about theatre and drama. Examples of ancient dramatic theory include Aristotle's '' Poetics'' from Ancient Greece and Bharata Muni's ''Natyasastra'' from ancient India. Drama ...
*
Drama annotation Drama annotation is the process of annotating the metadata of a drama. Given a drama expressed in some medium (text, video, audio, etc.), the process of metadata annotation identifies what are the elements that characterize the drama and annotates ...
*
Dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the Representation (arts), representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ...
* Entertainment *
Flash drama Flash drama is a type of theatrical play that does not exceed ten minutes in duration, hence the name. Groups of four to six flash drama plays are popular with school, university and community drama companies since they offer a wide variety of role ...
* Folk play * Heroic drama * History of theatre * Hyperdrama * Legal drama *
Medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...
*
Melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
* Monodrama * Mystery play * One act play * Political drama * Soap opera *
Theatre awards Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
* Two-hander * Verse drama and dramatic verse * Well-made play * Yakshagana


Notes


Sources

* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Baumer, Rachel Van M., and James R. Brandon, eds. 1981. ''Sanskrit Theatre in Performance.'' Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993. . * Bevington, David M. 1962. ''From ''Mankind'' to Marlowe: Growth of Structure in the Popular Drama of Tudor England.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. * Bhatta, S. Krishna. 1987. ''Indian English Drama: A Critical Study.'' New Delhi: Sterling. * Brandon, James R. 1981. Introduction. In Baumer and Brandon (1981, xvii–xx). * Brandon, James R., ed. 1997. ''The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre. 2nd, rev. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. . * Brockett, Oscar G. and Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. ''History of the Theatre''. Ninth edition, International edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. . * Brown, Andrew. 1998. "Ancient Greece." In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Ed. Martin Banham. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 441–447. . * Burt, Daniel S. 2008.''The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time.'' Facts on File ser. New York: Facts on File/Infobase. . * Callery, Dympha. 2001. ''Through the Body: A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre.'' London: Nick Hern. . * Carlson, Marvin. 1993. ''Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the Present.'' Expanded ed. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. . * Cartledge, Paul. 1997. "'Deep Plays': Theatre as Process in Greek Civic Life." In Easterling (1997c, 3–35). * Chakraborty, Kaustav, ed. 2011. ''Indian English Drama.'' New Delhi: PHI Learning. * Deshpande, G. P., ed. 2000. ''Modern Indian Drama: An Anthology.'' New Delhi: Sahitya Akedemi. * Dillon, Janette. 2006. ''The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre.'' Cambridge Introductions to Literature ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Duchartre, Pierre Louis. 1929. ''The Italian Comedy''. Unabridged republication. New York: Dover, 1966. . * Dukore, Bernard F., ed. 1974. ''Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greeks to ''. Florence, Kentucky: Heinle & Heinle. . * Durant, Will & Ariel Durant. 1963 ''The Story of Civilization, Volume II: The Life of Greece''. 11 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster. * Easterling, P. E. 1997a. "A Show for Dionysus." In Easterling (1997c, 36–53). * Easterling, P. E. 1997b. "Form and Performance." In Easterling (1997c, 151–177). * Easterling, P. E., ed. 1997c. ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy''. Cambridge Companions to Literature ser. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. . * Ehrlich, Harriet W. 1974.
Creative Dramatics as a Classroom Teaching Technique
" ''Elementary English'' 51:1 (January):75–80. * Elam, Keir. 1980. ''The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama''. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen. . * Fergusson, Francis. 1949. ''The Idea of a Theater: A Study of Ten Plays, The Art of Drama in a Changing Perspective.'' Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1968. . * Goldhill, Simon. 1997. "The Audience of Athenian Tragedy." In Easterling (1997c, 54–68). * Gordon, Mel. 1983. '' Lazzi: The Comic Routines of the Commedia dell'Arte''. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications. . * Gutzwiller, Kathryn. 2007. ''A Guide to Hellenistic Literature.'' London: Blackwell. . * Harsh, Philip Whaley. 1944. ''A Handbook of Classical Drama''. Stanford: Stanford UP; Oxford: Oxford UP. * Johnstone, Keith. 1981. ''Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre'' Rev. ed. London: Methuen, 2007. . * Ley, Graham. 2006. ''A Short Introduction to the Ancient Greek Theater.'' Rev. ed. Chicago and London: U of Chicago P. . * O'Brien, Nick. 2010. ''Stanislavski In Practise''. London: Routledge. . * O'Brien, Nick. 2007. ''The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: Playing Space and Chorus.'' Chicago and London: U of Chicago P. . * Pandey, Sudhakar, and Freya Taraporewala, eds. 1999. ''Studies in Contemporary India.'' New Delhi: Prestige. * Pfister, Manfred. 1977. ''The Theory and Analysis of Drama''. Trans. John Halliday. European Studies in English Literature Ser. Cambridige: Cambridge University Press, 1988. . * Rémy, Tristan. 1954. ''Jean-Gaspard Deburau.'' Paris: L’Arche. * Rehm, Rush. 1992. ''Greek Tragic Theatre.'' Theatre Production Studies ser. London and New York: Routledge. . * Richmond, Farley. 1998. "India." In Banham (1998, 516–525). * Richmond, Farley P., Darius L. Swann, and Phillip B. Zarrilli, eds. 1993. ''Indian Theatre: Traditions of Performance.'' U of Hawaii P. . * Spivack, Bernard. 1958. ''Shakespeare and the Allegory of Evil: The History of a Metaphor in Relation to his Major Villains.'' NY and London: Columbia UP. . * Spolin, Viola. 1967. ''Improvisation for the Theater''. Third rev. ed Evanston, II Northwestern University Press, 1999. . * Taxidou, Olga. 2004. ''Tragedy, Modernity and Mourning''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP. . * Wickham, Glynne. 1959. ''Early English Stages: 1300–1660.'' Vol. 1. London: Routledge. * Wickham, Glynne. 1969. ''Shakespeare's Dramatic Heritage: Collected Studies in Mediaeval, Tudor and Shakespearean Drama.'' London: Routledge. . * Wickham, Glynne, ed. 1976. ''English Moral Interludes.'' London: Dent. . * Wickham, Glynne. 1981. ''Early English Stages: 1300–1660.'' Vol. 3. London: Routledge. . * Wickham, Glynne. 1987. ''The Medieval Theatre.'' 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Weimann, Robert. 1978. ''Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of Dramatic Form and Function.'' Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. . * Weimann, Robert. 2000. ''Author's Pen and Actor's Voice: Playing and Writing in Shakespeare's Theatre''. Ed. Helen Higbee and William West. Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .


External links


Greek & Roman Mask Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drama