Drama

Palmyra, Syria

•Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.

•The term comes from a Greek word meaning “action".
•It presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective form of reception.
 The two masks
represent the generic
Emotional division between
Representation comedy and tragedy.

They are symbols of

the ancient Greek
Muses – Thalia and
Melpomene.

Thalia was the Muse

of comedy
(the laughing face)

Melpomene was the

Muse of tragedy
(the weeping face).
 Drama is
often
combined
with music
and dance.

The drama
in opera is
The Greek Chorus sung
throughout.

In certain periods of history Musicals

(the ancient Roman and include
modern Romantic), dramas spoken
have been written to be read dialogue
rather than performed. and songs.
English
Drama
Drama was introduced to England by the Romans who
in turn were exposed to the Greeks.
The ancient Greek dramatists included:
Aeschylus (T) Sophocles (T) Euripides (T)
Aristophanes (C) Menander (C)
The ancient Roman dramatists:
Seneca (T)
Plautus (C) Terence (C)
Tragedy Comedy
 The Medieval Period
(Pre-Shakespeare)

By the medieval period, the Mummers’ Plays had developed.

This was a form of early street theatre, concentrating on themes such as
Saint George and Robin Hood.
These were folk tales re-telling old stories.
The actors travelled from town to town performing in return for money and
hospitality.
Broadly comic performances, the plays generally involve a battle between two or
more characters, representing good against evil.

Usually they feature a doctor who has

a magic potion which is able to
resuscitate a slain character.
The central incident is the killing and
restoring to life of one of the
characters.
The principal characters are a Hero,
his chief opponent, the Fool, and a
quack Doctor; the defining feature of
mumming plays is the Doctor, and the
main purpose of the fight is to provide
him with a patient to cure.

Occasionally, the performers will wear face-obscuring hats or other kinds of

headgear, which create the impression of being masked. Some mummers' faces are
blackened or painted red by way of disguise.
 The Mystery Plays
The Mystery Plays
They developed from the 10th to the
16th century, before being rendered
obsolete by the rise of professional
theatre.
Mystery plays focus on the
representation of Bible stories in
churches as tableaux with
accompanying antiphonal song.
Eventually the dramas moved from
church to the exterior - the
churchyard and the public
marketplace.

In 1210 the Pope forbade clergy to act in public, thus the organization of the
dramas was taken over by town guilds.
From the guild control originated the term mystery play or mysteries,
from the Latin misterium meaning ‘occupation’ controlled by guilds.
Each guild took the responsibility to perform and produce a particular
piece of scriptural history.
 Several changes followed with
control of drama by secular
management:
•Vernacular texts replaced Latin
•Non-Biblical passages
•Comic scenes were be
introduced
•Acting and characterization
became more elaborate.

The mystery play developed into a series of plays dealing with all the
major events in the Christian calendar, from the Creation to the Day of
Judgment.
The practice of acting these plays in cycles on festival days was
established.
Sometimes, each play was performed on a decorated cart called a
pageant that moved about the city to allow different crowds to watch
each play.
Mystery plays are often mixed with Miracle plays, which specifically re-
enacted episodes from the lives of the saints rather than from the Bible.
 Morality plays are a type of allegory in
Morality which the protagonist is met by
personifications of various moral
Plays attributes who try to prompt him to
choose a godly life over one of evil.

Most morality plays have a

protagonist who represents either
humanity as a whole (Everyman) or
an entire social class (as in
Magnificence).

Antagonists and supporting

characters are personifications of
abstract virtues or vices, especially the
Seven Deadly Sins.

These plays represented a shift

A scene from towards a more secular base for
Everyman European theatre.
By the 16th century, Morality
Plays were dealing with
secular topics.
Morality play
This eventually developed
into Renaissance theatre.
Topics included knowledge,
good governance, education,
etc.

Morality plays gradually died

out as tastes changed towards
the end of the sixteenth
century.
 Renaissance and Elizabethan Periods
Renaissance drama is associated with the reign
of Elizabeth I (1558-1603).
The crucial initiating development was the
building of theatres, perhaps the most famous of
which was the Globe theatre (1599), where most
of Shakespeare’s plays were performed.

The establishment of
large and profitable
public theatres was a
factor in the success of
English Renaissance
drama making drama
fixed and permanent,
rather than a transitory
phenomenon.
 Theatres were three stories
The Globe Theatre high, built around an open
space at the centre.
They were usually polygonal
in plan to give an overall
rounded effect.
Three levels of inward-facing
galleries overlooked the open
centre.
The stage was a platform that
Elizabethan Theatres jutted out into the centre.
The audience surrounded the
stage on three sides.
The rear was restricted for
the entry and exits of actors
and seats for musicians.
The upper level behind the
stage could be used as a
balcony.
 William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

The most famous playwright in the

world, William Shakespeare wrote
plays that are still performed
internationally.
His contemporary playwrights
include Christopher Marlowe, Ben
Jonson, and John Webster.

The three most popular types of plays that were performed are
the histories, the comedies and the tragedies.
Shakespeare produced all three types. His 38 plays include:
Tragedies such as Hamlet (1603), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605)
Comedies such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1594—96) and
Twelfth Nifht (1602)
History plays such as Henry IV, Part 1 & 2
 Puritanism and the English Civil War
During the Interregnum 1649—1660,
theatres were closed by the Puritans for
religious and ideological reasons.
Restoration Drama
The Puritan movement was hostile to
theatre, which they thought promoted
17th Century immorality.
Their most common complaint was the
practice of boys dressing as women to play
female roles.
Politically, playwrights and actors were
clients of the monarchy, supporting the
Royalist cause.
The Puritan faction gained control of the city
of London, early in the English Civil War.
A typical On September 2, 1642 ordered the closure of
Puritan the London theatres.
 RESTORATION DRAMA
London theatres opened again with the
Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

They flourished under the personal

interest and support of Charles II.

New genres of Restoration Drama

evolved, including heroic drama, pathetic
drama and Restoration Comedy.

Socially mixed audiences were attracted

by topical writing and by the introduction
of the first professional actresses.
Charles II

This period saw the first professional woman playwright, Aphra Behn
 Decline of Drama

In the 18th
century,
Restoration
18th Century comedy was
replaced by
sentimental
comedy and
domestic tragedy.
There was an
overwhelming
interest in Italian
opera.

Popular entertainment became more dominant and included Fair-booth

burlesque and musical entertainment.
This flourished at the expense of legitimate English drama.
 The Victorian Era and Later
The Victorian Era
brought a profusion of
farces, musical
burlesques,
extravaganzas and comic
operas culmining in the
famous series of comic
operas by Gilbert and
Sullivan.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was the
leading dramatist of the
Bernard Shaw Henrik Ibsen
late Victorian period.
Wilde's plays are among
the few Victorian plays
that are still performed.

A much closer relationship exists with Wilde’s plays and

those of the Edwardian dramatists - the Irishman George
Bernard Shaw and the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen.
Edwardian musical comedy held the London stage until
World War I.
 Social Changes Influencing Theatre

The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly during the

Victorian period.
Improved transportation, reduced poverty and street
lighting made for safer travel at night.
The number of potential patrons for the growing number of
theatres increased.

Plays ran for

longer periods
leading to
better profits
and improved
production
values.
The 20th Century and after … Noel Coward

Victorian Drama and Edwardian musicals

were supplanted by popular American
musical theatre and comedies by Noel
Coward and his contemporaries.

The motion picture mounted a challenge to the stage,

though at first were silent and presented only a limited
challenge to theatre.
Some dramatists wrote for the new medium, but
playwriting continued.

Waiting For Godot

Postmodernism had a profound effect on
English drama in the latter half of the
20th Century as seen particularly in the
work of Samuel Beckett (most notably in
Waiting for Godot), who in turn
influenced writers such as Harold Pinter
and Tom Stoppard.
Samuel Beckett
 Farce
Farce is a comedy written for the stage or film
which aims to entertain the audience by means of
unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations.
It is characterised by a fast-paced plot.

The devices include disguise and mistaken identity,

verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication,
including sexual innuendo and word play.
There is a great deal of physical humour, the use of
deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly
stylized performances.
Many farces move at a frantic pace toward the
climax, in which the initial problem is resolved,
often through a twist of the plot.

Generally, there is a happy ending.

The convention of poetic justice is not always observed:
The protagonist may get away with what he or she has
been trying to hide at all costs, even if it is a criminal act
involving crazy costumes.