Major Developments

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Drama – a literary composition involving conflict, action crisis and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage
before an audience. This definition may be applied to motion picture drama as well as to the traditional stage.
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Drama had it’s origin in the country of Greece around 500 B.C.
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Drama, as a literary genre, is an art form that is meant to be performed!

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The Greek Theatre or Greek Drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece between c. 550 and c. 220 B.C. in Athens. Athens was the centre of ancient Greek theatre.
Tragedy (late 6 th century B.C.), comedy (~486 B.C.) and satyr plays were some of the theatrical forms to emerge in the world
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Greek theatre and plays have had a lasting impact on Western drama and culture.

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The earliest dramas were designed to worship to gods and goddesses, specifically Bacchus and Dionysus
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The Greek tragedies of Aeschychus, Sophocles and Euripides were performed annually at the spring festival of Dionysus, god of wine and inspiration.

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In 534 B.C a contest was won
by Thespis in Athens.
He is the first recorded winner of this contest. Tragedy (the group word “tragoidia” began with the introduction of an actor, who played various roles by changing masks, whose actions the chorus commented on in song.
Thespis according to
Themistius’s account, was the
first “actor” and usually credited with “inventing” drama as we know it (actors speaking lines) – thus actors are know known as
Thespians

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Drama went into a period of decline around
A.D. 400 (Roman Empire)
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Due to the Power of Christians
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Acting has been deemed at times to be unchristian, idolatrous and depraved or, worse, boring. Actors themselves have frequently been seen to be one of the humbler classes, and only towards the end of the 19 th century did their status start to improve

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A. D. 900-1500
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Medieval Drama, when it emerged hundreds of years later, was a new creation rather than a rebirth. The drama of earlier times having almost no influence on it. The reason for this creation came from a quarter that had traditionally opposed any form of theatre: The
Christian church

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Purpose: Teach religion
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Types of acceptable drama:
1. )Miracle plays – lives of saints.
2.) Morality plays – being good/ moral
3.) Mystery plays – life of Christ

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During the Middle Ages, most plays were about
the lives of saints and/or Bible stories.

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Ruler: Elizabeth I
Renaissance Drama is English drama written before the Reformation and the closure of theatres in 1642. It may also be called early modern English theatre or
(misaccurately) Elizabethan theatre. It includes the drama of William Shakespeare, the most notable playwright during this period.
One distinctive feature of the companies that put on
Elizabethan plays was that they included only males.

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Shakespeare
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Christopher Marlowe
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Thomas Kyd
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John Lyly

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Oscar Wilde
George Bernard Shaw
The Abbey Theatre: key figures were W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta
Gregory; opened in
Dublin in 1903 and helped to produce new
Irish plays (J.M. Synge)

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Primary characteristic – realism
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Some of the major forms of drama are:
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Tragedy
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Comedy
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Melodrama
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Most importantly, drama, as a literary genre, is an art form that is meant to be performed.

Literary Terms

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Subdivisions in the play when the time or place usually changes
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Acts – big breaks (in Shakespeare plays usually 5
Acts)
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Scenes – smaller breaks within acts (usually one or two per act)
Act III
Act II
Act IV
Act I
Act V

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A dramatic device in which a private thought is spoken aloud. It is intended for the audience alone – not other characters in the play
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Contributes to dramatic irony –
(the audience knows something other characters in the play do not)

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A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the better. In comedy, things work out happily in the end, usually in marriage.
Comedy Mask

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A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the worse
Tragedy

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Conversations among characters

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One of the three main types of literature; it tells a story through the words and actions of a character .
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Additional
Information

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A break in the performance of the play

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A speech delivered by one person

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The author of a drama

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Articles or objects that appear on stage during a play

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The written version of the play

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Instructions to the performer and the director; usually written in italics or parentheses

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The effect the play has on its audience – including the position of actors, the scenic background, the props and costumes, and the lighting and sound effects

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An additional or minor or parallel plot in a play or story that coexists with the main plot

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Actors and actresses