DRAMA
Drama or play is a literary composition written to be performed on a stage by actors in front of an audience.
TERMINOLOGY
Script – the written form of a play
Characters– Characters are the people (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed by the actors in the play. It is the characters, who move the
action, or plot, of the play forward.
Cast of characters – list of all the characters or players at the beginning of the script.
Stage directions– Notes incorporated in or added to the script of a play to indicate the moment of a character’s appearance, character and
manner; the style of delivery; the actor’s movements; details of location, scenery and effects are the stage directions
Scene – It is a minor division in a play. If a play has no acts, then the play is usually divided into scenes. If a play has acts, they are the minor
divisions in an act. Like acts, they usually signal a change in the theme, the situation, setting or characters.
Act–It is the main division of a play. They usually signal a change in the theme, the situation, the phase of the plot, setting or characters.
Doubling – One actor taking more than one part in a play.
Prologue – speech or a short scene preceding the main action of the play that sets a mood and defines or defends the script.
Monologue – uninterrupted speech delivered by one character in a play to other characters.
Dialogue – lines of conversation spoken by characters.
Soliloquy –inner thoughts of a character spoken alone on stage to explore the character’s private thoughts; often lyric in style and highly
emotional. Soliloquy is very important in drama because it is the only moment that the audience directly learns the immediate thoughts and
feelings of a character.
Aside – The words usually spoken directly to the audience. These words are not heard by the other characters on stage. Aside may rarely take
place between two characters on stage.
Pathos – A quality of a play's action that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character. Pathos is always an aspect of tragedy, and may be
present in comedy as well.
Poetic justice –We can call this basically as “Good are rewarded, bad are punished”. It is the fair distribution of rights in a play. However, it is
usually found unrealistic.
Dramatic irony–This type of irony occurs when the audience knows something that the character on stage does not know.
ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
1. PLOT
 This is what happens in the play. Plot is the sequence of events in a play. It is the pattern that the playwright arranges for the
presentation of the characters and events.
 An effective plot should:
– maintain the interest of the audience from the beginning to
– move the action on from one episode to the next
– arouse interest of the audience in character
– create high points or moments of crisis at intervals
– create expectation and surprise
 There are four types of plot structure: triangular plot structure, open-ended plot structure, linear plot structure and circular plot
structure.
Triangular Plot Structure: It is also called Freytag’s Pyramid. It consists of two main parts: rising action and falling action.
Exposition: The introductory material, which
often creates the tone. Gives the setting,
introduces the characters, and supplies other
facts necessary for understanding
The exposition ends with the inciting moment,
which is the one incident in the story without
which there would be no story. The inciting
moment sets the rest of the story in motion.
Rising Action: It can also be called the
complication. Rising action is an increase in
tension or uncertainty developing out of the
conflict the protagonist faces.
Conflict: It is the opposition between the main character and another person or inanimate force. Conflict may occur in different forms:
Man versus man Man versus system Man versus self Man versus society Man versus nature
Man versus God
Climax: The climax is also called the crisis. It is the peak of the action and the turning point in a play. It may not be the point which we feel the
tension most, but it is the point that changes the course of action. After the climax everything changes.
Falling action: It follows the climax. During the falling action, the conflict unravels with the main character either winning or losing. The tension
is relieved and the events come to an end with the resolution.
Resolution: the end of the falling action and the solution of the conflict.
Denouement involves not only the resolution of the conflict but an explanation of all the secrets and misunderstandings connected with the plot;
the tying up of loose ends, exposure of a villain, clearing up a mistaken identity, reuniting characters, etc.
Sometimes the ending of a play is not satisfactory or the human beings are too weak to solve these problems. At such moments a
device called deus ex machina appears on the stage with the help of stage properties and solves the problems. This device is a kind
of supernatural power, sometimes the representation of god and helps the humans to solve the conflicts and establishes the
equilibrium. Deus ex machina was a frequently used device especially in Classical Greek and Roman drama. It is however quite
unrealistic.
Open-Ended Plot Structure:
In this type of plot structure, we again have the exposition and the rising action, but we do not have a resolution. The play usually ends in
climactic moment and the readers and the spectators are left to imagine the rest of the play themselves.
Linear Plot Structure:
In this type of plot structure there is almost no tension and there is no climax. Nothing very drastic occurs.
Circular Plot Structure:
In this type, the play opens at a specific time with certain characters. At the end, the play ends at the similar time with the same characters doing
similar actions. This type of plot structure is also very frequently used in films.
2. CHARACTERS
The characters in a play can be categorized according to their functions in a play:
Protagonist: The main character of a play. S/he is the character who experiences and is influenced by the conflict most. The protagonist
doesn’t need to be a good character. S/he can also be evil.
Antagonist: The person or the thing that struggles against the protagonist. The antagonist is the thing or person that creates the conflict. The
antagonist may do this consciously or unconsciously. Like the protagonist, the antagonist is not necessarily a bad character, but s/he or it is
always the other party in a conflict.
Stock characters or stereotypes: These are the characters whose function in different plays is the same. They are usually used to represent a
certain characteristic. “Dumb blonde” or “evil stepmother” can be given as examples. They are usually portrayed in similar ways.
Confidant (Male) or Confidante (Female): It is a character who shares the secrets of the main character in a play.” This character usually
helps the main character by carrying letters or advising him/her. S/he is usually the servant or the maid of the house.
Foil or Counterpart: In order to highlight a personal trait of one character, the playwright presents a character that has the opposite traits. For
instance, in order to show that one character is really a good character, the playwright juxtaposes him/her with a very bad character, so we
understand the value of the former one. The hardworking and the lazy, the honest and the liar can be given as foils. However, this should not be
confused by the protagonist and antagonist relationship. The antagonist doesn’t need to be the foil of the protagonist.
Chorus: Chorus was a commonly used device in the Classical Greek and Roman Drama. It was a group of people who commented on the
events that took place on the stage. They usually voiced the common sense. In the Elizabethan Age in England, chorus was a single person
who announced the prologue and the epilogue, and introduced each act
Narrator: Although narration is not typical in drama, some plays have narrators who narrate the story of the play. These narrators may be a
character from the play or they may be an external narrator who does not take place in the action. Sometimes the narrators relate to the
audience the events that do not take place on the stage, especially the unpleasant ones such as murder and rape.
3. THOUGHT
Thought is the themes, arguments, overall meaning of the action. These ideas unify the play’s dramatic action. Meaning is implied through
conflicts, resolutions, spectacles, music and the relationships between characters.
4. DICTION / LANGUAGE
Dramatists depend largely on dialogue and stage directions to convey their tone. Diction here is used to give information, to reveal characters,
themes and ideas. The use of language is also important in establishing the pace of a play. No matter how realistic a play is, the playwright
selects, arranges and plays with the language for a specific dramatic effect. The language in a play should be judged for its appropriateness to
the characters, situation, probability and type of play. For instance, it would be improbable if a person who has never received an education
speak highly elaborate language.
5. MUSIC
The term includes all patterned sounds. The performers’ use of pitch, stress, volume, tempo, duration and quality can be considered as music.
The background music is also in this element. Music in drama, especially with lyrics can establish mood, help characterization, suggest ideas,
create variety and transmit ideas. Music can sometimes be used as a symbol.
6. SPECTACLE
All the visual elements including the movement and spatial relationships of characters, lighting, costumes, setting and properties in a play are
named as spectacle. Spectacle is everything that the audience sees as they watch the play.
7. SETTING
Setting is the time and the place of a literary work. Setting constitutes a significant part of drama. Sometimes the motives of the characters, the
events and even the language of a play are largely determined by the places that the play takes place and the times when the events in the play
happen. Setting can be geographical / regional, specific / universal, physical /mental.
TYPES OF DRAMA
There are three basic types of drama: tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy.
TRAGEDY
Tragedy is a form of drama which deals with serious themes and dignified characters. The purpose of tragedy is to evoke pity and fear.
There are six basic features in a tragedy:
a. At the beginning of the play there is order in the society, but something disrupts this order.
b. This event results in chaos or disorder.
c. There are extreme emotions.
d. Social restraint disintegrates.
e. The main character usually dies or is left miserable along with many characters.
f. The equilibrium and order in society is reestablished at the end.

In tragedies, the central character is the tragic hero who is usually from nobility or the aristocratic class. This noble character is
chosen deliberately because his/her fall will affect not only himself but the people around him and even the whole nation so that the
tragic effect can be more intensified at the end of the play. The tragic hero is of higher class and is of good morality, yet he is not
perfect. This imperfection in the hero makes the hero “tragic” as it eventually leads to a weakness which is called tragic flaw. It is
usually hubris, the hero’s excessive pride that paves the way for his/her destruction. The hero is overconfident and cannot see some
of the future events, which makes him make wrong decisions. This “error of judgment” which is also called hamartia brings the
downfall, destruction of the tragic hero. The destruction of the tragic hero is called catastrophe
Tragic flaw: the imperfection in the character of the tragic hero
Hubris: excessive pride
Hamartia: error of judgment because of excessive pride
Catastrophe: the death or the destruction of the tragic hero, the concluding action
Catharsis or Purgation describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy.
COMEDY
Comedy is a type of drama that deals with light or serious issues with a humorous or satirical manner. Unlike tragedy, the protagonist of comedy
is an ordinary person. Comedy deals with comic situations concerning certain stereotypes who are not really interested in serious social or
political issues. The incidents dealt with in comedies usually concern people worse than us. The main purpose of comedy is entertainment and
some light criticism and it aims at satire and humor and the revelation of human folly.
The main stereotypes used in comedy are
• The cunning slave or servant
• The libertine father or husband
• The boastful soldier or captain
• The unfaithful, intriguing wife
• The greedy pimp or go-between
• The melancholy, love-sick lover
• The prodigal son
• The changeling (the young kidnapped or adopted girl whose identity is later reveled.
The main elements of comedy are:
• Intrigue
• Unreturned love and suffering
• Gossip or rumor
• Disguise or mistaken identity
• Exaggeration
• Fantasy or fantastic situations
• Surprise
• Music and dance
• Farce and mimicry
• Ridiculous types
• Loquaciousness (talkative manner) and boastfulness
• Separation and reunion
Comedy can be divided into two basic groups: high comedy and low comedy. High comedy can be defined as intellectual comedy. In this type
of comedy, laughter is attained through exchange of witty remarks, and humorous comments and epigrams, expressing an idea in a very clever
way. Low comedy, on the other hand, relies on mostly physical humor, slapstick jokes. The purpose of low comedy is primarily to entertain the
audience for a specific time. It doesn’t aim at long term intellectual thought.
TYPES OF COMEDY
Romantic comedy:
Romantic comedy usually deals with love affairs in which the lovers take love too seriously and behave foolishly. The characters are usually
young and inexperienced and they face difficulties, yet at the end of these plays the problems are solved and the play ends happily
Well known examples of romantic comedies are Shakespeare’s As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Satiric Comedy:
These plays primarily satirize the literary, philosophical, and political or the social matters of their period. Some examples of satirical comedy are
Ben Johnson’s The Alchemist and Volpone.
Comedy of Manners:
Although comedy of manners has its roots in the Greek Drama, it gained popularity and a new dimension in the eighteenth century. With the
industrial revolution, middle class began to lead a more comfortable life and they adopted new tastes of luxury and art. However, as most of
them come from poorer backgrounds they were considered to be social climbers and they were criticized for exaggerating their behavior and
morality. Therefore, in comedy of manners, the morality and the manners of the upper middle-classes and the upper classes are ridiculed. The
purpose is usually to give a moral lesson and highlight the corruption in the society. Therefore, the characters are portrayed as ridiculous
personalities. In comedy of manners, there are a lot of stock characters, nevertheless, this genre is sometimes considered as unrealistic
because of the superficial depiction of the characters. The most famous example of the genre is The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar
Wilde.
Farce
It is a type of comedy that aims at simple laughter or “belly laughter”. The plots are usually improbable, the characters are exaggerated,
sometimes caricaturized. There are stereotypes. It is usually considered a type of low comedy as there is no emphasis on witticism and the
characterization is not very important. The significant thing in farce is to present comic situations one after another. Taming of the Shrew by
Shakespeare can be given as an example.

Comedy of humors
It is based on the ancient belief that a person’s character is influenced by the fluids (blood, phlegm, choler and black bile) of his/her body. If
these fluids are not balanced in the body, the character has a kind of “characteristic distortion or eccentricity of disposition”. In this type of
comedy the audience laughs at the character himself. Every Man in His Humour by Ben Johnson is an example of comedy of humors.
Comedia dell’ Arte
It was a type of comedy that aroused in the mid-sixteenth century, and staged especially by Italian actors. There is no real text, but just an
outline of the main actions and the entrance of the main characters. The rest is completed by the actors on the stage and the actors “improvise
the dialogue” on the scenario. In a typical play, young lovers deceive a rich old father who is “aided by a clever and intriguing servant”.
Comedy of Errors
As the name suggests, the plot of comedy of errors includes a lot of mistakes, mistaken identities.
The plot introduces one error after another which puts the characters in comic situations. Dramatic irony is one of the most frequently devices in
Comedy of Errors. Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors is an example to this type of comedy.
Sentimental Comedy
Although the name of the genre is comedy, the main purpose of this type of comedy is to evoke sorrow and make the audience cry.The
characters are usually Casanovas and flirtatious sophisticated women. The Casanova changes at the end of the play and learns his lesson. As
a result, there is a moral touch given with the happy ending. However, like the comedy of manners, sentimental comedies are considered to be
unrealistic. Richard Steele’s The Conscious Lovers is an example of sentimental comedy.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRAGEDY AND COMEDY
The most essential difference between tragedy and comedy, particularly scornful comedy, is in their depiction of human nature. Where tragedy
emphasizes human greatness, comedy delineates human weakness. Tragedy celebrates human freedom, comedy points up human limitation.
Wherever men fail to measure up to their own resolutions or to their own self-conceptions, wherever they are guilty of hypocrisy, vanity or folly
wherever they fly in the face of good sense and rational behavior, comedy exhibits their absurdity and invites us to laugh at them.
In tragedies, the tragic hero is responsible for his own actions and his catastrophe is purely a result of his own decisions. On the other hand, in
comedies the main character is not isolated like the tragic hero whose uniqueness is emphasized; s/he is usually portrayed in a group to
highlight the ordinariness of the character. These are of course not the only differences between comedy and tragedy. Below is a list of
differences between tragedy and comedy.
SOME DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN CLASSICAL TRAGEDY AND COMEDY
COMEDY:
Purpose and Effect
Purpose and Effect
Emphasizes human suffering
Emphasizes renewal of human nature
Ends with rigid finality
Moves from rigidity to freedom
Moves with solemnity and foreboding
Plays with prevailing high spirits
Emotional Response (pity and fear)
Intellectual response (ridicule and absurdity)
Identification with the hero
Scorn/approval of protagonist/others
Laments man's fate
Celebrates life
Criticizes hubris, self-delusion, and complacency
Criticizes folly, self-delusion, and complacency
Offers some hope (men can learn), but stresses limitations of the
Suggests cynicism (men are fools), but offers hope of renewal.
human condition. [Hope is only after the play ends not during the play]
Tragic Hero
Comic Protagonist
Hero recognizes his great mistake, but too late to change it
"Hero" awakens to better nature after folly exposed.
Hero demonstrates a personal flaw or error in perception
"Hero" undergoes improbable improvement.
Hero frequently hubristic
Hero" frequently intolerant or prudish
Hero isolated from community in individuality
"Hero" finds selfhood by joining flow of society and community,
rejecting individuality
Hero exercises free will
"Hero" is a comic mechanism
Hero suffers terrible downfall
“Hero" loses and recovers his equilibrium
Hero fails through error
"Hero" triumphs by luck, wit, acceptance
Hero aspires to more than he can achieve
"Hero" pretends to be more than he is
Hero is larger than life, considerably above the audience in status or
Hero" is just like everyone else, or might even be an anti-hero or
responsibility
buffoon.
Tragic Struggle
Comic Struggle
Serious and painful struggle
Less serious and painful struggle
Life and societal norms at odds
Norms valid and necessary
Struggle against unchangeable
Struggle against movable
Struggle dominated by Fate or necessity
Struggle dominated by Fortune (chance)
Discovery of true nature leads to hero's isolation
Discovery of true nature leads to hero's conformity with group norms.
Struggle against predictable and inevitable
Struggle against coincidence (unpredictable)
Struggle between man and destiny, or between
Struggle between individual and group or between groups (e.g., men
man and social forces beyond man's control
and women)
TRAGEDY:
Tragic Methods
Tragedy depends on validity of universal norms
Cohering episodes clarify action
Causality dominates pattern of (a) deed, which leads to (b) suffering,
which leads to (c) recognition or understanding
Plot moves from freedom of choice to inflexible consequence
Comic Methods
Comedy exploits conflicting values
Plot more intricate, less plausible
Coincidence dominates a patternless grappling with the unpredictable
and the absurd. Plot forwarded by chance discoveries and accidental
encounters.
Plot moves from rigidity at the beginning to greater freedom for
characters at end.
TRAGICOMEDY
Tragicomedy is a type of play which combines the elements of tragedy and comedy. Specifically, the general outline of the play is suitable for
tragedy as there is a good deal of suffering, but the play ends happily which adds a comic touch to the play.
ROMANCE PLAYS
Romances are plays in which fantastic and magical elements are used to explore the themes. These plays are best known for their unrealistic
plots and characterization. In these plays,
• The action centers on a noble family and a king;
• An evil or misguided deed is done;
• There is separation for long years as a result of this misdeed;
• Through suffering a sort of salvation happens (sometimes with deus ex machina);
• In the end the old evil is transformed and there is reconciliation.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF DRAMA
It is usually accepted that drama dates back to ancient Greece. These early plays were performed in the celebrations for the god Dionysus (the
god of wine and theatre) in spring and summer. The first examples of comedy and tragedy also originate from Greece. Later on, the Roman
Empire is also inspired by the Greek theatre and borrowed especially Greek comedy. Yet, most of these plays were not real literature and they
involved plenty of violence.
MEDIEVAL DRAMA
With the acceptance of Christianity as the official state religion, the Roman emperors banned theatrical actions. For approximately five centuries
almost no plays were staged and no theatres were built because the emperors believed that the nudity, gladiatorial representations, false
representations of truth and the “impersonation of one man by another and -even worse of a woman by a man by means of transvestism” were
against Christianity and biblical teachings. It is ironic that drama again emerged within the Christian church. This new form of drama was
however quite different from the immoral drama of the five centuries earlier. This drama was highly religious and it was called liturgical drama.
These plays were performed on religious fests like Easter and Christmas and they were performed by the priests to highlight
the significance of the day. There are two types of liturgical drama: mystery plays and miracle plays.
Mystery plays: the mystery plays took their subject matter from the biblical stories. In fact they were the staging of the biblical stores.
These were usually very short episodes from the Bible.
Miracle plays: They were usually dramatizations of the lives of Christian saints and were staged especially on the religious festivals.
Liturgical drama became so popular that people were too crowded to watch the performances in churches. As a result, plays began to be
performed on the streets. Later, they began to use the conventions of street theatre and incorporate humor and parody. As a result of this shift,
liturgical drama was transformed into a non-liturgical one, and the plays that were peculiar to this period were called morality plays. Morality
plays were still religious, yet their subject matter was neither biblical stories nor the lives of saints. Morality plays were the allegorical
representations of the individual Christians who try to resist the temptations of the world and reach salvation. The development of drama in
England was also triggered by the popularity of morality plays.
RENAISSANCE DRAMA: ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN DRAMA (1558-1642)
The Renaissance drama also originates from the morality plays. Nevertheless, with the reign of Henry VIII, the Anglican Church was separated
from the Roman Catholic Church and Henry VIII prepared the end of the religious drama. Later, Companies of players attached to households
of leading noblemen and performing seasonally in various locations existed before the reign of Elizabeth I. These became the foundation for the
professional players that performed on the Elizabethan stage. The tours of these players gradually replaced the performances of the mystery
and morality plays by local players, and a 1572 law eliminated the remaining companies lacking formal patronage by labeling them vagabonds
[a homeless and unemployed person who moves from one place to another]. At court as well, the performance of masques by courtiers and
other amateurs, apparently common in the early years of Elizabeth, was replaced by the professional companies with noble patrons, who grew
in number and quality during her reign. The reason for such an enactment was that vagabonds (tramp, unemployed, homeless people who can
be involved in robbery) were quite common during those times. To keep law and order Elizabeth’s parliament passed an act that ensured
everybody having a patron, including the theatre companies. These companies had to have the recognition of an eminent, respective person in
the society, so they were supported by an earl or the like. With these theatre companies that were supported by the rich patrons, theatre moved
from the streets to playhouses. The most famous playhouses built in London were The Theatre, The Rose, The Swan and The Globe. This
popularity of drama enabled all people from the upper classes to the lowest enjoy theatre. (It shouldn’t however be forgotten that at this time in
history drama was primarily the entertainment for the noble public as they were the ones that supported the theatre companies.) Most of the
plays written during this period were written in verse, and they mostly used iambic pentameter. However, although the plays were written in
verse, the language of the plays was comparatively simple, so everybody could understand.
The characters in the plays were also more realistic in that they were no longer the representations of virtue as in the miracle and mystery plays
of the medieval drama. They had their own passions, flaws and deeds which appealed to audiences. The most well-known playwrights during
this period were Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. At the end of this period the theaters were closed by the Puritans who claimed that
they were places of immorality and the theatres remained closed for eighteen years until 1660.
RESTORATION DRAMA
Restoration Drama takes its name from the restoration of Stuart dynasty to the throne of England. Charles II, who was in France during the
Puritan period, became the king, and his experiences in France were immediately reflected on the intellectual and literary life of England. The
theatres were reopened and plays began to be staged. In this period, the newly opened theatres were indoors unlike the outdoor theatres of the
previous period, and less people could see the plays. Moreover, because the lower and middle classes were still under Puritan influence, they
rejected going to the theatre, so theatres became an entertainment for the upper classes. Comedies and tragedies were still popular, but the
most popular dramatic genre was heroic drama. Heroic drama is a genre in which a man of character and honor pursues glory and is also in
love as lover. This hero is usually stuck between his love and his patriotic duty. Another popular form of drama in this period was melodrama, a
kind of drama with an unrealistic plot of the combating forces of good and evil ending with the punishment of the bad and the rewarding of the
good. There is also extensive use of music to intensify the dramatic effect. With the restoration period, there was a good deal of change in the
English drama. Characters, plots and themes were borrowed from French and Spanish drama unlike the Elizabethan drama in which English
drama had its own flow. Perhaps the most drastic change after the Elizabethan and Jacobean drama was that in the Restoration period the
women characters in the plays were acted by women unlike the Elizabethan period when women characters were acted by young boys.
Richard Doyle, Sir Robert Howard, Thomas Killigrew were among the important dramatists of the period.
THE VICTORIAN AGE (1837-1901)
The Victorian Period was considered to be quite a sterile period for drama because of the rise of the novel as a literary genre. With the
prospering middle-classes, the favorite intellectual activity of following drama competed with the increasingly popularized novel reading, which
eventually led to a halt in the development of drama. However, the period was marked by two very important dramatists Oscar Wilde and
through the end of the age Bernard Shaw. Oscar Wilde followed the Aesthetic Movement, which was funded by Walter Pater, and followed the
aesthetic principle of “Art for Art’s Sake” which is the privileging of form and beauty of art over the thematic concerns. Wilde believed that the
only responsibility of the artist was to his art and himself, and that art should not have didactic concerns. With this principle, he produced plays
that present a mastery of language and technique, and was praised by another significant dramatist of his time Bernard Shaw as the best
playwright ever written since Shakespeare. Bernard Shaw who admired Wilde’s sharp wit however wrote in a completely different view.
He did not think that the only responsibility of art was for itself, but rather advocated the idea that the primary concern of an artist should be to
educate society with the literary works s/he produces. To this purpose, he wrote distinguishably didactic plays with very long prefaces and
epilogues in which he discussed his political and social ideas. He also dealt with his subject matter realistically as he believed that art should
reflect upon the realities. With these, he is considered to have written plays to be read not staged, unlike the common definition of drama.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - THE MODERN DRAMA
Twentieth century is a very revolutionary period for drama in terms of both technique and style. From the early 1900s to the late 1900s, many
philosophical and literary movements gave shape to drama.
Realism
Realism in drama became popular at the end of the 19th century and continued to be popular in the twentieth century. In drama, realism is the
loyal representation of real life on the stage. It was a reaction against romanticism that treated its subject matter idealistically and symbolically.
Realistic drama includes life like situations, realistic plots without the intervention of fantastic elements and the use of natural language. While
presenting the characters in real life situations, realism also concentrates on the characters and the inner thoughts and conflicts. Most well
known realist playwrights are Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Anton Chekhov, Maksim Gorky, and Eugene O’Neill.
Naturalism
Naturalism developed in the early twentieth century as a reaction to romanticism (like realism). The idea of naturalism is driven from the
Darwinian Theory that one’s character is shaped by heredity and social conditions he lives in. Unlike realism, naturalism does not simply
concentrate on the inner conflicts of the characters, but rather focuses on and questions the conditions that lead the characters into conflict. In
naturalistic drama even harsher aspects of life including poverty, sex, violence, racism, and etc. are presented with vividness.
The characters of naturalistic drama are also from all walks of life, including the working class people who were not presented in drama until that
time. Most well-known naturalist playwright is Emile Zola.
Political Drama
Especially after the Second World War, dramatists were more politically concerned. With the twentieth century, the effects of capitalism were felt
by the working classes. Especially after the Second World War, many socially concerned playwrights began to reflect the problems of the
working classes on stage. The characters are taken from the working classes and the setting is moved from the drawing rooms of the upper or
middle classes to the kitchens or the living rooms of the working class. It was with this movement that the attic rooms or even ironing boards
were seen on the stage. One type of political drama was Kitchen Sink Drama (or kitchen sink realism) that depicted the harsh conditions of the
working class life. The most well known example of this type of drama is Kitchen by Arnold Wesker. Angry Young Men was also a political
movement in England during the 1950s advocating political plays. They were really a group of young men who were angry because of
England’s loss of prestige over the world especially with the loss of India as a colony in 1947.They questioned the reasons for the political decay
and wanted to have some reason to fight for as the past generations did (England was considered to be the empire over which the sun never
sets, but from the beginning of 1900s she began to lose its colonies and lost her prestige especially with America’s becoming a world power).
John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger is perhaps the most well known example for the drama produced at this period in time. Harold Pinter, who
was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005, is also a representative of political drama.
Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd became popular from the beginning of 1940s to late 1960s. It emerged from the existentialist idea that life is meaningless
and human beings are thrown into the world by an indifferent god.
The main characteristics of absurd drama are:
• The characters are usually trapped in hopeless situations; therefore, act repetitively or meaninglessly.
• As the characters are entrapped, the plots are usually circular starting and ending with the same situation, highlighting the impossibility of
improvement.
• The language is futile, and there are frequent communication breakdowns.
• Wordplays and clichés are very common.
The most well known Absurd dramatists are Ionesco and Samuel Beckett.