Short History of English Drama

          History of English Drama

What is drama ?

'Drama is a composition in a verse or prose to be acted on the stage in which a story is related by means of dialogue and action in is represented with, accompanying gesture, costume and scenery as in real life.

_ Shorter Oxford Dictionary

'Drama is a composition designed for performers in the theatre in which actors take the roles of the characters,perform the indicated action and utter the written dialogue'.


_ A Glossary of Literary  Terms by                 M.H.Abrams

The elements of drama 

1. Plot
2.  characterization 
3. dialogue
4.  settings 
5. stage directions 
6. conflict 
7. theme

The four closely related area of focus are 

1.The focus of the scene.

2. The focus of the audience.

3. The focus of the character.

4. The focus of the actor.

Types of  Drama:

1. Tragedy. 

2. Comedy 

• Romantic comedy 
• Sentimental comedy 
• Classical comedy
•  Comedy of humour 
•  Comedy of manners

3.Tragic Comedy 

Introduction to English theatre

• Drama has its origin in a folk theatre.
• Romans were established vast  amphitheatre  for the production of plays in England. 
• Between the 13th and 14th century drama started having themes separated from religion.
• 
  

Elizabethan and Restoration theatre.

1.Secular morality plays have a direct link with Elizabeth plays. 
2.The  plays had nothing to do with religion. 
3.There were examples of comedy and tragedy. 
4.
Thomas Kyd, 

Christopher Marlowe 

and William Shakespeare are the prime dramatist of this era.

5. With civil wars no theatre existed between 1642 to 1660.

6. Charles II came back  with  Restoration in 1660 and theatre reopened. 

7. Comedy in early 18th  century declined  in to sentimentalism. 

8. Georgr  Etherges comedy  of manners. 

9.Oliver Goldsmith 

and Richard Sheridan.

Modern Theatre 

Modern theatre with its picture frame stage
 Actress taking female parts 

moveable scenery 

artificial lights

 influence of France in theatre ,audience and themes

Ibsen great Norwegian dramatist dominates the modern Drama.

( Dolls House, Ghosts, An enemy of the people)

George Bernard Shaw

Oscar Wilde

Lady Gregory

W.B.Yeats

T.S. Eliot

John Osborne

Kingsley


Antony Chekhov

Arther Miller

Samuel Beckett


INDIAN THEATRE 


 Start with Sanskrit drama 
Mahabhasya by Patanjali

Natyashastra  by Bharat Muni