Download History of Drama

 Drama can be traced back to the earliest civilizations
Hunters recounted
their adventures through
rhythmic chanting and
pantomime.
Pantomime is similar to
charades. An idea is being
expressed through acting
out a motion or thought.
 Originated as a religious
festival to the Greek god,
Dionysus, the god of wine.
 Consisted of a festival in
which playwrights would
present four plays: a trilogy
composed of three tragedies,
and a fourth “satyr play”
which was generally more
humorous and irreverent .
• Dramas were performed on a hillside venue called an
“amphitheater” which consisted of four parts.
A Chorus had several jobs to perform in a drama
1. Explain the situation
2. Guide the audience in
“ideal” reactions
3. Make commentary from an
established point of view
~ god from the machine ~
Skene
Chorus
• Sophocles – allowed his characters
to questions their fates and the will
of the gods
• Aeschylus – expanded the number
of actors and reduced the role of the
chorus
• Euripides – the father of tragedy and
the master of “pathos”
 Largely an imitation of Greek drama
 Most Roman dramas were comedies
 Pantomiming as a form of torture
 Expanded to other genres of performance such as
miming, acrobatics, and dancing
 Liturgical Drama
 Saint plays
 Mystery plays
 The Passion Play
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=e4q6eaLn2mY
 Plays unrelated to religion were put on at festivals
around harvest/planting or Christmas time.
 These were called “Folk Dramas”.
 Robin Hood!
 Morality Plays done by both the Church and secular
drama companies.
“Rebirth”
 Began in 14th century Italy
 Opera – originally an attempt to
recreate how music in
Greek dramas might
have sounded.
 Imitated by France and England
“comedy of the profession”
 Focused on playing out comic scenarios
 Wore funny, oversized masks
 Examples of characters in the
Commedia Dell’Arte were:
 Innamorati/Innamoratae
 Zanni
 Pedrolin0
 Fontesca
 Climax of the Renaissance in 16th century England
 Key Playwrights:
 Christopher Marlowe – use of unrhymed verse
 Ben Jonson – master of comedy
 William Shakespeare – master of the soliloquy
 Theater banned temporarily when Puritans controlled the
republic government in England.
 Became legal again in 1600 at the time of the Restoration
 Women now allowed to participate in theater
 Theater still influential in Europe today
 Les Miserables
 Phantom of the Opera
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=BNMptfveDj4
 No – created exclusively for Japanese nobility
- storylines about warriors, gods, and demons
- combines words, dance, and music
 Bunraku – Japanese Doll Theater
- consists of chanting, music, and puppets
- four-foot tall marionettes controlled by
three men each
 Kabuki – created for the entertainment of the public
- only male performers
 Strive to explore and explain issues with our culture
 English troupes presented European plays in America
 John Drew
 David Douglas managed the first professional
American acting company called “The American
Company” in the 1700’s.
 Edward Boothe
 Charlotte Cushman
 Ira Aldridge