What is Drama? PDF

# What is Drama? Drama is a kind of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. It is a literary genre which imitates some action. Drama is also a type of a play written for theater, television, radio, and film. Drama is a composition in prose or verse adapted to be acted and represe...

# What is Drama? Drama is a kind of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. It is a literary genre which imitates some action. Drama is also a type of a play written for theater, television, radio, and film. Drama is a composition in prose or verse adapted to be acted and represented with gestures, costumes and scenery, as in real life. It portrays life of characters and tells a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue, designed for a theater. ## History of Drama 1. **Greek Period** Ancient Greeks (500 B.C) created drama. They divided drama into two types: tragedy and comedy. The best known Ancient Greek playwrights were Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Greek plays were performed outdoors in amphi-theatres. The Greeks used stage devices like trap doors, chorus and masks. 2. **Middle Ages** (7th to 15th century). In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church used drama to tell stories from the Bible. There were Mystery Plays (Bible stories), Miracle plays (stories of saints) and Morality plays (stories of morals and good conduct). 3. **Elizabethan drama** (16th century) During Elizabethan period, drama started in theatres. William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were major dramatists. Women were not allowed to perform, so male played female roles. 4. **Restoration Drama** (17-18th Century) Restoration drama got its name from the restoration of Charles II, when the theatres reopened. The drama reflected weaknesses of Court morals through satire, farce, and comedy. **Comedy of Manners** was the genre that became popular during this period. John Dryden and William Congreve were major dramatists of this period. 5. **Victorian Theatre** (19th Century) Theatre in the Victorian era (ruled by Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901) presented dramas related to social problems. Theatres were opened for factory workers who came to cities. Themes included problems of the working class, labor class, women and children problems, and their education. George Bernard Shaw John M Synge and Oscar Wilde were major dramatists of this period. 6. **Drama from the 1900s (modern)** After World War II, three new style of drama developed: Theatre of Absurd, Angry young man Theatre, and Existential drama. * **"Theatre of the Absurd." style** depicted horrors of war. Important playwrights of this style were Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Harold Pinter. * **The Angry Young Men style** presented problems of the working class or of lower middle-class. These plays were an attack on the British class system. * **Existential drama.** This type of drama was philosophical and spiritual. Existential plays made people think about questions like "what is life?" "What do humans exist for?" "what is freedom of mind and soul?" These plays filled man with sad emotions such as worry, fear, and thoughts about death. # Tragedy and Comedy ## Tragedy: * **Definition:** A tragedy is defined as a story with a sad and depressing ending. Tragedy is a serious drama in which a central character, the protagonist meets with disaster either through some personal fault or through unavoidable circumstances * **Features:** * a tragedy has the ability to evoke pity and fear in the audience * the protagonist is noble and powerful. * Action in tragedy goes from good to bad. * **Genres:** Greek tragedy, revenge tragedy, domestic tragedy, Bourgeois tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy * **Greek Tragedy:** Greek Tragedy is best seen in ancient Greek writers Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The Athenian tragedy is the oldest surviving form of Greek tragedy. It was performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus god of wine and fertility. * **Examples:** Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Othello (Shakespeare). Christopher Marlowe also wrote tragedies: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine. John Webster (1580-1635), wrote the famous tragedies: The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil. Modern Tragedies include Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller and Murder in the Cathedra by T.S.Eliot. ## Comedy: * **Definition:** Comedy is defined as a literary work written to amuse or entertain a reader. Comedy is a humorous work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, fun and pleasure. * **Features:** * A comedy has comedic situations with positive outcomes. * Its aim was to underscore human follies and foolishness in a humorous manner. * **Genres:** Farce, Melodrama and Musical Drama