WHAT IS DRAMA?

WHAT IS DRAMA?

◦The term Drama comes from a Greek

word meaning "action" (Classical
Greek: δρᾶμα, drama), which is
derived from the verb meaning "to do"
or "to act" (Classical Greek: δράω,
dran).
WHAT IS DRAMA?
◦Drama is a literary composition to be acted
by players on a stage before an audience.
Its successful portrayal depends on the
cooperation that must exist among writers,
actors, producers and audiences in
accepting the limitations and the
conventions of the stage.
WHAT IS DRAMA?
◦Since the turn of the twentieth century, modern
drama has become the greatest form of mass
entertainment in the western world.
Experimentation and innovation are basic to
this century’s dramatist. Through movies and
television, everyone has experienced the
excitement and emotional involvement that gives
the drama its important place in our lives today.
WHAT IS DRAMA?
◦The drama is difficult to read because it is
meant to be seen, not read. It demands much
imagination and attention on the part of the
reader to enable him to hear the tones and see
the actions of the actors against an imaginary
background. The reader has only the dialogue
form which to visualize the costumes, the
situation, the facial expressions, and the
movements of the actors.
WHAT IS DRAMA?
◦The drama is also difficult to write because the
playwright must be aware of the interests and
opinions of the actors and producer as well as
his audience. He must also recognize the
limitation of the stage and work within the
many conventions and restrictions it imposes on
the actions of his characters and the locations of
his settings.
DRAMA IS
staged art according to Robert di Yanni

 designed for the theater

 an enacted fiction; an art form based on mimetic action

 the most elegant expression of thought nearest to truth

 the most concrete form in which art can recreate human

situation
Origins of Drama

◦Drama is generally thought to have started

in Greece between 600 and 200 BC,
although some critics trace it to Egyptian
religious rites of coronation. Ancient
Greece is considered the birthplace of
classic western theater.
GREEK STAGE

◦In Greece, dramatic performances were

associated with religious festivals. The
Greeks produced different types of drama,
mainly tragedy and comedy. Famous
Greek tragedians include Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides. The best writer
of comedy was Aristophanes.
GREEK STAGE

◦-Greek theater began as part of a religious

celebration of the god Dionysus. Great
Dionysia, also called City Dionysia , ancient
dramatic festival in
which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama
originated; it was held in Athens in March in
honour of Dionysus, the god of wine.
GREEK STAGE

◦ Among the ancient Greeks the chorus was a group of

people, wearing masks, who sang or chanted verses
while performing dancelike movements at religious
festivals. A similar chorus played a part in Greek
tragedies, where (in the plays of Aeschylus and
Sophocles) they served mainly as commentators on the
dramatic actions and events who expresses traditional
moral, religious, and social attitudes; beginning with
Euripides, however, the chorus assumed primarily a
lyrical function.
GREEK STAGE

◦Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of

tragicomedy, similar in spirit to the
burlesque. They featured choruses of
satyrs, were based on Greek mythology,
and were rife with mock drunkenness,
brazen sexuality, and general merriment
GREEK STAGE

◦•Orchestra
(circular stone)
•Scene/skene
(rectangular
building for
entrance/exits)
•Theatron (seats)
ROMAN STAGE

◦Following the expansion of the Roman

Republic (509–27 BCE) into several
Greek territories between 270–240
BCE, Rome encountered Greek drama.
ROMAN STAGE
◦In re-working the Greek originals, the Roman
comic dramatists abolished the role of the
chorus in dividing the drama into episodes and
introduced musical accompaniment to its
dialogue (between one-third of the dialogue in
the comedies of Plautus and two-thirds in those
of Terence).
ROMAN STAGE
◦The Romans inherited the drama
traditions from the Greeks. The
expansion of the Roman Empire
helped spread drama to many places
in Europe and the Mediterranean
world. Seneca is the most important
Roman tragedian.
ROMAN STAGE
◦-resembled the construct of the Greek
theater
-preferred bawdy comedies to tragic plays
◦The Romans gave the development of
pantomime and introduction of
Commedia dell' Arte
JAPANESE NOH STAGE

◦- Connection to the natural

world
-stage was constructed to
recall an outdoor
environment
JAPANESE NOH STAGE

◦Hashigakari
(bridge)
•Kizahashi
(stairway)
•Kagami-ita (back
wall of stage area)
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦Medieval drama, when it emerged

hundreds of years after the original
tragedies and comedies, was a new
creation rather than a rebirth, the
drama of earlier times having had
almost no influence on it.
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE
◦The Middle Ages start with the fall of the
Roman Empire. Most of Classical learning
was lost in medieval times. The Middle Ages
were dominated by religion and the study of
theological matters. The Christian doctrine
and Christian values were the measure of
everything.
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE
◦ During the Middle Ages, drama was looked down upon
as evil and a means of corruption. However, faced with
the need to spread the word of God to the illiterate
masses, the Church came to devise some form of
dramatic performance to help in teaching Christian
beliefs and biblical stories. in which the characters
personify moral qualities (such as charity or vice) or
abstractions (as death or youth) and in which moral
lessons are taught.
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦The Christian church had traditionally opposed

any form of theater. But little by little, in the
Easter service, and later in the Christmas
service, bits of chanted dialogue, called tropes,
were interpolated into the liturgy. Priests,
impersonating biblical figures, acted out
minuscule scenes from the holiday stories.
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦Eventually, these plays grew more elaborate and

moved out of the church. Secular elements crept
in as the artisan guilds took responsibility for
these performances; although the glorification of
God and the redemption of humanity remained
prime concerns, the celebration of local industry
was not neglected
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦The three main types of medieval drama are

mystery plays, about Bible stories, miracle
plays about the lives of saints and the miracles
they performed, and morality plays, in which
the characters personify moral qualities (such
as charity or vice) or abstractions (as death or
youth) and in which moral lessons are taught.
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦- theater performances were produced

by the church
-to instruct the illiterate on
representation, Reenactment,
Imitation and Impersonation
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH STAGE

◦ Imitation It is close to reality but notreality

◦ Impersonation Drama aims to give or show
something again
◦ Re-enactment Persons or actions will
impersonate specific characters
in the original action
The Renaissance:

◦The Renaissance is the period that

followed the Middle Ages. It started in Italy
in the fourteenth century and spread to
other parts of Europe. The word
Renaissance is a French word which
means rebirth.
The Renaissance:

◦The Renaissance period witnessed a new

interest in learning and discovery of the natural
world. The works of the Greek and Roman
writers were rediscovered. The invention of the
printing press helped make the production of
books easier and cheaper, hence, available to
more people.
The Renaissance:

◦ Humanism: The humanist

movement stressed the role of man
and reason in understanding the
world and rejected the predominance
of religious
thinking.
The Renaissance:

◦During the Renaissance, the works of

Greek and Roman dramatists were
rediscovered and imitated. Plays were no
longer restricted to religious themes. This
happened first in Italy and spread then to
other parts of Europe.
The Renaissance:

◦In England, drama flourished during the reign

of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), who was a
patron of literature and the arts. Theatres were
built in London and people attended plays in
large numbers. The most important dramatists
were William Shakespeare and Christopher
Marlowe.