Theater

Drama is a literary form involving parts written for actors to perform. It is a Greek word meaning "action," drawn from the Greek verb δραν, "to do."

Dramas can be performed in a variety of media: live performance, film, or television. "Closet dramas" are works written in the same form as plays (with dialogue, scenes, and "stage directions"), but meant to be read rather than staged; examples include the plays of Seneca, Manfred by Byron, and Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Other dramatic literature may not resemble plays at all, such as the Imaginary Conversations of Walter Savage Landor. Drama is also often combined with music and dance, such as in opera which is sung throughout, musicals which include spoken dialog and songs, or plays that have musical accompaniment, such as the Japanese Noh drama.

Improvisational drama is drama that has no set script, in which the performers take their cues from one another and the situations (sometimes established in advance) in which their characters find themselves to create their own dialogue as they perform. Improvisational drama is made up on the spot using whatever space,costumes or props are available.

Greek drama

The three types of drama composed in the city of Athens were tragedy, comedy, and satyrs. The origins of Athenian tragedy and comedy are far from clear, but they did begin as a part of religious ritual.

The chorus seems to have originated first, with a leader, singing a song about some legendary hero. Later the leader, rather than singing about the hero, began to impersonate him. Spoken dialogue between several actors was added, and the result was "tragedy" in the Greek form. The very first prize for tragedy went to Thespis in 534 BC.

In fact, the two masks associated with drama with the smiling and frowning faces are both symbols of the Muses Thalia and Melpomene. Thalia is the Muse of comedy (the smiling face), and Melpomene is the Muse of tragedy (the frowning face).

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Medieval drama

In the Middle Ages, drama in the vernacular languages of Europe again emerged from religious enactments of the liturgy. Miracle plays were presented on the porch of the cathedrals on feast days. These again evolved into tragic and comic forms, depending on the theme. The first truly secular plays in Europe were historical plays, celebrating the lives of historical or legendary kings. These combined the functions of entertainment and propaganda.

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Elizabethan and Jacobean drama

One of the great flowerings of drama in English occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these plays were written in verse, particularly iambic pentameter. In addition to Shakespeare, such authors as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, and Ben Jonson were prominent during this period. As in the medieval period, historical plays celebrated the lives of past kings, enhancing the image of the Tudor monarchy.

William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare (baptised April 26, 1564 - died April 23 (New style: May 3) 1616) was an English poet and playwright. He wrote about thirty-eight plays, a collection of sonnets, and a variety of other poems. Already a popular writer in his own lifetime, his work became increasingly celebrated after his death and has been adulated by numerous prominent cultural figures through the centuries.[1] Shakespeare now has a reputation as the greatest writer in the English language, as well as one of the greatest in Western literature, and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.[2] In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the literature and history of the English-speaking world, according to the Oxford English Dictionary [3]. He is often considered the English or British national poet [4], and is sometimes referred to as the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard") [5] or the "Swan of Avon" [6].

Shakespeare is believed to have produced most of his work between 1586 and 1616, although the exact dates and chronology of the plays attributed to him are often uncertain. He is counted among the very few playwrights who have excelled in both tragedy and comedy, and his plays combine popular appeal with complex characterisation, poetic grandeur and philosophical depth.

Shakespeare's works have been translated into every major living language, and his plays are continually performed all around the world. In addition, many quotations and neologisms from his plays have passed into everyday usage in English and other languages. Over the years, many people have speculated about Shakespeare's life, raising questions about his sexuality, whether he was secretly Catholic, and debating whether someone else wrote some or all of his plays and poetry.

Christopher ("Kit") Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 Ð'- 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Perhaps the foremost Elizabethan tragedian before Shakespeare, he is known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own untimely death.

Thomas Middleton

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Thomas Middleton (baptized April 18, 1580, died 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He studied at The Queen's College, Oxford and was admitted to the practice of law. He was appointed City Chronologer of the City of London in 1620, a post that he held until his death. His successor in the post was Ben Jonson.

Thomas Middleton

Middleton wrote in many genres, including tragedy, history and city comedy. His best-known plays are the tragedies The Changeling (written with William Rowley) and Women Beware Women, and the cynically satiric city comedy A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. It is also widely believed that he wrote The Revenger's Tragedy, previously attributed to Cyril Tourneur, and collaborated with Shakespeare on the scenes involving the Weird Sisters and Hecate in Macbeth.

Middleton's plays are characterized by their cynicism about the human race, a cynicism that is often very funny. True heroes are a rarity in Middleton; in his plays, almost every character