Theater
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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.
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