World Theater Day 2023, New Delhi

 

                                                                 HISTORY OF DRAMA 

 

 

 

 

 

Prehistoric Period 

 

 

 

 

The earliest recorded theatrical event dates back to 2000 B.C. with the passion plays of Ancient Egypt. The story of the god Osiris was performed annually at festivals

The Ikhernofret Stela is an important Ancient Egyptian stela dated to the Middle Kingdom and is notable for its veiled description of how the mysteries of Osiris were carried out in Abydos. The stela is 100 cm high and made of limestone

 

    

Greek Period 

 

 

 

 

Most philologists agree that Greek theater evolved from staged religious choral performances, during celebrations to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility.

Great Dionysia, also called City Dionysia (534/531 B.C.), is an ancient dramatic festival in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated; it was held in Athens in March in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine

 

 

                                                                        

Roman Period 

Ancient Roman theater was heavily influenced by the Greek tradition. The Roman dramatists tended to adapt and translate from the Greek as writers in other literary genres did.

 

 

 

 

PLAUTUS (254-184 B.C.)  Best know as Roman comedy master, created over a hundred plays, many of which lampooned iconic figures within Roman society: the soldier, the politician, the clever slave, the philandering husband, and the wise but nagging wife.

Medieval Period 

 

• The first professional companies were formed.
  
• Aristotle's Poetics, which defined the classical genres of tragedy and comedy, came to light in the 15th century.
• In the field of tragedy, the main influence on Renaissance writers was the work of Seneca.
• The first important Renaissance tragedy was Giangiorgio Trissino's Sophonisba, written in 1515.
• The discovery of Roman comedy inspired Renaissance dramatists to write similar works.
• The first significant comedy written in Italian was Calandria (1506) by Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena (1470 - 1520).
• In 16th-century Italy, authors began to combine aspects of Roman comedy and tragedy with elements of the liturgical drama

• William Shakespeare stood out as the greatest mong the dramatists of the period

  Major contribution was the lively Elizabethan stage

   

   

                                                 MODERN PERIOD

  During this period, drama was not only performed live on stage but also enjoyed through the mediums of radio, television, and cinema.

   

  IMPORTANT FACTS DURING MODERN PERIOD

  
  

  • The modern period and its drama were shaped by world-changing forces, such as industrial-technological revolution, democratic revolutions.  

  
  

  • The the realistic period initiated with plays focused on contemporary, day-to-day themes.

  
  

  • Symbolism (late 19th century) expand into what might be called antirealistic theatre.

  
  

  • A focus on traditional aesthetic values, such as poetry, imagery, and profundity would reflect the importance of purity of vision over observation, abstraction and enlargement over the mundane and ordinary.

   

   

   

   

  1927/1928  Electronic television was first successfully demonstrated in San Francisco. The very first television drama was filmed in Schenectady. 

   

   It was a little play called The Queen's Messenger, a British drama with more special effects technicians than there were television sets in the Capital Region. The play itself was a melodrama by Irish playwright J. Hartley Manners.

  
  

                                                    World Theater Day, 2023
  

  

                                                                Quotes

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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