Name : andi armayuni

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History of Drama
The magic of drama is more than the representation of fiction via performance. The term literally
means 'action' in Greek. The thought sprung from the need for entertainment and recreation...

A drama is ideally enacted in a theater, open or closed, and the performances are by actors, live,
before an audience that either sits around or before the stage. A single drama is a collaborative
effort. The cumulative efforts are pooled for the various modes of production, flow of the text
and research in the form of literature adopted. This form of entertainment has not lost its
patronage or vigor and continues to remain popular, despite all the technology involved in a filmmaking. The history of drama goes back ages and to various cultures. The earliest tragedies,
comedies and romance were real masterpieces. They were represented as genres of poetry and
the dramatic mode was interspersed with epic lyrics. The first ever work on theory in drama and
dramatics was Aristotle's Poetics, published in c. 335 BCE. There are different aspects of the art
that make it popular with distinct audiences. Classical music and dance are integral parts of
drama, while the opera involves only singing. There are musicals that have dialog and songs
within regular intervals. Melodramas offer the audience regular accompaniment by musical
instruments.

AthenianDrama
Athenian drama or Western drama was originated in Greece. The city-state of Athens is credited
with the production of tragedy, comedy, and satyr. Drama in Athens was institutionalized

through competitions. The Greeks came up with the idea of an actor who speaks and
impersonates. The main lead was expected to deliver dialog while interacting with the chorus.
This form of drama involved non-dramatic poetry and complete texts. The Persians, by
Aeschylus, is a historical tragedy that is also the oldest surviving drama.

Roman Drama
Early Roman theater was not only more varied than Greek drama, but also more extensive.
Initially, they were sophisticated works of Roman literature, tragedies and comedies. In the 2nd
century BCE, drama was part and parcel of the Roman culture. There was a writers' guild who
delivered dialog and text for even plays that were set on street corners and crossings. They
contributed to a variety of poetic forms and complex plots. The bifurcation of the production
work thus led to the enaction of double-plots, involving the complexity of human behavior.

Medieval Drama
Medieval drama basically involved religious enactment. These plays were enacted within the
premises of the cathedrals. They were usually miracle and mystery plays. They focused on
propagating morality with the help of specially interspersed interludes. Many of the plays were
then written in verse. Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe were prominent playwrights of this
era. The plays highlighted past kings and Tudor monarchy.

Modern Drama
Modern drama is the result of innovative contributions, like the roles of imitators. Modernist
drama is realist and has scope for experimentation and social critique.Important playwrights of
Modern drama include Anton Chekhov, Maurice Maeterlinck, George Bernard Shaw and Arthur
Miller, among many.

Other Shades of Dramatics

While Indian drama initially involved dramatic episodes, it evolved to include human concerns.
The earliest form of theory on drama is the Natya Shastra by Bharata. Chinese theater has stuck
by the popular opera from Beijing. Japanese drama developed only in the 15th century. The
musical instruments and techniques were handed down generations by word of mouth. Drama is
one of the types of literature that has gained popularity during the years. Among the various
forms of drama, Western opera grew and thrived during the Renaissance in Italy. Music and
theater were combined. Pantomimes told of fables. In a pantomime, there is always a lesson to be
learned, as the hero emerges victorious.

Definition of Drama

Write a brief history of drama from its beginnings to the twentieth century. Drama is defined by
Aristotle as a criticism of life, on a stage, with action, characters and dialogue. The Greek
word for deed or action is dram. In traditional Greek drama, the chorus is also considered as
a character in the development of the plot. The chorus moves the action of the play along and
sometimes acts as a commentator on the decisions made by the characters on stage.
Drama has its roots in Greece with the writings of three Greek writers of tragedy. Almost all
drama makes use of two types of irony. Irony is dramatic when there is a contradiction between
what is and what actually happens in a story; on the other hand, irony is verbal when what is said
and what is meant are contradictory. During the Middle Ages, drama was publicly performed in
streets in the marketplace. Thus, mystery plays (based on events from the Hebrew or Christian
scriptures), morality plays (had humans playing the roles of virtues or vices), and miracle plays
(based on the lives of the Saints) became part of the history of drama. In England the greatest of
the playwrights is William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare himself acted in his plays and was a member of an acting troupe called The Kings
Men; his plays were performed in the Globe Theater. In the 18th century, drama became known
as Comedy of Manners. Dramatic performance took the form of satirizing (to ridicule or
attack) the habits of the rich and famous (Saturday Night Live). Plays like Death of a Salesman
or A Dolls House are representative modern plays. The emphasis in these plays is on the
psychological rather than physical setting or action.