Drama

Greek

6 BCE

Breif Overview: Often had a small cast, performed outdoors in amphitheatres.
Playwrights: Thespis, Euripides and Sophocoles
Time: 6th century BCE
Conventions:
1. Usually in the form of a tragedy or comedy
2. used masks
3. chorus

Commedia del' arte

1544

Time: 1545
Overview: Improvised in theatrical form through characterization of stock characters. Italian theatre.
Playwrights: Andrea Calmo
Conventions:
1. Stock Characters (eg. Il Dittore)
2. Half Masks
3. Lazzi

Elizabethan/Shakespeare

1560

Time: 1558-1603
Overview: Shakespearian times were while Queen Elizabeth the 1st reigned England and King James.
Playwrights: Shakespeare
Conventions:
1. Soliloquies
2. Asides
3. Old English Language
4. gender swapping roles

Melodrama

1783

Time: late 18th early 19th century
Overview: Originated in France in the 18th century, became popular in the 18th century, was characterized through exaggerated plot lines and characters.
Playwrights: Wilson Barret, Douglas William Jerald.
Conventions:
1. stock characters
2. end with good winning over evil
3. sensationalized plots

Realism

1840

Time: 1840
Overview: During this time, people were more attracted to plays with realistic plots and characters they could sympathies with.
Playwrights:
Conventions:
1. Recognizable settings
2. contemporary world
3. colloquial

Expressionism

1905

Time: 1905
Overview: This theatre embraced playwrights beliefs and power to make change, this was done through disjointed scenes.
Playwrights: Augusto Boal, Dario Fo and Bertolo Brecht
Conventions:
1. Vermfremdungs effecte = strobe lighting, random music breaks, mechanical voices
2. placards
3. humour
4. gestus