A brief history of drama

History of Drama

By facebooker_1590003111178696
  • 2000 BCE

    PREHISTORIC PERIOD

    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 throughout the civilization, marking the known beginning of a long relationship between theater and religion.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHs4EQZeLog
  • 534 BCE

    GREEK PERIOD

    GREEK PERIOD
    -The earliest days of western theater remain obscure, but the oldest surviving plays come from the ancient Greece. 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.
  • 530 BCE

    GREAT DIONYSIA

    GREAT DIONYSIA
    The tragic and satyr plays were always performed at the festival where they were part of a series of four performances (tetralogy): the first, second, and third plays were a dramatic trilogy based on related or unrelated mythological events, and the culminating fourth performance was a satyr play, a play on a lighter note, with enhanced celebratory and dance elements. In Athens, during City Dionysia festival, men used to perform songs and present plays to welcome Dionysus.
  • 240 BCE

    ROMAN PERIOD

    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.
    - Of the hundreds of playwrights of ancient Rome, only a small percentage of plays have survived the passage of time.
  • 184 BCE

    PLAUTUS (254-184 B.C.)

    PLAUTUS (254-184 B.C.)
    Said to be the Roman comedy master. He 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.
  • 159 BCE

    TERENCE (195-159 BC)

    TERENCE (195-159 BC)
    Terence's life story is an ancient tale of rags to riches. Terence was the slave of a Roman senator. Apparently, his master was so impressed with young Terence's intellect that he released him from his service and even funded Terence's education. During his adult years, he crafted comedies which were primarily Roman-styled adaptations of Greek plays by Hellenistic writers such as Menander.
  • 4 BCE

    SÉNECA (4 BC-65 AD)

    SÉNECA (4 BC-65 AD)
    -During the playwright's lifetime he wrote tragedies, many of them re-inventions of Greek myths of decadence and self-destruction. “Phaedra” (54 AD) is a play by philosopher and dramatist Lucius Annaeus Seneca, which tells the story of Phaedra, wife of King Theseus of Athens, and her consuming lust for her stepson, Hippolytus. Based on Greek Mythology and the tragedy Hippolytus by Greek playwright Euripides, Seneca's Phaedra is one of several artistic explorations.
  • 1300

    MEDIEVAL PERIOD(1300 AD)

    MEDIEVAL PERIOD(1300 AD)
    -In the Middle Ages, theater was reborn as liturgical dramas, written in Latin and dealing with Bible stories and performed by priests or church members. Then came vernacular drama spoken in the vulgate (that is the language of the people as opposed to Church Latin); this was a more elaborate series of one-act dramas enacted in town squares or other parts of the city.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JNTu9pawA
  • 1515

    RENAISSANCE PERIOD

    RENAISSANCE PERIOD
    -Theatrical activities, particularly comedies, flourished in Italy, England and Spain during the 16th and early 17th century.
    -Aristotle's Poetics, which defined the classical genres of tragedy and comedy, came to light in the 15th century.
    -The first important Renaissance tragedy was Giangiorgio Trissino's Sophonisba, which was written in 1515.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1zeIrO50mY

  • MODERN PERIOD(1845-1945)

    MODERN PERIOD(1845-1945)
    -During this period, drama was not only performed live on stage but also enjoyed through the mediums of radio, television, and cinema.
    -The modern period and its drama were shaped by world-changing forces, such as industrial-technological revolution, democratic revolutions, and an intellectual revolution that would disrupt earlier conceptions of time, space, the divine, human psychology, and social order.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAg-mdQxCnY