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534 BCE
The Beginning of Theatre
Thespis, is said to be the very first actor. -
Period: 534 BCE to 600
Greek/Roman Theatre
Tragedy, comedy, and satyr play all emerged from the Greek city of Athens. The drama masks are an iconic convention of classic Greek theater. Roman theater is very similar to Greek theater. Two genres, drama and comedy, were prominent in the Roman empire. The Roman stage was laid out like the Greek theater where you had a backstage area, a place for the audience, and an orchestra.
Significant playwrights include: Plautus, Seneca, Lucius Accius -
350 BCE
Theatre of Dionysus
The Theatre of Dionysus was constructed for performers to show their plays while also honoring the god, Dionysus. -
240 BCE
The First Roman Play
The Romans brought over Livius Andronicus, a Greek writer, and he wrote the first Roman play. -
400
The Decline of Roman Theatre
The Christian Church disliked Roman theater because of its connection to worshiping pagan gods, leading to its decline. -
Period: 600 to 1537
Medieval Theatre
Medieval theater began by churches trying to explain new religions to the illiterate population. They began staging dramatizations of biblical events on certain days of the year. The four main types of plays in this time period were mummers plays, mystery plays, morality plays, and miracle plays.
Significant playwrights include: Hrosvitha, Suckling, Adam de la Halle -
Period: 1537 to
Renaissance Theatre
The first permanent theatre, the Red Lion, opened in 1567, and soon, many others followed for example, The Theatre. The drama genre became a huge phenomenon in England. The theatres were generally built from plaster and timber, and were three stories tall. Many theatres were closed during the time of the plague.
Significant playwrights include: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson -
Period: to
Restoration Theatre
Restoration theater speaks of English comedies produced during that time period. Many of the performers who were on stage during this time became the first celebrities. The decline of comedy was due to two theater companies converging, bringing a decline to the amount of comedies being written.
Significant playwrights include: George Etherege, William Wycherly, William Congreve -
Period: to
Romanticism Theatre
Napoleon led Europe away from Restoration, into Romanticism. It was sometimes referred to as a return to the Middle Ages because of the return of the church. In the later years of Romanticism theater, the industrial revolution evolved the theaters because of things such as gas lighting.
Significant playwrights include: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Schiller -
Period: to
Realism Theatre
Realism focused on everyday drama, normal speech, and normal settings. Realism came around for three main reasons. One, August Comte developed a theory known as Positivism. Two, Charles Darwin published the book called The Origin of Species. Three, Karl Marx created a political philosophy against urbanization.
Significant playwrights include: Emile Augier, Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw -
Period: to
Modernism Theatre
Modernism was a European movement that broke away from traditional forms of theater and arts. Modernism is often credited to the fallout of World War 1.
Significant playwrights include: Edward Albee, Caryl Churchill, Lillian Hellman -
Period: to
Twentieth Century Theatre
While much 20th-century theater continued and extended the projects of realism and Naturalism, there was also a great deal of experimental theater that rejected those conventions. These experiments form part of the modernist and postmodernist movements and included forms of political theater as well as more aesthetically oriented work.
Significant playwrights include: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard