Origins of Drama Many say drama originated in Greece over 2,500 years ago as an outgrowth of the worship of the God Dionysus. During Dionysian festivals, a chorus, would perform hymns of praise to the God.

Two main types of Greek drama Two main types of Greek drama tragedy comedy

Greek Tragedy Chorus = a group of singers that comments on the play, often from the point of view of public opinion of the actions taking place Prologue = an introductory scene that tells the audience important information about the play’s setting, characters, and events immediately preceding the opening of the drama. Episode

Epilogue after the main characters leave, this is where the chorus comes back on stage to sum up the play’s meaning

Roman Spectacles  Gladiators’ combats  Naval battles in a flooded Colosseum  “Real-life” theatricals  All theatrical events, considered violent and immoral, were banned by the Church when Rome became Christianized

The English drama from the Middle Ages to theElizabethan Age  The Medieval drama  The Elizabethan drama  General features  Themes  Structure  Language  Audience  Authors and works

Medieval Theatre

During the Middle Ages Entertainment was provided by acrobats, fire-eaters, stilt-walkers, jugglers, mime artists, westlers, ballad singers and storytellers. They performed on street corners, in town squares, at king’s castles and noblemen’s palaces. They led a nomadic life and used to act on a simple platform stage.

Italian “commedia dell’arte” arrived in the 16th c.

Liturgical ceremonies  At the same time another form of Drama was emerging in the churches and in its rituals  The clergy to convey the main events of the Christian religion to an illetterate audience used dramatic performances in the churches.  The representations of Old Testament and Bible stories

Later music was introduced into churches  This added melodies were sung by the priest and the choirboys ; gradually the vernacular language replaced latin one and spoken words replaced the singing., the whole church and not only the altar was used as a stage

 Then a dramatic dialogue between the priest and the audience was introduced  Little by little scenic effects were added which increased dramatic action

they became so popular that…  the clergy started to be worried that these dramatic forms had little to do with faith. So Pope Innocent III, in 1240, ordered that the plays had to be performed outside the church.

Once outside the church there was an evolution from liturgical drama to :  MIRACLE PLAYS  MYSTERY PLAYS  MORALITY PLAYS

Themes  Mystery plays usually dealt with Gospel events: their main subject was the redemption of man  Miracle Plays were concerned with episodes from the lives of Saints  Moralities also religious plays, but they focused on the conflict between good and evil ; their aim was to improve people’s moral behaviour

Little by little the performances of the plays were organized by the guilds ( trade corporations) of carpenters, tailors, … who cooperated to produce the play.

For example, a guild of bakers could stage a performance of the Last Supper, or a shipbuilders’ guild would be in charge of the story of Noah and the Flood. The involvement of the guilds was actually a form of early advertising. The props and costumes which the guilds supplied could be viewed by thousands of people and were a good advertisement of the quality of the guild’s work.

The devil in these medieval plays was often a comic character, similar to today’s pantomime villain, whom the crowd loved to boo and hiss. Good always triumphed over evil and the devil would be put through trials, such as being suspended upside down, or hit with weapons by other actors, cheered on by an excited audience.

The Biblical stories were enriched with comic sketches and the mistery plays were characterized not only by a sense of sadness but also humour and wit By the end of the 13th c. the secularization of the Drama was almost complete. The content changed. They became MORALITY PLAY no loger inspired by the Bible they took the form of allegories

Medieval drama Structure  Repeated several times in different parts of the town with the help of a pageant, a carriage in the form of small house with two vertical rooms

Language  Latin replaced by vernacular, and secular elements

Why their popularity grew: emerging of the middle class the growth of towns

What Changed ? Dramatists ( playwrights) began inventing their plots using rhymed lines: Didactic and moral content Allegorical reading of man’s life

The Actors They were simply citizens and guild members and the characters were: Everyman, Mankind Personification of Vice ( Envy, Anger, Gluttony, Pride…) and Virtue ( Charity, Perseverance, Hope, Conscience…). Vice was generally presented in a clownish behaviour and it may be considered the forerunner of the Shakespearean “ fool “. Life and Death

The Comic Genres Commedia dell’arte = a cast of masked stock characters

Audience  The cycles of Mistery plays appealed to all social classes, from royalty to peasants: they all came in to watch the plays.  Moralities were intended for more learned people, with some cultural background

Authors and works  The Myracle plays were grouped in 4 cycles, known by the names of the towns where they were performed: Chester, York, Coventry, Wakefield  The best Morality play is Everyman (about 1500)

In the 15th and 16th century Morality were gradually replaced by “ INTERLUDES” ( interludium = play-between )that with their realistic elements formed the bridge linking Medieval Drama with Elizabethan theatre:

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS Performed during banquets at court or in inn yards. In this location the actors ( that were starting to be professionals ) could collect an admission fee Shorter than Moralities Rare use of allegory Real characters Humour and satire Lack of a didactic purpose

Shakespeare put these interludes in some of his play During the reign of Queen Elizabeth the travelling companies continued to provide entertainment In the second half of the 16th and in the 17th c. Drama flourished. This period was characterized by the performance of thousands of plays, most of them free re-elaboration by the major playwrights since there was no copywright law.

Why its popularity? Open and Understandable by everyone. The cost of the tickets depended on the seat. ( standing in the arena, surrounding the stage, galleriesl few seats on the stage) The language was alive and direct Talented playwrights Theatre-going habit as entertainment