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Origin of Drama

The Beginning
Drama originated in classical Greece. Athens, the cultural centre of Greece produced three genres
of drama: Tragedy, Comedy, and the Satyr.
The famous dramatists of this time were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comic
writers Aristophanes and, from the late 4th century, Menander.

From Greece the drama entered the Roman empire.

● Three Dramatic Unities

The Greek and Roman critics recommended three dramatic unities which must be observed by a
good dramatist. They are Unity of Time, Unity of Place, and Unity of Action. Unity of Time
implies that the action in a play should not exceed the limit of twenty-four hours; Unity of Place
means that the scene should not change too often from place to place, and the Unity of Action
means that the Tragedy and Comedy should not be intermixed.

Origin English Drama

The origin of the drama is deep-rooted in the religious predispositions of mankind. Same is the
case not only with English drama, but with dramas of other nations as well. The ancient Greek
and Roman dramas were mostly concerned with religious ceremonials of people. It was the
religious elements that resulted in the development of drama. As most of the Bible was written in
Latin, common people could not understand its meanings. That’s why the clergy tried to find out
some new methods of teaching and expounding the teachings of the Bible to the common people.
For this purpose, they developed a new method, wherein the stories of the Gospel were explained
through the living pictures. The performers acted out the story in a dumb show.

Beginning in France, dramas appeared in England soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066 in
the form of troupes. English drama originated as an offshoot of the religious sentiments. The
plays emerged during that time were deep rooted in the doctrines of christianity and Church. The
aim of the church was to instil religious sentiments as the Bible was in Latin and as English
translations were available, the common folk were not literate to comprehend such classic texts.

Liturgical Plays
The oldest existing church drama was “Quem Quarritis” trope
(whom are you seeking). It tells the story when the three Marrys
visited the empty tomb of Christ and met angel. Their
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conversation with angel consists of four sentences in Latin then adapted and performed by the
clergy in very simple performance. This drama called liturgical drama, in which the story simply
taken from the scripture. Such plays were acted out inside the church, written and directed by the
clergymen. Latin was the medium followed.

The liturgical drama gradually increased in both length and sophistication and flourished
particularly during the 12th and 13th centuries. The most popular themes were derived from
colourful biblical tales (Daniel in the lion’s den, the foolish virgins, the story of the Passion and
death of Jesus, etc.) as well as from the stories of the saints (as the Virgin Mary and St.
Nicholas).

Miracle and Mystery Plays.

The liturgical plays overtime evolved into Miracle and
Mystery plays.

Miracle Plays - A miracle play is basically a religious

play. They deal with the life of saints and the miracles
performed by them. The life and martyrdom of saints
formed the central theme of a Miracle play.

Mystery Plays - The mystery plays basically deal with the

themes taken from the Bible. They present in
chronological order major events from the creation and
the fall of man through nativity, crucifixion, resurrection
of Christ to the last judgement.

From the reign of Henry II, Miracle plays were taken from the legends of the saints and the
mystery plays dealt with subjects taken from the old testament of the Bible. Oftentimes they
were used interchangeably. The name ‘mystery’ is derived from Latin ‘ministerium’, meaning an
office of the church. Interestingly miracles point to the origin, the mysteries indicate the
later-stage of development.

The earliest recorded Miracle play in England was “Ludus Santa de Katherina”, which
performed in Dunstable around 1110. The plays were given in Latin or French. The Miracle play
attracted so many people and increased its popularity. In 1210, suspicious of the growing
popularity of miracle plays, Pope Innocent III issued an order forbidding clergy from acting on a
public stage. Thereby Miracle plays were out of the ecclesiastical hands and adopted eagerly by
the trade guilds under the general control of the Council of the Town after which several changes
followed. Vernacular texts replaced Latin, and non-Biblical passages were added along with
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comic scenes, acting and characterisation became more elaborate. Eg : Secunda Pastorum of the
Wakefield Cycle.

By the beginning of the fourteenth century all these plays were united in a single cycle of plays
beginning with the Creation and ending with the Final Judgement. Every important town in
England had its own cycle of plays for its own guilds to perform. The entire cycle could take up
to twenty hours to perform and could be spread over a number of days. The most well-known
cycles are York (48 plays), Chester (24), Wakefield (32) and the so-called N-Town (42). These
were called Corpus Christi cycles. These cycles were often performed during the Feast of
Corpus Christi and their overall design drew attention to Christ's life and his redemption for all
of mankind. The plays were staged on travelling platforms-decorated carts- that moved about the
city to various "stations" to allow different crowds of people to watch.

The dry didactic element of these plays did not find favour with the audience for long and very
soon they started demanding a more hilarious kind of enjoyment.

Morality Plays
Together with the mystery play and the miracle play, the morality
play is one of the three main types of vernacular drama produced
during the Middle Ages.
By the fifteenth century a new form of drama emerged and came
to replace miracle play and mystery plays, called the ‘Morality
Plays’. It is a dramatisation of personified ethics generally vice
against virtue. Everyman is presented as the Hero, Satan
personified as Vice, God or Christ as Virtue, and Death as the
Reward of Sin. The purpose of this drama was didactic, to give a
moral lesson to the audience. The morality plays generally ended
with the virtue winning against the vice. This play was marked by
the introduction of a character called “vice”, who was a
mischievous, comic and humorous character. Vice was the predecessor of the modern clown or
jester. One of the earliest morality plays was The Castle of Perseverance. The most famous
morality play is Everyman.

The Start of Interludes

Soon morality plays paved way to ‘ Interludes’.
Interludes came into vogue in England at the
beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. In the due
course of time, the Interludes dissociated itself and
became an independent species of drama that was
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true to life and more regular in form. The Interludes were dramatised at feasts and
entertainments which supplied amusement for the court and the nobility. Interlude is the short
version of morality play. Generally interludes were given during break of the scene. It was a
short stage entertainment in a sense of humour and was considered as the forerunner of
comedies. John Heywood was the most famous write of Interludes and his famous Interlude is
The Four P's.

Final Transformation of English Drama

The final stage of the evolution of English drama was the artistic period. In this period, the
purpose of the pay was not to point out a moral but to represent human life as it is. During this
period, English drama was influenced by classical drama.

English Renaissance Theatre

Also known as early modern English theatre, or as Elizabethan
theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1562 and 1642.
The period known as the English Renaissance, saw a flowering of
the drama and all the arts.

- The first comedy was “Ralph Roister Doister” written by

Nicholas Udall in 1556. The play is divided into acts and scenes
and written in rhyming couplets. This first comedy had become
the model and predecessor of English comedies.

- The first tragedy “Gorboduc” was written by Thomas Sackville

and Thomas Northon around 1562. It was written in blank verse
and divided into acts and scenes.

William Shakespeare stands out in this period as the most successful poet and playwright. He
was himself an actor and deeply involved in the running of the theatre company that performed
his plays. Most playwrights at this time tended to specialise in, either histories, or comedies, or
tragedies, but Shakespeare produced all three types. He wrote a total of 38 plays. In addition, he
wrote his so-called "problem plays" like Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida.
Though most of his plays met with success, it was in his later years that Shakespeare wrote what
are considered his greatest plays: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra.

Other important playwrights of this period snd their famous work include

● Christopher Marlowe - Dr. Faustus (1592)

● John Fletcher - Valentinian (1647)
● Francis Beaumont - The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607)
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● Ben Jonson - Volpone (1605)

● John Webster - The Duchess of Malfi (1612).
● Thomas Kyd - The Spanish Tragedy (1582-92)

The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry, a closet drama written by Elizabeth Tanfield
Cary, first published in 1613, was the first original play in English known to have been written
by a woman.

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Therefore, English drama gradually developed from the liturgical drama to Miracle and
Mystery plays, continuously to Morality and Interlude followed by the influence of classical
models and finally evolved to the regular drama forms which are known till today.