English Drama

Meeting 2
ORIGINS OF DRAMA

• The Greek Theatre

• The Elizabethan Theatre

• The Modern Theatre

The Greek Theatre

• Greek theatre develops from celebrations including religious rituals

of honoring Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility
• In Greek drama no more than three characters appeared onstage
together at one time, although it was common for actors to play
multiple roles
The Greek…(continue)

• Greek plays were performed in huge outdoor amphitheatres capable

of audience of fourteen thousand people
• The audience were seated in slope of hills where the theatre was
build
• The hills acted as ‘megaphones’ where they echoed the sounds of
the actors’ voices
The Greek…(continue)

• Sophocles was the most generally admired in ancient Greek and still
one of the most widely read until today
• Sophocles focused his plays on human rather than religious concerns
• He wrote more than one hundred plays, but only few became
masterpiece such as Oedipus Rex and Antigone
The Elizabethan Theatre

• Drama in the Elizabethan age (1558-1603) shares some features with

Greek age
• An Elizabethan playhouse had a smaller capacity than the Greek
theatre, usually twenty three hundred people
• The spectators seat in one of three stories that nearly encircled the
stage
The Elizabethan…(continue)

• The smaller size of Elizabethan theatre was made for a greater

intimacy between actors and audience, and to be easily heard and
seen
• William Shakespeare is the most popular play writer in Elizabethan
age and widely acknowledged until today
The Elizabethan…(continue)

• Experts say there are at least two reasons Shakespeare is read until
today:
• (1) his revelation of human character, especially his exploration of the
complex mind and feeling
• (2) his explosive language, particularly the richness and variety of his
metaphors
The Elizabethan…(continue)

• The examples of Shakespeare works are Othello, Hamlet, and Romeo

and Juliet