History Of Drama

Theatre History Worksheet

There are eight main stages of theatre, and over these years it has developed greatly. Not just the style of the acting, but the costumes and storylines.

  1) 550 ''   220 BCE - Greek theatre
  The earliest plays that we know of today, were written at this time. Many Greek plays have not survived in tact, in fact only four playwrights works remain in good condition. The style of play back then, had only about 3 actors (all male), wearing different masks to change characters. The plays were either strongly tragedy or comedy. This is where the famous ‘dramatic face’ originates from, the sad face meaning tragedy, the happy defining comedy.

  2) 1400s and 1500s ''   Medieval theatre
  This was loosely based around Roman and Greek performing arts, rather than actual plays. Juggling was extremely popular along with miming, making the first part of the 15th century mainly comedic as it was a contrast to the bloody, fighting world outside. A lot of the later plays were biblical and based on morality, to define between right and wrong. A popular way of portraying drama was on a ‘mobile theatre’ usually a cart, which would travel around the local villages. In other parts of Europe, women had now been included in the acting, but in England, it was still strictly men.

  3) 1560s - Commedia Dell Theatre
  This was sometimes called Commedia dell’Arte, and it was Italian. It was a completely different approach to theatre, as it was not professional, but also not open to the public. There was no scenery and very few props, they were not scripted and had three basic structures, situations, complications and the outcome. It was mainly improvisation, and
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