Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Drama
- in the Middle ages, it was common to compose plays drama in verse.
- Early Christian mystery plays were always written in verse. By the 14th century -
drama was free of Church control, and plays were performed by lay persons from
the craft guilds which were called “mysteries"
- To satisfy the growing public demand, the guilds constructed elaborate pageant wagons as
stages for their cycles of plays
- The subject matter was still religious - mystery
plays (based on the Bible) and miracle plays
(based upon the lives of saints) were the only
dramatic fare
- The York Cycle, The Wakefield Cycle, the Chester Cycle
- By the time of the
Renaissance period,
Shakespeare and others
wrote plays that mixed
prose, rhymed verse, and
blank verse. Shakespeare
also used rhyming couplets
in his plays
- The traditions of costumes and masks were seen in
ancient Greek drama, medieval mystery plays, and
Reniassance drama.
- Conventions like asides, wherein actors
make comments directly to the audience
unheard by other characters; and
soliloquies, i.e.dramatic monologues, were
also common during Shakespeare’s
Elizabethan dramatic period. Elizabethan
dialogue tended to use colloquial prose for
lower-class character’s speech and stylized
verse for upper class characters.
- Pre-Shakespearean Drama - miracle plays still
flourished - 1. Interludes(comic, realistic but
didactic). 2. Academic Comedy 3. Academic
Tragedy 4. Court Drama (by Royal decree) 5.
Drama in the public theatre
- First public theater opened in 1576
- As drama moved towards realism, dialogue became less poetic and more
conversational. In contemporary drama, actors break the fourth wall,
addressing the audience.