Drama

Drama

in the Middle ages, it was common to compose plays drama in verse.
1. 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"
  1. To satisfy the growing public demand, the guilds constructed elaborate pageant wagons as stages for their cycles of plays
  2. 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
    1. 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.

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	Created by lenarsheehan about 9 years ago