History and Development of Drama

Early Drama

1. Aristotle in his Poetics: Cathersis (Purification), Hamartia (error), Hubris(Pride)
2. Greek Drama: Dionysus, song by dithyrambs, cathersis, satire, deus ex machina.
   1. Three important tragic playwrights
      1. Aschylus
         1. Father of tragedy
         2. Plays:
            1. The Persian
            2. Agamemnon
            3. The Libation Bearers
            4. The Eumenides
            5. The Suppliants
            6. Prometheus Bound
      2. Sophocles
         1. written 120 plays. Out of which only 7 survived.
         2. Theban trilogy
            1. Odeipus Rex
            2. Oedipus at Colonus
            3. Antigone
      3. Euripides

Mystery Play

1. Other names: Cycle plays/Corpus Christi Play
2. Dramatised stories from Bible: Fall of Lucifer, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the nativity and the passion of Christ
3. Always ended with the last judgement.
4. Cyclic drama
5. Staged at York, Chester, Wakefield
6. Traditionally performed on Corpus Christi day
7. Mystery Plays:
   1. The Wakefield Cycle – 32 Plays
      1. Second Shepherd’s Play – 15th Century
         1. begins with a conversation between three shephards: Coll, Gib, and Daw
      2. The Chester Plays – 25 plays
         1. Serious and didactic
         2. Acted on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Whitsun Week from 1268 to 1577
         3. Important plays:
            1. Fall of Lucifer
            2. The Creation and The Fall
      3. The Conventry Plays -42 Plays
         1. Performed in conventry on the festival of Corpus Christi

Miracle Play

1. On the lives of Saints
2. Plays:
   1. The Conservation of St. Paul
   2. The Play of the Sacrament

Morality Play

1. Evolved from the medieval sermon, conveyed a moral truth or lesson using allegorical terms. Personified charity, vice, death, youth
2. Plays:
   1. The Castle of Perseverance
   2. The Somonyng Everyman (The Summoning Everyman)
   3. Skelton’s Magnificence

Masque

Interlude

Mummer’s Plays or Guisers