Notes Class 11 Ch 4.1 Yuvakbharati English Maharashtra Board

History of English Drama

Drama is a performance where actors express themselves. It’s meant to be seen and heard.
It comes from a script with dialogues, unlike a story or novel that’s just written out.
Plays, operas, mime, and ballet are all forms of drama.

According to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, drama is a piece of writing, in verse or prose, made to be acted on a stage. In it, a story is told through dialogue and action, with gestures, costumes, and scenery to make it seem real.
M.H. Abrams says drama is written to be performed in a theater, where actors play characters, do what the script says, and speak the written lines.

Drama has several key parts:

There are different kinds of drama:

Tragedy
Comedy
Tragic Comedy
Other types of comedy include Romantic Comedy, Sentimental Comedy, Classical Comedy, Comedy of Humour, and Comedy of Manners.

Origins: Drama started from folk theater. It’s more than just words; it uses actors, music, and visual effects.

1. Early Days:

The Romans had theaters in England, but they disappeared when the Romans left.
Later, traveling performers called minstrels entertained people.
By the 10th century, church rituals grew into simple plays.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, plays about religion were called Miracle plays.
Later on, Morality plays used characters that represented ideas like good and bad.

2. Elizabethan and Restoration Drama:

Morality plays led to Elizabethan plays, which were influenced by classical ideas and focused on education, morals, and politics.
This era had great writers like Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare.
Plays became more complex, with both tragedies and comedies.
Theaters were open-air, without much scenery, and the audience was all around the stage.
Later, theaters became enclosed, and scenery became more important.
Shakespeare used the stage in creative ways, but other writers like Ben Johnson were also important.
The Puritans closed the theaters in 1642, ending this period of great English drama.
When the theaters reopened in 1660, the plays were different, especially comedies.
Comedy of Manners became popular, focusing on the behavior of the upper class.
Writers like Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Sheridan brought back quality to comedy.

3. Modern Drama:

Modern theaters have stages like picture frames, actresses playing female roles, movable scenery, and artificial lighting.
Early 19th-century drama wasn’t great, with a focus on spectacle and melodrama.
Plays didn’t reflect real life.
Playwrights like Ibsen brought in realism, dealing with social and psychological issues.
George Bernard Shaw was inspired by Ibsen and wrote plays that explored ideas.
Other important playwrights include Oscar Wilde and those of the Irish dramatic movement.
In the 20th century, dramatists like T.S. Eliot experimented with new styles.
After World War II, writers like John Osborne wrote about frustrated young people.
Other key figures in modern drama include Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, and Arthur Miller.

4. Indian Drama:

A one-act play tells a complete story in a short time, usually in one place with few characters.

Plot: Focuses on a single, interesting event.
Theme: Has a central idea.
Setting: The place where the story happens, shown with props.
Language: Uses powerful words and dialogue.
Characters: Limited in number, can be round (changing) or flat (unchanging).