History of Drama

tribes. While musical instruments provide a compulsive

rhythm, and members of the tribe join in a communal
dance, there is often also a dramatic figure who is the
centre of attention. In mask and costume, strikingly
fierce or mysterious, an unseen actor impersonates a
spirit which either threatens or secures the fortunes of
the tribe.

Dance and music Greek theatre: from the 6th century BC

It is unlikely that any human society (at any rate until The origins of Greek theatre lie in the revels of the
the invention of puritanism) has denied itself the followers of Dionysus, a god of fertility and wine. In
excitement and pleasure of dancing. Like cave keeping with the god's special interests, his cult
painting, the first purpose of dance is probably ritual - ceremonies are exciting occasions. His female
appeasing a nature spirit or accompanying a rite of devotees, in particular, dance themselves into a state of
passage. frenzy. Carrying symbols, known as thyrsoi, they tear to  
 
pieces and devour the raw flesh of sacrificial animals.
Rhythm, indispensable in dancing, is also a basic
element of music. It is natural to beat out the rhythm of But the Dionysians also develop a more structured form
the dance with sticks. It is natural to accompany the of drama. They dance and sing, in choral form, the
movement of the dance with rhythmic chanting. Dance stories of Greek myth.
and music begin as partners in the service of ritual.
Drama of a kind is present in the rituals of primitive
In the 6th century BC a priest of Dionysus, by the name
of Thespis, introduces a new element which Sophocles gains his first victory in 468 BC,
can validly be seen as the birth of theatre. He defeating Aeschylus. He is credited with
engages in a dialogue with the chorus. He adding a third actor, further extending the
becomes, in effect, the first actor. Actors in the   dramatic possibilities of a scene. Whereas
west, ever since, have been proud to call themselves Aeschylus tends to deal with great public themes, the
Thespians. tragic dilemmas in Sophocles are worked out at a more
personal level. Plots become more complex,  
Theatrical contests become a regular feature of the characterization subtler, and the personal interaction
annual festival in honour of Dionysus, held over four between characters more central to the drama.
days each spring and known as the City Dionysia. Four
authors are chosen to compete. Each must write three Although Sophocles in a very long life writes more
tragedies and one satyr play. The main feature of the   plays than Aeschylus (perhaps about 120), again only
stage is a circular space on which the chorus dance seven survive intact. Of these Oedipus the King is
and sing. Behind it a temporary wooden structure generally considered to be his masterpiece.
makes possible a suggestion of scenery. At the end of The youngest of the three great Greek
the festival a winner is chosen. tragedians is Euripides. Euripides introduces
The Greek tragedians: 5th century BC a more unconventional view of Greek myth,
seeing it from new angles or viewing
mythological characters in terms of their human  
Only a small number of tragedies survive as full texts
from the annual competitions in Athens, but they frailties. His vision is extremely influential in later
include work by three dramatists of genius. The earliest schools of tragic drama.
is the heavyweight of the trio, Aeschylus.
The beginning of Greek comedy: 5th century BC
Aeschylus adds a second actor, increasing
the potential for drama. One of his From 486 BC there is an annual competitition for  
innovations is to write the day's three
 
comedies at Athens - three-day festival in January.
tragedies on a single theme, as a trilogy. By Aristophanes is the first brilliant comedian.
good fortune three of his seven plays are one such They rely mainly on a device which becomes
trilogy, which remains one of the theatre's great central to the tradition of comedy. They
masterpieces - the Oresteia, celebrating the satirize contemporary foibles by placing them in
achievement of Athens in replacing the chaos of earlier an unexpected context, whether by means of a fantastic
times with the rule of law. plot or through the antics of ridiculous characters.
  

The Greek theatre: 4th century BC

An exclusively Greek contribution to

architectural history is the raked auditorium
for watching theatrical performances
(appropriately, since the Greeks are also the
inventors of theatre as a literary form).  
  In the first Greek theatres the stage is a full circle, in
In the 4th century a stone auditorium is built on the site,
and there is still a theatre there today - the theatre of keeping with the circular dance - the choros - from
Dionysus. However this is a Roman reconstruction from which the theatrical performance has evolved. This
the time of Nero. By then the shape of the stage is a stage is called the orchestra (orchester, a dancer),
semi-circle. because it is the place where the chorus sing and
dance.

Epidaurus, built in about 340 BC, provides the best

example of a classical Greek theatre. In the centre of the
orchestra is the stone base on which an altar stood,
reflecting the religious aspect of theatre in Greece. The
rising tiers of seats, separated by aisles, provide the
pattern for the closest part of the auditorium to the
stage in nearly all subsequent theatres - where these
seats are still sometimes called the orchestra stalls.

Rome
 Liturgical drama: 10th century

After the collapse of the Roman empire,

theatre plays no part in life. But with the
approach of the first millennium, in the late
10th century, Christian churches introduce
dramatic effects in the Easter liturgy to enliven
the theme of resurrection.  
In about 970 the bishop of Winchester, eager to
emphasize this important moment, introduces a
custom which is already in use (he says) in certain
French monasteries.
During the Easter morning service in Winchester three
monks enact the arrival at the tomb of the three
women, while another (as the angel in the story) sits
beside the high altar (the holy sepulchre). The angel,
Roman comedy: 3rd - 2nd century BC intoning in Latin, asks the women whom they are
seeking? Jesus of Nazareth, they chant in reply. He
In most cultural matters Rome is greatly influenced by says Jesus is not here, he has risen, go and tell the
Greece, and this is particularly true of theatre. Two people. The three turn to the choir with a
Roman writers of comedy, Plautus and Terence, joyous Alleluia! resurrexit Dominus ('the Lord is  
risen'), and the choir launches into the Te Deum.
achieve lasting fame in the decades before and after
200 BC - Plautus for a robust form of entertainment From these small beginnings there develops the great
close to farce, Terence for a subtler comedy of manners. tradition of medieval Christian drama. More and more
But neither writer invents a single plot. All are borrowed   scenes are enacted during church services, some
from Greek drama, and every play of Terence's is set in quite boisterous. Herod, in particular, tends to make a
Athens. lot of noise.

The misfortune of Plautus and Terence is that their

audience is very much less attentive than in Athens. Mystery plays: 12th - 16th century
And the reason is that Roman plays are presented as
part of a broader event, the Roman games.

Religion
In about 1170, priests somewhere in France In most of Europe the plays are done on fixed open-
decide to move a performance to a air platforms, usually along one side of a square, with
platform outside their church and to give little 'houses' or mini-stages set up for different
it in the language of the people. Their scenes.
French play, the Mystère d'Adam ('Mystery of
Adam'), introduces some very popular characters in
medieval imagination - the wicked devils, who can be
vividly enacted in the street but not inside the church. Processional plays: 14th - 17th century
The play ends with devils arriving to tie Adam and Eve  
In parts of Europe, particularly Spain, the players
up in chains, before dragging them off with a great perform on carts, each with its own scenery, moving
clatter of pots and kettles. They and their victims through the town to appear before a succession of
vanish into a hole from which smoke belches forth. audiences. It is an ingenious way of bringing drama to
The flaming mouth of Hell is set to become a more spectators than can be gathered in one place.  
standard and increasingly spectacular element in These Spanish plays are known as autos
the mystery plays. sacramentales, 'eucharistic plays'.
Over the centuries the narrative of such plays
extends from Adam and Eve to encompass
The mystery plays go out of fashion in the 16th
the entire Bible story, from the Creation to
century. In Protestant Europe their broad
the Last Judgement. The lives of saints are also
humour and bawdiness offend the
much performed, in what are known as miracle plays.
reformers. But this vigorous popular
The torments suffered by saints in their martyrdom entertainment also seems unduly frivolous to
give these stories a special appeal for medieval solemn humanists of the Renaissance. Performance
audiences.   of the plays is banned in Paris in 1548. Many other
places follow suit.  
St Apollonia is a popular subject (tortured by having
all her teeth pulled out). In a Danish 16th-century play The exceptions are the strongholds of the Catholic
about St Dorothy, the saint has already been Reformation, where the church recognizes the power
whipped, partially burnt at the stake and stretched of drama if doctrinally correct. The autos
with tongs before the executioner lists the Real sacramentales still flourish in Spain in the late 17th
torments which he has in store for her. century (many of them written by Calderon, a
Gradually the plays become longer and the   dramatist turned priest).
productions more elaborate.
China
the vigorous mainstream of Japanese theatre. The
earlier form of Noh, fossilized in its perfection, is
Noh theatre: from the 14th century henceforth the preserve of the court and nobility.

A father and his 11-year-old son, Kanami and Zeami Roman revivals and intermezzi: 16th century
Motokiyo, perform in 1374 before the shogun,
Yoshimitsu, at the Imakumano shrine in Kyoto. In the spirit of the Renaissance, Roman plays are
Kanami has made innovations in a traditional form of performed on festive occasions at the courts of Italian
theatre, deriving originally from China and known princes. Perhaps they prove a little heavy going for some
as sarugaku-noh. The shogun likes what he sees, and of the guests. It becomes the custom to have rather
particularly likes the performance of the talented   more lavish musical entertainments (intermezzi, or
young Zeami. He takes the family into his service. intermediate pieces) between the acts, with spectacular
stage effects, beautiful costumes and much singing and
With the name reduced to the more simple noh, this is dancing.  
the beginning of the Noh theatre of Japan - and the
beginning of some five centuries of patronage by the Isabella d'Este, in the audience for a performance of
shoguns of this most refined of theatrical styles. Plautus in Ferrara in 1502, much prefers
In Noh the all-male actors, accompanied by a small the intermezzi in which satyrs chase wild beasts in time
chorus and orchestra, sing and dance scenes from to a musical clock, Swiss soldiers engage in a dance of
legend with an immense slowness and solemnity war, and a golden ball melts away to reveal four Virtues
which can nevertheless imply great passion. The   who sing a quartet.
dimensions of the cypress-wood stage, and the The first intermezzi to be preserved in detail for posterity  
placing of certain scenic props, are invariable. (because they are the first to be published as etchings)
are performed to celebrate a wedding at the Medici court
This is a form of art so exquisite that it almost seems in Florence in 1589.
to begin life as a classic, a rare national treasure. In
fact, in its first two or three centuries, it does reach a The scenes are now close to those which will become
reasonably wide audience. But then, in the 17th familiar to opera audiences over the next two centuries -
century, an offshoot of Noh adopts a more popular they include a heaven made up of clouds (in which the
style. characters can sit and sing), a delightful garden, a rocky
cave guarded by a dragon, and a sea scene with
Known as kabuki, this new departure soon becomes mermaids, dolphins and a ship. This combination of
music and spectacle is now so popular with courtly coward at the first hint of danger. He is known as
audiences that it leads to a new development Scaramouche in France, where the commedia
in Florence in 1597. dell'arte becomes an almost permanent attraction in
Paris as the Comédie Italienne.
The Italian comedians are popular throughout Europe.
Frequently they feature in fairs as an attraction to entice
Commedia dell'arte: 16th - 18th century the public, who are then coaxed into buying fake medical
potions - a trade which gives the name ciarlatini (clowns)
Italy in the 16th century, home to the first stirrings its other meaning as charlatans.
of opera, also launches Europe's most vigorous tradition
of popular theatre. The phrase commedia Each country builds its own popular traditions on the  
dell'arte (comedy of the trade) merely implies Italian example. In England Pulcinella evolves into
professional actors. There is a record of such a company Punch, the beak-nosed wife-beater of the seaside
performing in Italy as early as 1545. puppet shows. And the young lovers of the Italian
  comedy have a longer life in Britain than anywhere else.
Normally this is street theatre, though a company will use They survive well into the 19th century as the Harlequin
indoor premises if available. The traditional commedia and Columbine of the traditional English pantomime.
dell'arte troupe arrives in a town, sets up a temporary The original Italian form of the commedia dell'arte loses
stage and begins performing to the passers-by. Since it its vigour during the 18th century. There are attempts to
is essential to attract attention, slapstick plays a large revive it by replacing improvisation, now grown
part in the routine. So does improvisation, adapting the somewhat weary and hackneyed, with scripted texts
comic sketch to suit the audience's responses. using the spirit of the commedia dell'arte in more
Though each company performs its own material, certain   sophisticated comedies of character.
characters become widely established - and the use of  
masks makes them immediately recognizable. Pantalone Goldoni has a great success with plays of this kind in
is a pompous old man, good for playing tricks on. The 18th-century Venice. But he is only giving artificial
tricks are liable to be perpetrated by comic servants, of respiration to a popular comic tradition which has
whom Arlecchino (proud possessor of a costume of delighted Europe for more than two centuries and has
bright patches) and Pulcinella become the best known. now run its course.

A Spanish soldier, Il Capitano, provides plenty of comedy

in bragging about his bravery and then proving an errant
London's theatres:1576-1599 the Hope. There are now two theatres to the north of the
city and two south of the river. But soon the balance
The theatres built in London in the quarter century from shifts decisively to Bankside.
1576 are a notable example of a contribution made by
architecture to literature. In previous decades there have James Burbage, builder of the original Theatre, dies in
been performances of primitive and rumbustious English 1597. Two years later his two sons dismantle the
plays in the courtyards of various London inns, with the building and carry the timber over the river to Bankside,
audience standing in the yard itself or on the open where they use it as the basis for a theatre with a new
galleries around the yard giving on to the upper rooms. name - the Globe. This name resounds in English
 
These are ramshackle settings for what are no doubt theatrical history for two good reasons. It is where
fairly ramshackle performances. Richard, one of the Burbage brothers, develops into one
of the first great actors of the English stage. And it is
In 1576 an actor, James Burbage, builds a permanent where many of Shakespeare's plays are first presented.
playhouse in Shoreditch - just outside the city of London The structure of the Globe and the other London theatres
to the north, so as not to require the permission of the has a significant influence on English drama at its
puritanical city magistrates. greatest period, because of the audiences which these
Burbage gives his building the obvious name, so long as buildings accommodate. Ordinary Londoners, the
it is the only one of its kind. He calls it the Theatre. It groundlings, stand in the open pit to watch plays for a
follows the architectural form of an inn yard, with penny. Others pay a second penny to climb to a hard
galleries enclosing a yard open to the sky. At one end a seat in the upper gallery. A third penny gives access to
stage projects beneath a pavilion-like roof. the two lower galleries and a seat with a cushion. A few  
places in the first gallery, to left and right of the stage,
In such a setting, custom-built, writers, actors and are reserved for gentlemen who can afford a shilling, or
audience can begin to concentrate on dramatic   twelve pennies.
pleasures. A second playhouse, the Curtain, rises close
to the Theatre in 1577. A third, the Rose, opens in 1587 This is a cross-section of nearly all the people of London,
on the south bank of the Thames in the area known as and the audience is vast - with four theatres giving
Bankside. In that year one of these three theatres puts regular performances in a small city.
on a play which reveals how far English playwrights have It has been calculated that during Shakespeare's time  
progressed in a very short while - Tamburlaine, by one Londoner in eight goes to the theatre each week. A
Christopher Marlowe. city of 160,000 people is providing a weekly audience of
In about 1594 a fourth theatre, the Swan, is built close to   about 21,000. There is only one comparable example of
such a high level of attendance at places of accept that the unknown boy from Stratford should
entertainment - in cinemas in the 1930s. have created the crowning achievement of English
literature.
The range of Shakespeare's audience is reflected in the
plays, which can accomodate vulgar comedy and the
heights of tragic poetry. The occasional performances in
the Athenian drama festivals must have had something
of this effect, involving much of the community in a
shared artistic experience. In Elizabethan and Jacobean The truth is that William Shakespeare
London it happens almost every night. is not such an unknown figure, and the education
provided in England's grammar schools of the time is
among the best available. Shakespeare's baptism is
recorded in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 April 1564
(this is only three days after St George's Day,  
making possible the tradition that England's national
poet is born, most fortunately, on England's national
saint's day).
The life of Shakespeare: 1564-1616
Shakespeare's father, John, is a leading citizen of
The mysterious death of Marlowe, the Cambridge the town and for a while a justice of the peace. It is a
graduate, and the brilliant subsequent career of safe assumption (though there is no evidence) that
Shakespeare, the grammar-school boy from Shakespeare is educated at Stratford's grammar
Stratford, have caused some to speculate that his school.
secret service activities make it prudent for Marlowe In 1582, at the age of eighteen, Shakespeare
to vanish from the scene - and that he uses the marries Anne Hathaway. Their first child, Susanna,
name of a lesser man, Shakespeare, to continue his is baptized in 1583, followed by twins, Hamnet and
   
stage career. Others, similarly inclined to conspiracy Judith, in 1585.
theories, have convinced themselves that
Shakespeare's plays are the work of the statesman
and essayist Francis Bacon.

Snobbery rather than scholarship seems to underpin The London theatres are closed for fear of the  
such arguments. Their proponents find it hard to plague during 1592 and 1593 apart from brief
midwinter seasons, but in 1594 things return to
Tragedies and dark comedies: 1601-1608
normal and Shakespeare's career accelerates. He is
now a leading member of London's most successful Shakespeare's first attempt at full-scale tragedy, in
company, run by the Burbage family at the Theatre. 1601, brings to the stage a character, Hamlet, whose
Patronage at court gives them at first the title of the nature and weaknesses have prompted more
Lord Chamberlain's Men. On the accession of discussion than any other Shakespearean creation.
James I in 1603 they are granted direct royal favour, His prevailing characteristics of self-doubt and self-
after which they are known as the King's Men. dramatization hardly seem promising material for a
tragic hero, but Shakespeare uses them to create an
Shakespeare's share in the profits of this company, intensely personal drama. Each opportunity for  
operating from the Globe on Bankside from 1599, action prompts the young prince to indulge in
makes him a wealthy man. Most of the subsequent another soul-searching soliloquy, each missed
documentary references relate to purchases in his opportunity makes disaster more inevitable.
home town of Stratford.
Othello is the next of the major tragedies, in about
In 1597 Shakespeare pays £60 for a large house 1603, with the 'green-eyed monster' jealousy now
and garden, New Place in Chapel Street. By 1602 he the driving force on the path to destruction.
has enough money to purchase an estate of 107 King Lear, in about 1605, is the most elemental of
acres just outside Stratford, and he continues over the tragedies, with the old king's sanity buffeted by
the next few years to make investments in and storms upon an open heath as much as by his
around the town. In about 1610 he begins to spend treatment at the hands of his unfeeling
less time in London and more in New Place, where daughters. Macbeth, a year or so later, makes guilt
he dies in 1616. He is buried in the chancel of the itself the stuff of tragedy after ruthless ambition has
 
Stratford parish church. set events upon their course.
 
Shakespeare has shown little interest in publishing These plays are tragic in that each has a central
his plays, for like others of his time he probably character whose actions drive the events and whose
regards them as scripts for performance rather than flaws make the conclusion unavoidable. Others
literature. After his death two of his colleagues, John written during these years may not be tragedies in
Heminge and Henry Condell, gather the texts of this fullest sense, but they have a bitter flavour far
thirty-six plays which they publish in 1623 in the removed from comedy. An example is Troilus and
edition known now as the First Folio. Cressida (1602), with its caustic view of the world
 enunciated by Thersites. governments were frightened into promising change, but most
Even the plays of this period which are literally didn’t implement changes after the violence ended.
comedies, in the simple sense that they end happily,
are in mood closer to tragedy. Examples are All's Technological advances were also encouraged by industry
Well that Ends Well (1603) and Measure for and trade, leading to an increased belief that science could
Measure (1604). solve human problems. But the working classes still had to
fight for every increase in rights: unionization and strikes
In the years after Macbeth Shakespeare tackles two became the principal weapons workers would use after the
 
Roman themes. In Antony and Cleopatra (1607) the 1860s—but success came only from costly work stoppages
facts of history carry his two famous lovers to their and violence. In other words there seems to be rejection of
tragic fates. In Coriolanus (1608) it is the arrogance Romantic idealism; pragmatism reigned instead. The common
of the central character which creates the drama - man seemed to feel that he needed to be recognized, and
resolved only when his duty as a son, in response to
people asserted themselves through action.
the pleading of his aged mother, results in his own
death. The Emergence of Realism
3 major developments helped lead to the emergence of
Realism in Theatre realism:

Background August Comte (1798-1857), often considered to be the "father

of Sociology," developed a theory known as Positivism.
Realism in the last half of the 19th-century began as an Among the Comte’s ideas was an encouragement for
experiment to make theatre more useful to society. The understanding the cause and effect of nature through precise
mainstream theatre from 1859 to 1900 was still bound up in observation.
melodramas, spectacle plays (disasters, etc.), comic operas,
and vaudevilles. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published The Origin of Species
in 1859, and creators a worldwide stir which exists to this day.
But political events—including attempts to reform some Darwin’s essential series suggested that life developed
political systems—led to some different ways of thinking. gradually from common ancestry and that life favoured
Revolutions in Europe in 1848 showed that there was a desire "survival of the fittest." The implications of Darwin's Theories
for political, social, and economic reform. The many were threefold:
people were controlled by heredity and environment
behaviours were beyond our control musicians to tune in the orchestra pit, allowed no applause or
curtain calls, and strove for historical accuracy in scenery and
humanity is a natural object, rather than being above all else
costumes. Therefore, even though Wagner’s operas are
fantastic and mythical, his attempts at illusionism helped gain
public acceptance for realism.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) in the late 1840’s espoused a political
philosophy arguing against urbanization and in favour of a Beginnings of the Movement:
more equal distribution of wealth
Realism came about partly as a response to these new
These three stated ideas that helped open the door for a type social / artistic conditions. The "movement" began in France
of theatre that would be different from any that had come and by 1860 had some general precepts:
before.
truth resides in material objects we perceived to all five
Even Richard Wagner (pronounced "Rih-Kard’ Vahg’-ner") senses; truth is verified through science
(1813-1883), while rejecting contemporary trends toward
the scientific method—observation—would solve everything
realism, helps lead toward a moderate realistic theatre.
Wagner wanted complete illusionism, but wanted the human problems were the highest were home of science
dramatists to be more than a recorder—he wanted to be of
Art—according to the realist view—had as its purpose to
"myth-maker."
better mankind.
True drama, according to Wagner, should be "dipped in the
Drama was to involve the direct observation of human
magic founding of music," which allows greater control over
behaviour; therefore, there was a thrust to use contemporary
performance than spoken drama. Wagner wanted complete
settings and time periods, and it was to deal with everyday life
control over every aspect of the production in order to get a
and problems as subjects.
"gesamtkunstwerk," or "master art work."
As already mentioned, realism first showed itself in staging
Because Wagner aimed for complete illusion, even though his
and costuming. Three-dimensional details had been added by
operas were not all realistic, many of his production practices
1800. By 1850, theatre productions used historically accurate
helped lead the way for realism. For instance the auditorium
settings and costumes and details, partly as a result of
was darkened, the stage was framed with a double
romantic ideals. But it was harder to get realism accepted
proscenium arch, there were no side boxes and no centre
widely.
aisle, and all seats were equally good. Further, he forbade
The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen helped unify productions; Some of Ibsen's Plays:
Richard Wagner wanted theatre to fuse the emotional and the
Ghosts—1881—dealt with the concept of the sins of the father
intellectual, though his operas were highly mythical and
transferring to the son, resulting in syphilis.
fantastic.
Pillars of Society – 1877 – dealt with war and business.
Writers of Realism
Hedda Gabbler – 1890 – a powerful woman takes her life at
In France, to Playwrights helped popularized the idea of
the end of the play to get away from her boredom with society.
realism but both clung to two inherent traditional morality and
values: A Doll’s House – 1879 – Nora leaves her husband Torvald
and her children at the end of the play; often considered "the
Alexandre Dumas fils (the fils stands for "son," and
designates the "illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas") – slam heard around the world," Nora’s action must have been
(1824-1895)
very shocking to the Victorian audience.
His novel, Camille, was dramatized in 1849. About a "kept
Later in life, Ibsen turned to more symbolic and abstract
woman," the play was written in prose, and dealt with
dramas; but his "realism" affected others, and helped lead to
contemporary life. Eventually, he wrote "thesis plays," about
realistic theatre, which has become, despite variations and
contemporary social problems.
rejections against it, the predominant form of theatre even
Emile Augier (1820-1889) also wrote plays about today.
contemporary conditions.
In Norway: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered to be the
father of modern realistic drama. His plays attacked society’s
values and dealt with unconventional subjects within the form
of the well-made play (causally related).
Early Twentieth Century Theatre
Ibsen perfected the well-made play formula; and by using a
familiar formula made his plays, with a very shocking subject For most of 20th-century theatre, realism has been the
matter, acceptable. He discarded soliloquies, asides, etc. mainstream. There have been some, however, who have
Exposition in the plays was motivated, there were causally turned their backs on realism. Realism originally began as an
related scenes, inner psychological motivation was experiment to make theatre more useful to society—a reaction
against melodrama, highly romanticized plays—and realism around 1910 was a loose-knit group of what came to be
has become the dominant form of theatre in the 20th-century. known as the "little theatres." The Provincetown Players
There have been some experiments, though, which have introduced the work of O’Neill, and the Washington Square
allowed for more adventurous innovation in mainstream Players, which later evolved into the Theatre Guild,
theatre. encouraged the New Stagecraft. Two major American
designers who advocated this New Stagecraft were Robert
Edmund Jones (1887-1954) and Lee Simonson (1888-1967).
In the 1920s, realism had become widespread in England, Both were major forces in American theatrical design in the
France, and the United States; in the U.S. theatre boomed— first half of 20th-century, moving away from realism and
There were 200 to 275 new productions a year average. One towards suggestion and mood--perhaps a realism of mood
of the important groups that enhanced the theatrical presence and feeling would describe its "realist" origins.
in the U.S. was the Theatre Guild, founded in 1919 with the
But during the 1920s, as well, a period known as the roaring
intention of bringing important foreign works to improve
twenties--the American musical theatre began to develop
theatre in the U.S. By the mid 1920s, playwrights the United
more fully, with the Ziegfeld Follies offering variety acts and
States were also competing to have their works produced by
introducing songwriters and performers to theatre audiences.
the Theatre Guild.
During the decade of the twenties, there were also the
beginnings of the Workers’ Theatre Movement. In 1926, a
Perhaps the most significant American playwright to have small group of authors and theater directors formed the
plays produced by the Theatre Guild was Eugene O’Neill Workers’ Drama League, and the New Playwrights’ Theatre
(1888-1953), with five of his plays appearing at one time in formed the next year. Both hoped to present drama that had
New York during the 1924-25 season. O’Neill helped establish some social significance and would deal with some of the
serious realistic Drama as the main Broadway form. His Long problems of the day. The workers’ theatre movement would
Day’s Journey Into Night and Desire Under The Elms are not develop fully in the United States until after the stock
two of his great serious dramas. market crash of October 1929.

Also in the 1920s, came something called "The New

Stagecraft." The Theatrical Syndicate had pretty much
controlled American theatre till around 1915. But developing