Introductory Lecture

Modern Drama in English Literature

Drama

Drama, literature that is written to be performed on the stage, is a form that goes back to the ancient Greeks
and includes such writers as Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Christopher Marlowe. However, it is a form that
tends to go in and out of fashion depending on the availability of theaters and audiences.

After a period of being dormant for much of the nineteenth century, drama made a comeback in the last
decades of the century and the early decades of the twentieth century, thanks to writers like Henrik Ibsen,
George Bernard Shaw, and Eugene O'Neill. Though these writers were very different, their work shared
characteristics that were representative of a new form of drama known as modern drama.

What is Modern Drama?

The drama which had suffered a steep decline during the Victorian Age was revived with great force at the
beginning of the 20th century and the course of six decades has witnessed many trends and currents in the
20th-century drama.

The drama of the Modernist Movement in England was much less innovative in technique than it was its
poetry and novel.

Modern Drama

Modern Drama refers to plays written in the 19th and 20th centuries whereas contemporary drama refers
to plays written today. Modern dramatists include such playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde,
and Henrik Ibsen. Here are a few quintessential examples of modern drama: A DOLL'S HOUSE by Henrik
Ibsen.

Modern Drama is essentially a drama of ideas rather than action. The stage is used by dramatists to give
expression to certain ideas which they want to spread in society. Modern Drama dealing with the problems
of life has become far more intelligent than ever it was in the history of drama before the present age.

Modern drama, which developed around the turn of the twentieth century, focused on alienation and
disconnection. These themes can be seen in some of the most famous plays of playwrights such as Henrik
Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and Eugene O'Neill.

History of Modern Drama

English Drama during the Modernist Period (1845-1945) A.D. falls into three categories:

1. The first and the earliest phase of modernism in English Drama is marked by the plays of G.B. Shaw
(read Summary of Candida) and John Galsworthy, which constitute the category of social drama
modeled on the plays of Ibsen and.
2. The 2nd and the middle phase of Modernist English drama comprise the plays of Irish movement
contributed by some elites like Yeats. In this phase, the drama contained the spirit of nationalism.
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 3. The 3rd and the final phase of the Modernist English Drama comprise plays of T.S. Eliot and
Christopher Fry. This phase saw the composition of poetic dramas inspired by the earlier Elizabethan
and Jacobean tradition.

The three categories reflect the three different phases as well as the three different facets of Modern English
Drama.

Modern Drama Characteristics

Realism

Realism is the most significant and outstanding quality of Modern English Drama. The dramatists of the
earlier years of the 20th century were interested in naturalism and it was their endeavor (try) to deal with real
problems of life in a realistic technique to their plays.

It was Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist who popularised realism in Modern Drama. He dealt with the
problems of real life in a realistic manner of his play. His example was followed by Robertson Arthur Jones,
Galsworthy and G. B. Shaw in their plays.

The modern drama has developed the Problem Play and there are many Modern Dramatists who have
written a number of problem plays in our times. They dealt with the problems of marriage, justice, law,
administration, and strife between capital and labor in their dramas.

They used theatre as a means for bringing about reforms in the conditions of society prevailing in their days.
Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is a good example of a problem play.

The problem play was a new experiment in the form and technique and dispensed with the conventional
devices and expedients of theatre.

Play of Ideas

Modern Drama is essentially a drama of ideas rather than action. The stage is used by dramatists to give
expression to certain ideas which they want to spread in society.

Modern Drama dealing with the problems of life has become far more intelligent than ever it was in the
history of drama before the present age.

With the treatment of actual life, the drama became more and more a drama of ideas, sometimes veiled in the
main action, sometimes didactically act forth.

Romanticism

The earlier dramatists of the 20th century were Realists at the core, but the passage of time brought in, a new
trend in Modern Drama. Romanticism, which had been very dear to Elizabethan Dramatists found its way in
Modern Drama and it was mainly due to Sir J.M. Barrie’s efforts that the new wave of Romanticism swept
over Modern Drama for some years of the 20th century. Barrie kept aloof from realities of life and made
excursions into the world of Romance.

Poetic Plays

T.S. Eliot was the main dramatist who gave importance to poetic plays and was the realistic prose drama of
the modern drama. Stephen Phillips, John Drink Water, Yeats, etc were from those who wrote poetic plays.
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History and Biographical Plays

Another trend, visible in the Modern English drama is in the direction of using history and biography for
dramatic technique. There are many beautiful historical and biographical plays in modern dramatic literature.

Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra are historical plays of great importance. John Drink Water’s Abraham Lincoln
and Mary Stuart are also historical plays.

Irish Movement

A new trend in the Modern English Drama was introduced by the Irish dramatists who brought about the
Celtic Revival in the literature.

In the hands of the Irish dramatists like Yeats, J.M. Synge, T.C. Murrey etc. drama ceased to be realistic in
character and became an expression of the hopes and aspirations of the Irish people from remote ways to
their own times.

Comedy of Manners

There is a revival of the Comedy of Manners in modern dramatic literature. Oscar Wild, Maugham, N.
Coward, etc. have done much to revive the comedy of wit in our days.

The drama after the second has not exhibited a love for comedy and the social conditions of the period after
the war is not very favorable for the development of the artificial comedy of the Restoration Age.

Impressionism

It is a movement that shows the effects of things and events on the mind of the artist and the attempt of the
artist to express his expressions. Impressionism constitutes another important feature of modern drama.

In the impressionistic plays of W.B. Yeats, the main effort is in the direction of recreating the experience of
the artist and his impressions about reality rather than in presenting reality as it is.

The impressionistic drama of the modern age seeks to suggest the impressions on the artist rather than
making an explicit statement about the objective characteristics of things or objects.

Expressionism

It is a movement that tries to express the feelings and emotions of the people rather than objects and events.
Expressionism is another important feature of modern drama. It marks an extreme reaction against
naturalism.

The movement which had started early in Germany made its way in England drama and several modern
dramatists like J.B. Priestly, Sean O’ Casey, C.K. Munro, Elmer Rice have made experiments in the
expressionistic tendency in modern drama.

What Characteristics Distinguish Modern Drama From Traditional Drama?

The modern drama is characterized by its unique subject matter — from the romanticization of the folks
living in poverty to a more strict, grounded depiction of life — as well as its particular use of symbols,
imagery, and metaphors. Although modern drama has evolved over time, its aim of using theater to
challenge and experiment upon social norms remained constant.
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But what characteristics distinguish a modern drama from a traditional drama?

Traditional Drama:

 Often dealt with supernatural concepts such as fate and the role of the gods/God in human affairs.
 Characters were often noble, royal, or somehow exalted in position.
 Was very structured and ended with a clear plot resolution.
 Lofty speech, such as verse or poetry, is often incorporated in dialogue.

Modern Drama:

 Often focuses on relatable problems and social issues.

 Characters are usually average, everyday people.
 Doesn't always confine itself to a clear structure and may end without a resolution.
 Features natural, realistic dialogue.

Beginning of Modern Drama

While modern drama is sometimes referred to as "20th-century drama," many argue that it actually began in
the late 19th century with playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen is often referred to as the "father of modern
drama," as the 1879 debut of his play A Doll's House marks the beginning of the modern theater movement
for many scholars. In general, modern drama tends to refer to plays written from the late 1800s to the present
day.

A Doll's House was particularly revolutionary because it broke from traditional theatrical forms at a time
when both American and European audiences were desperate for something new. Throughout the previous
century, the theater had reached a low point in the Western world — fiction and poetry, on the other hand,
flourished.

Between the mid-1700s and mid-1800s, literature soared to new heights thanks to landmark works by
novelists like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Meanwhile, the field of poetry was
awash with new talents like Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Keats and the at-the-time-unpublished Emily
Dickinson. Yet, for the most part, the world of theater was fairly stale.

The fact that Ibsen came from Norway, a country that didn't have much of a theatrical history of its own,
may have initially appeared to be his greatest weakness. But, as it turned out, it may have ended up being his
greatest strength. That is, Ibsen more or less developed his own ideas about what drama should be, and,
consequently, appealed to the rising demand for intellectual theater. The younger generation, in particular,
lauded Ibsen’s work since they were fed up with the injustices of traditional society and eager for more
scientific and philosophical views of humanity.

Theory and Elements of Modern Drama

Modern drama caught on quickly as its popularity spread throughout both Europe and America. Soon
enough, myriad works began appearing — and many of them revolutionized each of the five elements of
drama, which include:

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Thought, Theme, and Ideas:

Theater at large got much more down-to-earth as modern drama became the norm. Rather than provide mere
entertainment or repeat so-called time-honored lessons of morality, plays began to take more incisive,
critical looks at the state of the wold. Playwrights began delving into themes and topics such as:

 Politics
 Social ills and reform
 Women's rights
 Class relations
 Race relations
 Effects of industrialization
 Familial relationships
 Anxiety, depression and mental health
 The "American Dream"
 The effects of war

Action and Plot:

Traditional theater tended to fall under a few different categories — tragedy, comedy, melodrama, and so on.
Moreover, the structure of each genre was pretty rigid. Since the times of Aristotle, many plays followed the
classic dramatic structure: conflict, rising action, turning point, falling action, and resolution.

While some modern plays follow a similar structure, things aren't always so clear-cut. Modern plays don't
always guarantee a clear resolution, in order to inspire the audience to think for themselves and form their
own opinions on what they've just seen. Additionally, some forms of modern absurdist theater — works that
could fall into the movement of Dadaism, for example — focused on creativity and innovation, regardless of
traditional plot structure.

Characters:

One of the more revolutionary aspects of modern drama in its early days was that it featured characters who
would not have been considered important enough to carry a traditional drama. A Doll's House revolves
around an ordinary housewife named Nora; Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is about a traveling
salesman and his family; and Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof centers on a man with alcoholism.

Language:

The majority of modern plays use very realistic, natural language. There are exceptions, however, especially
among absurdist forms of modern theater. Bertold Brecht, for instance, was a fan of epic theater, which was
based on Greek poetry. Samual Beckett, on the other hand, favored theater of the absurd, where the
characters sometimes spoke "nonsense talk" as a way to express existential angst. But, in most cases, modern
theater that doesn’t fall into those categories uses rather colloquial language that reflects its subjects.

Music:

In most of the earliest forms of classical drama, music was an important part of many performances. Lines
were alternately spoken, chanted, or sung by a chorus. Music is used in a variety of different ways in modern
drama, depending on the style. Musical theater has become a genre in its own right, while other modern
dramatic pieces either don't use music at all or use it sparingly, such as to indicate intermission.