When was theater invented

Watching a play, musical, or movie is one of our main forms of entertainment, and the choices for enjoying all of these things are vast. Without the Ancient Greeks, theater as we know it may not even in existence since the Ancient Greeks are credited with its invention. There are those, such as various historians and also Aristotle, the Ancient Greek philosopher, who believe that theater has its roots in the Ancient Greek religion.

It is here that many believe the idea of the theater blossomed. Since witnessing religious ceremonies was a normal part of their worship, it appears as if the progression into formalized theater was fairly natural. In fact, Greek mythology regularly made its way into the plays that were written. Most historians trace the formal development of theater to the city-state of Athens. It is largely thought that the Ancient Athenians had a flair for drama that extended into things like religious ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and more.

These were written and performed in the language of ordinary people rather than latin in order to teach the mainly illiterate masses about Christianity and the bible. Each play was staged on pageant wagons that processed through the streets and stopped to perform at pre-arranged sites.

By the end of medieval times, many towns had specific spaces dedicated to public theatre. Following the Reformation in the 16th century — a movement that opposed the authority of the Roman Catholic Church — all religious drama in England was suppressed. Licences were issued to theatre companies allowing them to rehearse and perform in public, providing they had the approval and patronage of a nobleman.

It was constructed by Leicester's Men — an acting company formed in from members of the Earl of Leicester's household. Over the next 16 years, 17 new open-air, public theatres were constructed. Most of these theatres were circular, surrounding an open courtyard where members of the audience would stand around the three sides of the stage.

New companies flourished and writers were expected to produce a number of new plays every year to satisfy demand. Companies became known by the title of the patron's household.

The two most famous companies and fierce rivals were the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men. William Shakespeare , born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, is England's most famous playwright.

He wrote 38 plays and numerous sonnets. It is not just the breadth of his work that makes Shakespeare the greatest British dramatist but the beauty and inventiveness of his language and the universal nature of his writing. In Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men as an actor and their principal playwright.

He wrote on average two new plays a year for the company. His earliest plays included The Comedy of Errors first performed in and his first published work was the poem Venus and Adonis Shakespeare wrote many of his most famous plays for the Globe Theatre, which was erected in by the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

When the lease on the land at their playhouse, The Theatre, in Shoreditch ran out, the company decided to dismantle the timber frame building and rebuild it on the south bank of the River Thames, renaming it The Globe. The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe. The English architect and designer, Inigo Jones — , collaborated with the playwright and poet Ben Jonson — to produce a series of elaborate masques for both James I reigned — 25 and Charles I reigned — Inigo Jones is credited with introducing into British theatre the proscenium arch — the space which framed the actors on stage — and moveable scenery arranged in perspective.

Inspired by stage machinery he had seen whilst travelling in France and Italy, Jones' scenery used a series of shutters that slid in and out using grooves in the floor. He even flew in scenery from above and introduced coloured lighting by placing candles behind tinted glass. Theatres were closed to prevent public disorder and remained closed for 18 years, causing considerable hardship to professional theatre performers, managers and writers.

Illegal performances were only sporadic and many public theatres were demolished. In , the poet and playwright William Davenant succeeded in producing an all-sung version of the play The Siege of Rhodes in his home. This is widely considered to be the first English opera.

After Charles II was restored to the throne in , Davenant and the dramatist Thomas Killigrew were granted royal patents, which gave them virtual monopoly over presenting drama in London. These monopolies were not revoked until the 19th century. The introduction of scenery and elaborate stage machinery to the English public stage in the s gave rise to blockbuster semi-operas.

Many of these were adaptations of other plays, often by Shakespeare. These had episodes of music, singing, dancing and special effects. The grandest theatre at this time, which included one of the first proscenium arches, was The Duke's Theatre in Dorset Gardens. It stood by the River Thames and steps led up from the river for those patrons arriving by boat. For the first time women were recognised as professional actresses and playwrights. The most famous playwright was Aphra Behn — 89 , who had previously been employed as a spy for Charles II and spent a brief stay in a debtors' prison.

A group of women writers known as 'The Female Wits' produced many works for the stage. They included Mary Pix — , Catherine Trotter — and the prolific Susannah Centlivre about — , who wrote 19 plays, including the satirical A Bold Stroke for a Wife, first performed in The first woman to appear on the professional stage in England is generally considered to be Margaret Hughes — , who performed in a production of Othello at the Vere Street Theatre, London in Other notable actresses at this time included Elizabeth Barry — , also known as the "queen of tragedy", and Nell Gwyn — 87 , who was reputed to have been painted nude for Charles II and bore him two children.

The 18th century saw the flourishing of theatre as a popular pastime and many theatres were enlarged and new playhouses built in London and throughout the country. One of the most successful shows on the London stage in the early part of the 18th century was John Gay's ballad opera The Beggar's Opera.

Gay recycled popular songs of the day and wrote new lyrics that were humorous and satirical. Shakespeare's plays became increasingly popular during the 18th century but were reworked to suit the tastes of the day. His style was still felt to be too erratic and poets such as Alexander Pope carefully tidied up any uneven verse lines.

Shakespeare's ending to King Lear was felt to be too distressing and Nahum Tate's revised version where Cordelia and the King survive was preferred to the original. David Garrick rewrote the end of Romeo and Juliet so that the lovers speak to each other before dying in the tomb and turned the Taming of the Shrew into a farce. Garrick was one of Britain's greatest actors and the first to be called a star.

From until his retirement in , he was a highly successful actor, producer and theatre manager. He wrote more than 20 plays and adapted many more, including plays by Shakespeare. In , the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane hired him and he began a triumphant career that would last for over 30 years.

Within five years, he was also managing the theatre. Garrick changed the whole style of acting. He rejected the fashion for declamation, where actors would strike a pose and speak their lines formally, and instead preferred a more easy, natural manner of speech and movement. The effect was a more subtle, less mannered style of acting and a move towards realism. The Licensing Act of had a huge impact on the development of theatre in Britain.

It restricted the production of plays to the two patent theatres at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London and tightened up the censorship of drama, stating that the Lord Chamberlain with his Examiners of Plays must vet any script before a performance was allowed.

The act was put in place by the then Prime Minister Robert Walpole — , who was concerned that political satire on the stage was undermining him and the authority of the government.

A production of The Golden Rump, a farcical play of unknown authorship, was the chief trigger for Walpole pushing the case for banning obscene drama from the public arena. The play scandalously suggested that the Queen administered enemas to the King. Henry Fielding, author of a number of successful satires, and others were suspicious that this play had in fact been engineered by Walpole himself.

To get around the restrictions of the Licensing Act, non-patent theatres interspersed dramatic scenes with musical interludes. Melodrama and burlesque, with their short scenes and musical accompaniment, became extremely popular at this time. Scenes then alternate between spoken sections dialogue between characters, and between characters and chorus and sung sections during which the chorus danced. Here are the basic parts of a Greek Tragedy:. Prologue : Spoken by one or two characters before the chorus appears.

The prologue usually gives the mythological background necessary for understanding the events of the play. Parodos : This is the song sung by the chorus as it first enters the orchestra and dances. First Episode : This is the first of many "episodes", when the characters and chorus talk.

First Stasimon : At the end of each episode, the other characters usually leave the stage and the chorus dances and sings a stasimon, or choral ode. The ode usually reflects on the things said and done in the episodes, and puts it into some kind of larger mythological framework. For the rest of the play, there is alternation between episodes and stasima, until the final scene, called the Exodos : At the end of play, the chorus exits singing a processional song which usually offers words of wisdom related to the actions and outcome of the play.

Click here to see an analysis of the structure of the plays read in Humanities This page allows you to find passages in the any of the plays in either Greek or English. In sections H and I there are links which allow you to search for particular English or Greek words in the text of any of the plays. English text Greek text. English text Greek text H. Search for English word in any of the plays. To search for the occurance s an English word in one of the plays, click on the above, and type in the English word in the box marked "Look for:"; then type in the name of the author of the play Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, or Aristophanes in the box marked "Show results for".

The search will turn up the occurance of the word you have requested in all of the plays of the author you have typed in. Search for Greek word in any of the plays. You do not have to know ancient Greek to use this helpful resource.

The Greek word search program allows you to type in an English word, and then gives you all of the Greek words that have that English word as part of the definition. You can then search for those Greek words in the Greek texts you are interested in. This is very helpful, because it allows you to be less dependent on the English translation when you are searching for a word or concept in the Greek text. For example, if you are exploring the issue of "justice" in one of the plays, you can find out what the Greek words are that have "justice" as part of their definition, and then search for those words directly in the Greek text of the play.

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Studies in Aeschylus Blundell, M. The Sophoclean Chorus Gellie, G. Sophocles: A Reading Knox, B. The Heroic Temper Knox, B.

Oedipus at Thebes Scodel, R. Sophocles: An Interpretation Burian, P. Directions in Euripidean Criticism Collard C. Euripides Greece and Rome Surveys in the Classics n. Stagecraft in Euripides Michelini, A. Euripides and the Tragic Tradition Segal, C. Euripides Velacott, P. Euripides and Dionysus: An Interpretation of the Bacchae Cartledge, P.

Aristophanic Comedy Henderson, J. Winkler and F. Zeitlin, eds, Nothing to Do with Dionysus? Aristophanes and Athens McLeish, K.