1. Theatre History
A brief overview of theatre; from
Myth to Movement.

2. Origins
• Theatre is arguably the direct descendant of
A.) Mankinds need to imitate its surroundings
B.) The story telling of the Paleolithic Era
C.) Religious rites and sacraments

3. Religion
• The Ikernofret Stone
• The City Dionysia of Ancient Greece
• The Medieval Passion plays

4. The Greek Hellenistic Theatre
• Often called “The Golden Age of Greece,” the
time period between 500 BCE and the rise of
the Roman Empire are considered the first real
roots of secularized theatre. The three great
tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides, commonly wrote about the Gods.
They did not, however, write for the gods.
They adapted the oral traditions to the stage
in an effort to serve society.

5. Aristotle's “De Poetica”
• In this treatise Aristotle
analyzed the necessity of
the art of theatre and
provided the first critical
analysis of the works of the
tragedians, of whom he
regarded Sophocles as the
greatest. Aristotle coined
the idea of the “unities” of
time, place, and action.
These unities would go on
to be the cornerstone of the
neoclassical period in Italy
and France.

6. French Neo Classical
• The French Neo
Classical period was
dominated by the
comedy writer, Jean-
Baptiste Poquelin, more
commonly known as
Moliere. The period was
characterized by strict
adherence to the three
unities, and subtlety of
body language.

7. Elizabethan
• The Elizabethan period
was marked by writers
such as Christopher
Marlow and Ben
Johnson. However, no
writer had a greater
influence on this time
period than William
Shakespeare.

8. The Rise of Realism
• At the turn of the 20th
century writers sought
to make theatre more
realistic, in an effort to
move away from the
flamboyance of the
melodramatic style. The
pioneer of this acting
method was Konstantin
Stanislavsky.

9. Modernism in Drama
The modernist era of
American drama typically
revolves around the time
of the ending of the
second world war. The
group theatre was
instrumental in creating
drama that addressed
social issues in the public’s
mind.

10. Post modern drama
• As time progresses the
modern theatrician
must ask themselves
“where will we go from
here?” There isn’t a
right or wrong answer,
but recent advances
give light to the rise of
mechanical theatre as a
mode of novel story
telling.