KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

ALT 402 DRAMA

1. INTRODUCTION

This unit deals with the development of Drama since the beginning of the world. It depicts the
contribution of various ages in making Drama what it is today.

2. PREHISTORIC PERIOD

The difference between MAN and ANIMAL is that man has the ability to imitate. Man’s imitation started
during the prehistoric time when in the evening around a camp fire man would imitate hunting
escapades when one would be the hunted animal and others the hunters. This imitation extended to the
use of dance and music and later masks would be introduced for religious purposes and for character
variations.

Later man went beyond imitating the actions of people to imitating and reproducing the appearance,
posture, behavior grimaces and speech.

Masks were important elements during the prehistoric period. At that period there were heads and
skins of beasts and were used to express beauty and power. Behind the use of masks lay two religious
beliefs: Animism and Totemism. Man believed that everything around him was possessed by a spirit that
lived in man. So spirits acquired the qualities of GODHEADS. So man ivented masks to control spirits and
to work powerful magic.

3. EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION 3500-1500 BC

Drama existed in Egypt around 3000 BC. Many years before it was there in Greece .Greek drama was
borrowed from the Egyptians. A story is told in Egypt of two women prophetesses who were abducted
from Thebes by Phoenicians. One woman was sold in Libya and the other in Greece. These women
became the original founders of oracles in these two countries.

The Oracle of Zeus was taken to Greece by the abducted priestess. She built a shrine of Zeus. As a result
the Greeks came and adapted the divinatory methods of the Egyptians from Thebes.

The Egyptians were the first people in the world to hold general festive assemblies, religious processions
and parades and the Greeks learnt them from Egyptians (HERODOTUS). Egyptians did a lot of public
festivals every year.

Festivals in honour of:

- ARTEMS in Bubastis

1
 - ISIS in Busiri
- ATHENS in Sais
- LETO in Buto
- ARES in Papremis
- SUN in Helopoli

Expected in these festivals was a huge crowd of men and women. Women have clappers and small bells,
men pipes. It is dance and music from home to the venue.

-Make sacrifices

-Drunk wines

-Burn a lot of lamps.

4. GREEK CIVILIZATION 850-45 BC

The gods in Greece were inherited from Egypt. The Greeks performances were centered around
DIONYSUS who was the Greek god of wine and fertility. He was the son of Zeus- the greatest of the
Greeks gods. The myths that grew around DIONYSUS were closely reflected to life and seasonal changes
as birth, growth, decay, death, rebirth, spring, summer winter etc. Worship of DIONYSUS was designed
to ensure rebirth. The basic purpose of DIONYSUS’s worship was the inducement of fertility.

The Greeks initially danced and sang songs for DIONYSUS. It was a big choir, and a leader later had a
dialogue with the choir and the dialogue became stronger than the music and drama started. The
concept of an actor was introduced by Thespis. Songs were reduced to chorus and they became just
episodes. The actor became divorced from the choir.

Greek theatre took place in open air. It was performed in a circle at the foot of hell between two hills.
Spectators sat on the sides of the hill to watch. Drama was centered on festivals in praise of gods-Good
harvest, victory in war.

It is important to note many religious festivals developed into drama and in Greece people competed in
writing plays and performing in the festivals.

Notable Greek dramatists were: AESCHLUS Tragedy

SOPHOCLES Tragedy

EURIPIDS Tragedy

ARITOPHANES Comedy

2
5. ROMAN EMPIRE 27 BC-476 AD

Romans conquered Greece and built their theatre based on Greek models. Romans never had anything
of their own. They adapted everything to suit their needs. Leading Roman dramatists: Plautus, Terence
and Serena. The Romans created god Ludi for whom they performed their drama.

Festivals were also held during religious celebrations, funerals and victorious army reentry. The Romans
also started travelling theatre.

6. DARK AGES 1000 AD-1200 AD

When the Roman Empire was vanquished by barbarians from Asia, the Empire collapsed and both
drama and civilization were killed. The church helped to stamp out drama because of its immoral
influence.

7. MIDDLE AGES 1200-1500 AD

Drama reborn in church. Christianity dominated the life of almost everyone in Europe because many
people did not understand Latin which was brought by the Roman Empire churches started to use
drama to communicate. Churches dramatized events in the Christian calendar such as:

- Advent
- Epiphany
- days of lent
- Death and resurrection of Christ

Because of the dramatization, churches became popular and later became too small. So dramatization
was moved outside the church but in the church compound. Soon the church compound was too small
and dramatization moved to market places but the subject remained religious.

Christian festivals known as CORPUS CHRISTI was held regularly. These were unprofessional and
untrained in the matters of drama.

MIRACLE AND MYSTERY PLAYS

This period plays were written. They were not concerned with historical accuracy but were biblical
episode adapted to suit local conditions.

MORALITY PLAYS

These were religious plays where actors did not take part of actual people but personal qualities, and
vices and virtues i.e. greed, humility and death. Example: EVERYMAN which dealt with Christian belief
and the way to salvation

3
INTERLUDE PLAYS.

Plays performed during the interlude of major religious performances but later developed into plays in
their own right. Concerned with non- religious subjects and were humorous. Actors in the interlude
plays were professional and took up acting as a fulltime occupation. They also toured the country but
the tours gave the actors a reputation of immunity and were condemned.

8. ELIZABETHAN AGE/GOLDEN AGE 1500-1660 AD

The middle ages and the interlude plays gave ways to the Elizabethan age in England and Golden age in
the continent of Europe:

- Drama started to be taught in schools/colleges.

- Plays written for schools /colleges.
- Stages built so that actors could speak directly to the audience.
- Writing of plays became a major preoccupation being led by Christopher Marlow. He introduced
blank vessel as medium of drama.
- He wrote tragedies comedies and histories.

Shakespeare was the pinnacle of Elizabeth age drama.

Shakespeare greatness lay in his:

- poetic use of language

effective portrayal of the character
- perfect combination of story, characterization language through and spectacle

Soon after Shakespeare nothing of importance happened:

- Republicans became too powerful

- Puritanism at its height
- Republicans and Puritans opposed theatre and even had king Charles beheaded
- Under Oliver Cromwell all theatres closed and there existed great separation between drama
and religion.

9. MODERN DRAMA 1600 AD

- Monarchy restored and theatres opened.

- Theatres built with a roof and stage opened to the audience on one side.

- Painted scenery became important and prevalent

- Women started appearing on stage.

Note that Jean Batiste Moliere in France wrote plays ridiculing aristocracy.

4
Moliere wrote comedies that moved away the royalty to ordinary people, criticized medical profession.

Sheridan and Goldsmith in England wrote about social life.

They also wrote MELODRAMA.

They attempted to make scenes as close to real life a possible.

10. DRAMA AT THE END OF 19TH CENTURY

The industrial revolution existed around 1850-1914. In between these years there were inventions and
discoveries of new leads. These brought new ideas such as socialism. The ordinary people became
important. The factory worker and the farm worker became noticeable.

People wrote about ordinary people affected by industrial revolution. Henrik Ibsen of Norway and
Bernard Shaw wrote about people affected by industrial revolution. These changes created movements
that affected drama.

REALISM

In realism plays moved away from being about kings to ordinary people with play depicting all classes as
they lived. Heroes and heroines were ordinary people. Realistic plays written in colloquial prose
characters spoke naturally. People behaved naturally, things happened on stage naturally. Playwrights
had to depict real life.

NATURALISM

Naturalism seen as a product of scientific theories of heredity and evolution. All men were controlled by
laws of heredity and by the influence of environment. Here it is a question of observing and writing
facts. There was no imagination. People and their action to be reported as truth.

EXPRESSIONISM

This movement started after the First World War when Europe and the world were disillusioned. Many
people died. Dramatists got disillusioned and they were trying to find ways of expressing their
disillusionment after the First World War veered away from realism. About (1917-1918) in Germany was
disillusioned about losing the war. Expressionism is a mixture of abstract and concrete. A movement of
the art that describes the art feeling rather than anything that was actually experienced.

Drama must reflect the preset if that preset changes drama must change with it if civilization is
recovering from the war. Drama must change and find a form that suits it. It expresses personal vision of
reality.

11. DRAMA BETWEEN THE TWO WARS

Before beginning of 20th century there were new trends which changed drama:

5
 - Nationalism blossomed
- Imperialism developed
- Urbanization took root
- Industrialization increased.

European, American and Asian societies transformed. There developed organizations of huge industrial
monopolies that controlled specific business.

There was development of the working class workers were basically the lower class workers started
having political power through unionizing.

Western life also changed. Advance in Medicine Freud, Einstein, Darwin and Marx accepted beliefs in
religion and politics. God and religion questioned order of the universe was challenged. General
intellectual upheaval. Theatre was affected. Also affecting theatre discovery of the electro lap:

- Telephone
- Flying me…..
- Automobile

All these made life easy.

However between 1915 and1945 were times of unusual unrest. First World War resulted in the
death of 9 million people but also saw the establishment of the Soviet Union- civil war in Soviet.
There was Rampant inflation and costly depression.

Political and economic unrest set the stage for totalitarianism in Europe. Far East totalitarianism –
Italy and Germany. Nationalists dictatorship in Soviet Union and Spain. As a result 35 million died in
the 2nd World War. Use of atomic bomb.

What followed was THEATRE OF THE UNREST.

11. DRAMA FROM 1945-1980

How could a civilized world engage in a war that resulted in the death of 35 million people?

How could a rational society undertake genocide? Would atomic bomb lead to annihilation of the
human race?

Is humanity as rational and civilized as proclaimed by 19 th century? Could God exist and allow the
destruction of so many people? These questions form the basis of existentialism.

EXISTENTILIASM

Articulated by Jean Paul, existentialism believes that there is little meaning in existence. God does
not exist and therefore man is alone in an irrational universe. The only significant action an
individual can take to accept responsible for his own action.

6
 THEATRE OF THE ABSURD

This is a theatrical approach which combines existentialism with revolutionary avant- garde dramatic
form. There is belief that much of what is happening cannot be explained logically. It is ridiculous or
absurd.

Ridiculousness and absurdly is reflected in the dramatic action of the plays. Dramatic techniques
used are alleging. Plots do not follow traditional crisis structure