English Drama: at Present Time
ENGLISH DRAMA: AT PRESENT TIME
Drama is a literary composition, which is performed by professional actors on stage (or theatre), before an audience. It involves conflicts, actions and a particular theme. Drama was introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. At a very early time the people of England began to act and the earliest plays were acted by monks and took place in church. In this way the people were taught the Bible stories. And it is from these very early monkish plays that the theater with its different kinds of plays, that pageants and even oratorios have sprung (Marshall). By the medieval period, the mummers' plays had developed and the actors travelled from town to town performing re-telling old stories for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly during the Victorian period. The number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously, and then Postmodernism had a profound effect on English drama in the latter half of the 20th Century. The 20th century opened with great hope but also with some apprehension, for the new century marked the final approach to a new millennium. For many, humankind was entering upon an unprecedented era. The death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the accession of Edward VII seemed to confirm that a franker, less inhibited era had begun. Modern drama involved much experimentation with new forms and ideas. The plays centred very often on a family and explored the conflicts between the younger generation and the older. This struggle between the generations often involved the rights and freedoms of a young woman who found herself in conflict. The drama also set firmly in the world of work and business. These firmly established settings allowed the dramatists to give force to their analyses of class and the financial bases of power relationships. The early twentieth
Drama is a literary composition, which is performed by professional actors on stage (or theatre), before an audience. It involves conflicts, actions and a particular theme. Drama was introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. At a very early time the people of England began to act and the earliest plays were acted by monks and took place in church. In this way the people were taught the Bible stories. And it is from these very early monkish plays that the theater with its different kinds of plays, that pageants and even oratorios have sprung (Marshall). By the medieval period, the mummers' plays had developed and the actors travelled from town to town performing re-telling old stories for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly during the Victorian period. The number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously, and then Postmodernism had a profound effect on English drama in the latter half of the 20th Century. The 20th century opened with great hope but also with some apprehension, for the new century marked the final approach to a new millennium. For many, humankind was entering upon an unprecedented era. The death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the accession of Edward VII seemed to confirm that a franker, less inhibited era had begun. Modern drama involved much experimentation with new forms and ideas. The plays centred very often on a family and explored the conflicts between the younger generation and the older. This struggle between the generations often involved the rights and freedoms of a young woman who found herself in conflict. The drama also set firmly in the world of work and business. These firmly established settings allowed the dramatists to give force to their analyses of class and the financial bases of power relationships. The early twentieth