2. roots
• Sympathetic magic
• Early religions
• Greek Civilization produces the first “plays” that we would recognize as
plays.
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Spring fertility festivals: the goat
Tragos: ‘goatsong’
Tragedy
Playwright competitions
Golden Age of Greece: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripdes
3. Roots
• After the Crusades, slowly the Greek and Roman plays and poets
become known again in Europe.
• In England Shakespeare and others are profoundly influenced by the
Classical plays.
• Their Renaissance dramas are part of the creation of the modern
world. That’s part of why Shakespeare makes sense to us.
4. Elizabethan Drama
• Drama becomes hugely popular in cities. It’s analogous to blockbuster
movies today.
• Plays can be loosely grouped into comedies and tragedies.
• Shakespeare’s first play is a hit comedy. He is best known for
tragedies.
5. Comedies
• Love is often a central theme.
• Complicated, even improbable plots.
• Mistaken identity.
• A sad or philosophical undercurrent.
• Stock characters (many of which we see today, inherited from Greek
plays and from medieval folks types: the pedant, the braggart, the
clever clown, the dreamy lover, the fool).
• Shelley: tragedies end in death; comedies in marriage.
9. The Globe
• Built in 1597-98 after the lease on The Theatre expires.
• Also a site for gambling and other notorious activities like bearbaiting.
• Shakespeare himself owned stock in the company and staged and
acted in plays there. The “all the world’s a stage” speech is based on a
pun…world/globe.
• Poorer theatre goers sat on the ground I front of the stage
(groundlings); wealthy folks sat in the galleries.
• The plays were aimed at both audiences.