Theatre timeline

By Jessica Bewes
Ancient Greek+
550-2200 BC
An Ancient Greek festival held in Athens every year called the
'City Dionysia' commenced at the beginning of spring. Athens
was a famous place of religion, politics and culture and in the 6th
century BCE the performance style of ‘tragedy’ originated from
religious festivals was popular here.

The exact origins of tragedy are debated among scholars

however many believe it was believed from the earlier art form of
‘epic poetry’.
Despite this, others believe it grew from rituals such as the
worship of Dionsyos such as the sacrifice of goats where they
wore masks and danced - Dionsyos soon became known to be
the God of theatre and the theatre in Athen's centre was named
after them.

The earliest recorded actor is Thesis – recorded from Greek

tragedy 532BC – who was soon the winner of the first theatrical
contest held in Athens.
Roman Theatre
1301-1400 BC
Roman Theatre was influenced by Greek drama, principally within 240 B.C.E to 100 B.C.E (the period
of literary drama). At this time, Greek plays were adapted to Roman culture – this then led Roman
theatre to develop its own genres such as: comedy, satire and different forms of tragedy.

The ‘Theatre of Pompey’ was the first permanent theatre in Rome in 55 B.C by Julius Caeser's rival,
Pompey the Great. The theatre now only the foundations are preserved but was an enormous structure
at its time, standing at approximately 45 metres and was capable of holding up to 20,000 spectators.

This structure has become a significant piece in theatre

history due to its huge capacity, beautiful architecture and
Medieval 1401-1500 BC
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, small groups of performers
travelled from place to place to entertain residents of the Middle Ages in
Theatre different areas. These nomadic bands toured multiple regions to
perform music, tell stories/jests, perform acrobatic acts. This raised
popularity and festivals emerged wherever they went.

These travelling performances, whilst becoming more popular, also

gained some hostility mainly due to the government and church
wanting more control over them as they believed they were threat to
their authority as they could "stir up dissent" amongst medieval
civilians. In result of this, the Church influenced similar performer
groups called 'strolling players' who dramatized acts in the Bible to
spread Christian views and stories – they started to perform outside the
Church in the 1200s.

Medieval Theatre ended in the 1600s.

Renaissance Theatre
1558 & 1642 BC
The Renaissance period created the divide between upper and lower classes in theatre – based on
wealth. The upper-class theatres were spoiled with unique builds and fascinating, delicate architecture
in comparison to the lower-class citizens who watched plays in public playhouses.
The new development of upper-class theatre where performances were more private for the rich
gradually forced Drama to be exclusive to the wealthy and make theatrics one of the most popularf orms
of entertainment at this time.
Elizabethan Theatre
1562-1603

The people of the Elizabethan theatre era witnessed the first professional, touring actors who performed
new non-religious plays.
'The Red Lion' being the first purpose-built theatre was established in London 1576 and due to its
popularity, many others began to follow which led to the boom in success of theatre. Permanant acting
companies grew from theatres who produced multiple plays a day – limiting the need to tour and
increasing the ability to invest more money into improving theatres and the industry in general.
Playwrights from this time period who's plays are still thriving today include William Shakespeare, Ben
Jonson and Christopher Marlowe – their most known productions consist of 'Hamlet '(Shakespeare),
'The Alchemist' (Jonson) and 'Tamburlaine the great' (Marlowe).
Theatre in this era is a key period in drama history as it is the stage where theatrics gained immense
popularity where performances were for purely entertainment purposes and didn’t evolve around
religion/education.
Melodrama
1701-1800 BC

Melodrama was a style of theatre which was well known in the

Victorian Era where exaggeration is used in order to stereotype
characters with the aim to appeal the audiences' emotions.
Melodrama is commonly worked with stock characters such as
an evil villain and noble hero who are then characterized by
overdramatic scenes.
To perform with melodrama, very oud voice projection out
towards the audience is necessary – followed by bold gestures,
movements and facial expressions.
Music started to be more incorporated with theatre in this era,
it was typically very dramatic and extravagant to emphasize the
drama each piece and support the emotional impact on the
audience.
Naturalism & Realism
1870 -1910 BC

Realism in theatre was mainly a 19th century theatrical movement and Naturalism was a movement in
European drama that developed within the transition between the 19th and 20th century – both of
which are very similar as the both aim to convey real life on stage. Realism prioritises the appearance of
real life acting such as gestures and facial expressions, where as naturalism subjects on the scientific
study of human behavior and how it can e acted.
Stanislavski – a famous theatre practitioner – worked with realism throughout his acting life and he had
created techniques on how to act in this style and portray symbolism which are still significantly use by
actors today (I have a research page on Stanislavski's work which highlights his impact on realistic
theatre).
Overall, naturalism/realism are very similar acting styles which focuses on "authentic acting" and has a
strong impact on modern drama.
Epic Theatre
1918 BC

A movement of the mid-twentieth century which consisted of new political dramas and emphasizing the
nature of plays to convey what their intentions are – by using new-fashioned and experimental
techniques they focus on the audiences reaction to their intentions.
Epic theatre uses what's called the 'alienation effect' which creates an artificial feeling which prevents
the audience from being lost in the performance whilst the social and political issues are explored with
in the piece.
Surrealism Theatre
1920s

Surrealism theatre focuses more on the metaphorical and visual aspects of performing where characters
didn’t seem whole or quite sane. This was a very new and unique development of theatre.
Due to this newer, more confusing form of drama plays who performed in this style were often met with
hostile reactions because they touched on subjects in an abstract manner which were often not to the
audience's interpretation. People are often biased on their views and when theatres showed surrealism
plays which presented ideas from unique, alternative perspectives it left audiences confused.
This style of theatre was performed mainly on stages in Paris, and this is where it was most popular.
In-yer-face theatre
1990s

This stye of theatre aimed to shock audiences and was seen to be rather obscene/provocative as it also
approached topics which went against the typical social expectations or regular theatre.
Epic theatre plays often touched on subjects such as abuse, addiction and embarrassment through
contemporary performance which was manipulated and choreographed to portray violence.
The theatrical term of 'in-yer-face' grew from new forms of "angry" writing from young playwrights
mainly in London/British theatre who wrote about often unlikeable characters and would work with
shocking material such as the aggressive themes listed before as well as drugs, racism, sexual violence
and mental health.
Verbatim Theatre
modern

A movement of the mid-twentieth century which consisted of new political dramas and emphasizing the
nature of plays to convey what their intentions are – by using new-fashioned and experimental
techniques they focus on the audience's reaction to their intentions.
Epic theatre uses what's called the 'alienation effect' which creates an artificial feeling which prevents
the audience from being lost in the performance whilst the social and political issues are explored within
the piece.