dramatic/theatrical terms, concepts, and names

drama bs

six elements of drama

plot

character

setting

dialogue

movement

themes

character foil

contrasted to a protagonist

actions opposite to anothers

ancient Greek amphitheater

an open-air performance space built into natural hillsides for drama, religious festivals, and public gatherings

Dionysus

ancient Greek god of wine-making, vegetation, fertility, festivity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre

City Dionysia (festivals

a major ancient Athenian religious and civic festival held each spring in honor of the god

Thespis

a 6th-century BC ancient Greek poet and performer from Icariawho is recorded as the world's first actor and the inventor of tragedy

chorus

a group of performers who move, sing, and speak together in unison to comment on the action of a play

hubris

extreme or excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence, and arrogance, often leading an individual to ignore risks, dismiss warnings, and face a major downfall.

catharsis

the emotional release, cleansing, or purification that a reader or audience member experiences through witnessing the intense struggles, suffering, or downfall of characters in a story

Sophocles (Oedipus the King)

ancient greek tragedy written by him

“Oedipus complex” (Freud)

children experience unconscious sexual desires for their opposite-sex parent and hostility toward their same-sex parent

“old comedy”

the earliest phase of ancient Greek comedy, flourishing in Athens during the 5th century BCE

Aristophanes

the greatest writer of Old Comedyin ancient Greece and is often called the "Father of Comedy"

Middle Ages (5th-15th cc.)

evolved from early Christian opposition to Roman spectacles into a vibrant, church-led, and later community-run dramatic tradition

liturgical drama and tropes (Quem Queritis)

("Whom do you seek?") is a 10th-century Latin liturgical trope that marked the rebirth of Western theatre by turning a brief Easter church dialogue into a dramatic performance

Corpus Christi (religious feast AND theatrical festivals

a major Catholic liturgical celebration honoring the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist

miracle play

religious dramas that dramatized the lives, martyrdoms, and miraculous deeds of Catholic saints

mystery/craft plays (Abraham and Isaac)

popular community dramas that told stories from the Bible, running from the Creation to the Last Judgment

morality play (Everyman)

a type of allegorical drama popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries that uses personified virtues, vices, and abstract concepts to teach Christian and ethical lessons

7 deadly sins

pride

lust

gluttony

sloth

wrath

envy

greed

allegorical personification

an artistic or literary device that gives a human form to an abstract concept, moral value, or historical force

mansions

small mansion stage wooden booths, platforms, or scenic structures used to represent specific locations like Heaven, Hell, or the Palace of Pilate

pageant wagons/carts

mobile, two-level wooden stages built on wheels and used during the Middle Ages (roughly the 10th to 16th centuries) to perform religious mystery, miracle, and morality plays

“mouth of hell”

a symbolic, gaping monster mouth representing the fiery entrance to Hell

Renaissance (14th/15th/16th – 17th cc.)

marks a massive shift from medieval religious drama to vibrant, secular, and professional playwriting

humanism

shifting the focus from medieval religious dogma and passive cosmic order to individual potential, human agency, reason, and emotional depth

vanishing-point perspective (Filippo Brunellesch

creating a mathematical system to render a three-dimensional illusion on a flat surface

commedia dell’arte (stock characters: Pantalone, Harlequin, Columbina, zanni)

exaggerated stock characters divided into masters, servants (zanni), and lovers

Elizabethan age

1558 to 1603 and is widely celebrated as the golden age of English history

Elizabethan public theatres

large, open-air, polygonal or circular amphitheaters built mainly outside the city walls of London to escape strict civic regulations

Globe Theatre

Shakespeare's Globe in London, England, is a famous historic and modern cultural landmark dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

English poet, playwright, and actor widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist

Hamlet

follows Prince Hamlet as he seeks revenge against his uncle Claudius for murdering his father and marrying his mother

revenge/Senecan tragedy

refers to the ancient Roman plays written by the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, which heavily shaped the concept of the revenge tragedy in Western drama