Historical and Modern Playwrights

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the lives, works, and achievements of major historical and modern playwrights as detailed in the lecture notes.

Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.)

An Athenian poet regarded as the father of tragedy and the soldier playwright who wrote 70 tragedies, only seven of which survived.

Prometheus

Considered the greatest work of Aeschylus, featuring a hero tortured on a rock in the Caucasus for giving humanity the gift of fire against the orders of Zeus.

Oresteia

A trilogy composed by Aeschylus consisting of three plays: Agamemnon, Cheophori, and Eumenides.

Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)

A playwright born in Colonnus who was chosen as a choral leader for the victory at Salamis and spent 12 years training to become a playwright.

Oedipus the King

The greatest play of Sophocles, which was followed by the works Oedipus at Colonnus and Antigone.

Anton Chekhov

A Russian playwright and short-story writer considered a seminal figure in early modernism and the creator of four classics: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard.

Harold Pinter Theatre

The venue where a brand-new production of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' opened in January 2020, starring Toby Jones and Richard Armitage.

Francisco Arcellana

A Filipino writer, poet, and teacher recognized as one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English.

Poetry and Politics

A 1977 book by Francisco Arcellana subtitled 'The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today'.

William Shakespeare

An English poet, actor, and playwright known as the 'Bard of Avon,' who authored 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative poems.

Shakespeare's most notable works

A selection of plays including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello.

Henrik Ibsen

A Norwegian playwright and director known as 'the father of realism' whose plays are the most frequently performed in the world after Shakespeare.

Ibsen's major plays

A collection of famous works including 'Peter Gynt', 'A Doll's House', 'The Wild Duck', and 'Hedda Gabler'.

Arthur Miller

An American playwright and essayist who wrote The Crucible and was married to actress Marilyn Monroe from 1956 until 1961.

Death of a Salesman

A historically significant play by Arthur Miller that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Piccadilly Theatre

The location that previously hosted a revival of Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'.