dramatic literature

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Listen to Norris Houghton discuss the difficulty of staging Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard

Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children)

Globe Theatre, London

theatre of the Auditorium Building in Chicago

Read Next

William Shakespeare

The Death of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616. c 1907

What Did Shakespeare Sound Like?

Facsimile of one of William Henry Ireland's forgeries, a primitive self-portrait of William Shakespeare(tinted engraving). Published for Samuel Ireland, Norfolk Street, Strand, December 1, 1795. (W.H. Ireland, forgery)

The Time a Law Clerk Successfully Forged a New Shakespeare Play to Impress His Dad

poem. A poet in a Heian period kimono writes Japanese poetry during the Kamo Kyokusui No En Ancient Festival at Jonan-gu shrine on April 29, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. Festival of Kyokusui-no Utage orignated in 1,182, party Heian era (794-1192).

World Poetry Day

Scene from the motion picture "Romeo and Juliet" with Olivia Hussey (Juliet) and Leonard Whiting (Romeo), 1968; directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

All the World’s a Stage: 6 Places in Shakespeare, Then and Now

Discover

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic

From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl

earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, North Carolina, where 115 people mysteriously disappeared c. 1590. John White discovers the word Croatoan carved onto a tree upon his return to the deserted Roanoke Colony in 1590

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)

9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes

Small, white rat (genus Rattus) on a glass table. (rodent, laboratory, experiment)

Cruel and Unusual Punishments: 15 Types of Torture

Secret Service Agent Listens To Earpiece

Secret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. Presidents

dramatic literature: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	drama • play

Photos and Videos

Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children)

Globe Theatre, London

theatre of the Auditorium Building in Chicago

Listen to Norris Houghton discuss the difficulty of staging Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

morality play tragedy comedy Passion play melodrama chronicle play mystery play tragicomedy soliloquy well-made play dance radio novel children’s literature biography rhetoric folk literature short story music epic

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

English author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German author

Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh

British-Irish playwright and filmmaker

Nissim Ezekiel

Indian poet and playwright

Lynn Nottage, 2018

Lynn Nottage

American playwright

Ben Elton

Ben Elton

British actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter and dramatist

Danai Gurira

Danai Gurira

American actress

Kenneth Lonergan

Kenneth Lonergan

American director

Jon Fosse

Jon Fosse

Norwegian author

Tony Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

American playwright

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

English author

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

British novelist

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes

Spanish writer

Voltaire

Voltaire

French philosopher and author

Molière

Molière

French dramatist

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolò Machiavelli

Italian statesman and writer

Jean Racine

Jean Racine

French dramatist

Babel, Isaac

Isaac Babel

Russian author

Gabriel Marcel

Gabriel Marcel

French philosopher and author

Woody Allen

Woody Allen

American actor and director

Quiz

Irish author Oscar Wilde, photograph (albumen silver print)by Napoleon Sarony, 1882.

English and Irish Playwrights (Part One) Quiz

William Shakespeare and Lord Chamberlain's Men performing "Love's Labour's Lost" for Queen Elizabeth I, from the Works of William Shakespeare; etching, dated c. mid-19th century.

English and Irish Playwrights (Part Two) Quiz

Pamela having divided her clothes into three bundles..., etching and engraving by Guillaume Philippe Benoist, 1745. Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) by Samuel Richardson.

Literary Terms (Part One) Quiz

Row of colorful books on a bookshelf. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

The Literary World