Although Othello is a tragic play in nature, Shakespeare's subtle use of comedy in the play's various scenes adds effect to its overall tragic downfall. In a standard comic play, one would expect a story of love and courtship with some deceptive twist of plot, all worked out to a happy en...

The plays in ancient Greece were made up of several genres. One of these genres was comedy. Comedy came from two main factors, the major one being known as the "Choral Element" which has ceremonies to encourage fertility at the Festival of Dionysus. The second influence was from Sicilian mimes th...

In 500 B.C., Greek theatre was the most popular form of entertainment. It is important to understand that drama began in the Greek world as a form of religious ritual, but it was good entertainment especially if it contained a lot of blood or gore. Greek drama was not only performed in the theatre b...

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture that has influenced theatre through history. They created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama. Their achievement ...

Problem of Genre in DramaWhen a reader thinks of a play that has been labeled a comedy he thinks of light-hearted and happy plots. The reader would not think of family tension, arguments or even perversion. The genre of comedy takes on the responsibility of making the audience laugh and walk away ...

Modern drama began by turning toward realism and away from the fantasy of nineteenth-century melodrama and farce. Realism gave rise to various innovations that served to express the dramatist\'s vision of what reality is. These attempts to be \" more real than real\" can be called expressionism. ...

Beginning with acts such as Abbott and Costello, and episodes of \"I Love Lucy,\" humor is often the result of a misunderstanding. In the movie, \"Arsenic and Old Lace,\" the plot combines murder and insanity. \"Arsenic and Old Lace,\" seemingly outlines a mystery or drama, however with the additi...

When I go and see a movie the three things that motivate me the most are the story, the stars, and the reputation. "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is a perfect example. The story seamed really good and funny to me, a chick flick. The stars were Matthew McConaughey, and Kate Hudson, who were...

What's A Black comedy Turns GreenWelcome to Hollywood's version of Ireland! A happy place where the grass is always greener on the other side! The plot of this amusing tale takes place around two local Irishmen who start work on a film set as extras, this film set is temporary home to the smashing C...

COSTUMES AND MASKS IN GREEK DRAMA Greek Drama originated at the beginning of the 5th Century. It began as religious festivals and continued on to purposes such as entertainment and dealing with political, social, moral or ethical issues of the time. There were many famous Greek Playwrights such ...

Very early in history, the Greeks began to collect poems that had been written in honor of their brave ancestors. These poems were often recited in public and almost everyone in the city would come to listen. Many people think that Greek entertainment evolved from these poems, but actually it did ...

To fully explain the conditions governing Classical Greek Theatre it is first necessary to go back in history to understand its origins. Greek Theatre began over 2,500 years ago – 2,000 years before Shakespeare – in its earliest form it took the form of religious rites, involving songs and danc...

A Comical Review of Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit written by Noel Coward was first published in 1941. Noel Coward was known for his sophisticated comedies of modern life (Seymour, Smith 261). It is sophisticated yet hilarious to the readers. Seymour and Smith stated that Coward's plays...

Drama has been the most popular of genres of literature since the advent of time. No one knows for sure from how and where it originated. Greeks were the first ones to preserve the script of their drama in the written form for later generations to enjoy. Aristotle laid out the rules for a perfect t...

A Midsummer Night\'s Dream is an excellent, humorous play written by Shakespeare. It is highly characteristic of Shakespeare, bringing several subplots into one masterful story. I have seen this play presented in a classical format and I found it thoroughly entertaining. Directed by Robin McKee, ...

"To what extent can 'Under Milk Wood' be considered a 'play for voices'?" Under Milk Wood When most people think of a play, they think of dressing up and going to the theatre; costumes; romance and comedy; ice cream at the interval and, of course, pantomimes. D...

A critique on Thirty Three Swoons In the play Thirty Three Swoons, which is a collection of four farces written by Anton Palovish Chekhov. The play consists of these short productions in order, Swan Song, The Bear, The Proposal, and The Wedding. Each of them their own unique plays that pokes...

As society dives headfirst into the 21st-century, one cannot deny that there are a number of apparently frivolous concepts which are being sacrificed in the name of technology. Peripheral ideals and out-dated innovations such as LP\'s, tie-dying, and the ozone layer are being rightfully pushed asid...

Throughout history numerous playwrights have brought about many contributions to the theatrical world. As I have discovered throughout my three semesters of Dramatic Literature, playwrights have different approaches to theatricality. Some of the plays we have read seem like gibberish when being re...

In southeastern Europe, along the Mediterranean Sea is the mountainous peninsula called Greece. It is a small country (only about 50,000 squares miles in area) and almost the size of New York. Greece is a very beautiful land. The long coast line is so broken that the deep blue sea seems to be every...

The theatre in the City Dionysia was a great semi-circle on the slope of the Acropolis, with rows of stone seats. The front row consisted of marble chairs; these were reserved for the priests of Dionysus and the chief magistrates. Beyond the front row was a circular space called the orchestra, where...

Realization of Death in Wit Vivian Bearing is the main character of the play Wit, which revolves around her dealing with cancer in a hospital environment with no true friends and little human contact. The play is ironically named after the large amount of wit Vivian tosses out in her dialogue, ...

In the 1800s the definition of an \'ideal life\' came into question. The industrial revolutions led to an enormous amount of poverty and crime. Auguste Comte\'s philosophy of positivism was about studying the betterment of humans and sociality which is the highest form of science. Charles Darwin rei...

There are a wide variety of different types of theatres in accordance to the different types of genres that exist. One particular theatre that is known as the Theatre of the Absurd exhibits the idea of something that does not follow or answer to a logical explanation. Its philosophy is to take on th...

Throughout history, religion has played perhaps the most important role in the influence of cultural and societal trends. The ethics and values that a society holds dear are a direct result of the faith that binds that society together. Faith is something that governs, something that punishes, and...