CBSE Book Class 12 Modes of Theatrical Presentation

Modes of Theatrical Presentation

A study of the various schools of drama is helpful to know which school of drama a play belongs to. Each school of drama came into existence as a reaction to the previous school. Old gives way to the new. With changing social/political/religious situations newer norms come into existence. Some modes of theatrical presentations are given below: This term refers to art forms in accordance with ancient Greek or Roman models. It had its origin in religion. The fifth century was considered the high period of Greek drama.(Aeschylus 525-455 BC)

They strictly adhered to the chorus as an integral part of the whole to comment or interpret or share an action. There was insistence on a language that was poetic and correct. The avoidance of violence on stage were some of the rigid rules of neoclassicism.

The Neoclassic period is usually taken to be the hundred-odd years 1660- 1780; in other words, from Dryden's maturity to Johnson's death (1784). Apart from the dramatists the main English authors in this period were: Dryden (1631 – 1700), Swift (1667 – 1745), Addison (1672 1719), Steele (1672 – 1729), Pope (1688 – 1744), Lord Chesterfield (1694 – 1773), Fielding (1707 – 54), Johnson (1709 – 84), Goldsmith (1730 – 74) and Gibbon (1737 – 94). In literary theory and practice most writers of this period were traditionalists and they had a great respect for Classical authors, and especially the Romans who, theyelieved, had established and perfected the principal literary genres for all time.

Literature was regarded as an art, in which excellence could be attained only by prolonged study. Thus the writers of the period were painstaking craftsmen who had a deep respect for the rules of their art. These rules could best be learnt from close study of the Classical authors (Horance was a favourite). Their approach was thoroughly professional. They th thought that reason and judgement were the most admirable faculties (the 18 century was, after all, the Age of Reason), and that decorum was essential. In prose, as in verse, the most desirable qualities were harmony, proportion, balance and restraint. It follows, therefore, that the Neoclassical writers aimed at correctness. This was nowhere more evident than in their use of the heroic couplet.

th A few aspects of romanticism in the 18 century are: (a) an increasing interest in Nature and in the natural, primitive and uncivilized way of life: (b) a growing interest in scenery, especially its more untamed and disorderly manifestations; (c) an association of human moods with the moods of Nature – and thus a subjective feeling for it and interpretation of it; (d) a considerable emphasis on natural religion; (e) emphasis on the need for spontaneity in thought and action and in the expression of thought; (f)

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