THE HISTORY OF THEATRE

Theatre originated about two and a half thousand years ago, developing from religious rites in ancient Greece. Songs and dances in honour of the gods slowly turned into theatre. The first great theatrical age in history was that of Greece in the fifth century BC. The first plays developed out of a dithyramb, a song sung around the altar of the god Dionysus by a chorus of fifty men.

Then, comedy started developing. Aristophanes, who lived between 440BC and 380BC was the best known writer of comedies. Although the Romans contributed little to the history of play writing, they did change theatre design in quite a revolutionary way. Instead of building theatres on hillsides, theatres were often built on flat ground with massive surrounding walls. Theatre was held in a kind of suspended animation for many centuries. Wandering bands of acrobats, dancers, singers, wrestlers and story tellers helped to preserve theatre skills.

Generally, these groups were disapproved of and often attacked by the Church. Christians were strictly forbidden to attend theatrical performances, or appear in them. Then came the big moment when theatre suddenly became a great art form, and produced some of mankind's finest literature. In 1576 there was only one theatre in London and by 1599 there were a number of busy theatres, and Shakespeare's company had built its own, the Globe in Southwark where his literary masterpieces were performed. Then the theatre shifted to France, where the seventeenth century saw a golden age led by Corneille, Jean Racine, and then Moliere. Theatre became popular again in the 1660s.

Theatres were now roofed, and women played women's roles for the first time. Theatre became popular in Denmark with Ibsen, in Sweden with Strindberg, and in Russia with Chekov. Then at the turn of the century Oscar Wilde brought real excitement back to the London theatre with his brilliant comedies.

Adapted from infobritain.co.uk